Activity 6: What Do You Think?

• The new life comes from areas close to where the forest fire occurred. When plant seeds carried by the wind land on a charred landscape, they do not see it as charred but as a ground, rich in organic material provided by the ashes. With the good soil, the seeds germinate and grow.
• It will take decades for the forest to return to its original condition. The change is a very slow and gradual process.

Student Conceptions
Some students will find it hard to grasp change that occurs very slowly. They understand change to be immediate and sudden.

Emphasize the point that succession is not just about one species succeeding another. Stress to the students that succession deals with a community replacing another one.

There may also be confusion with the difference between primary and secondary succession. If an existing community was there before the natural or human-caused disaster, then it is secondary succession.