TO INTRODUCE THE GENERAL CONCEPT OF PERMACULTURE TO A GROUP, WE USE THIS SIMPLE ACTIVITY WHICH CONSISTS OF ASSIGNING DIFFERENT “ELEMENTS” TO EACH PERSON, WHICH HAVE TO FIND LINKS WITH OTHERS (AND A REASON FOR THE LINK) AND PASS A BALL OF STRING ACCORDINGLY.
AS EACH ELEMENT POTENTIALLY HAS LINKS WITH MANY OF THE OTHERS, THE FINAL RESULT IS THE EQUIVALENT OF A LARGE, CHAOTIC SPIDER'S WEB, BUT ONE WHICH DEMONSTRATES THE STRENGTH OF A DIVERSE INTER-RELATED SYSTEM.
AS FAR AS THE “ELEMENTS” ARE CONCERNED, WE TEND TO USE ONES WITH A HORTICULTURAL SLANT – BEES, WATER, COMPOST, VEGETABLES ETC. – BUT THE SUBJECT MATTER COULD EASILY BE AMENDED DEPENDING ON THE GROUP E.G. A CITYSCAPE – SCHOOL, LIBRARY, TOWN HALL, SHOPS.
Objectives
APART FROM ENCOURAGING INTERACTION AMONGST THE STUDENTS RIGHT FROM THE OUTSET OF A COURSE, WE HOPE THAT THIS ACTIVITY PORTRAYS IN A PRACTICAL WAY SOME OF THE IDEAS WHICH OTHERWISE WOULD BE ABSTRACT THEORY. IT ALSO SERVES AS A GOOD FOUNDATION, AND IS OFTEN REFERRED TO IN SUBSEQUENT SESSIONS OF THE COURSE, FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN CONSIDERING ASPECTS OF DESIGN.
Materials
Implementation
Evaluation
EVALUATION TENDS TO BE INFORMAL, RELATING TO THE STUDENTS' UNDERSTANDING AND SATISFACTION WITH THE COURSES AS A WHOLE.
Συμβουλές
WE TEND TO UTILISE THIS ACTIVITY AT THE VERY BEGINNING OF A COURSE, PARTLY AS AN ICE-BREAKER, BUT PRIMARILY TO DEMONSTRATE VISUALLY MANY OF THE KEY CONCEPTS IN PERMACULTURE, SUCH AS THE WAY IN WHICH ONE ELEMENT IN THE SYSTEM CAN FULFIL VARIOUS FUNCTIONS; AND LIKEWISE, THAT ONE FUNCTION CAN BE CARRIED OUT BY VARIOUS ELEMENTS.
