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Can You Dig It? - Martha Speaks

Classroom Resource Information

Title:

Can You Dig It? - Martha Speaks

URL:

https://aptv.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/msts14.ela.candig/environment-can-you-dig-it/

Content Source:

PBS

Type:

Interactive/Game

Overview:

In this Martha Speaks interactive story students discover how plants and animals depend on each other in an ecosystem. Fallen leaves decay; earthworms eat the leaves and fertilize the dirt. Then trees use the fertilized soil to grow. When used as a part of Martha’s True Stories Buddies Program, buddy pairs engage with the interactive story and then talk and write as they draw a habitat they have seen that includes an ecosystem. To familiarize yourself with the program, begin by reading the Martha's True Stories Buddies Program: Overview.

Content Standard(s):

Science
SC2015 (2015)
Grade: 3

11 ) Construct an argument from evidence to explain the likelihood of an organism's ability to survive when compared to the resources in a certain habitat (e.g., freshwater organisms survive well, less well, or not at all in saltwater; desert organisms survive well, less well, or not at all in woodlands).

a. Construct explanations that forming groups helps some organisms survive.

b. Create models that illustrate how organisms and their habitats make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.

c. Categorize resources in various habitats as basic materials (e.g., sunlight, air, freshwater, soil), produced materials (e.g., food, fuel, shelter), or as nonmaterial (e.g., safety, instinct, nature-learned behaviors).

NAEP Framework

NAEP Statement::
L4.1: Organisms need food, water, and air; a way to dispose of waste; and an environment in which they can live.*

NAEP Statement::
L4.2: Organisms have basic needs. Animals require air, water, and a source of energy and building material for growth and repair. Plants also require light.

NAEP Statement::
L4.3: Organisms interact and are interdependent in various ways, including providing food and shelter to one another. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their needs are met. Some interactions are beneficial; others are detrimental to the organism and other organisms.

NAEP Statement::
L8.7: The number of organisms and populations an ecosystem can support depends on the biotic resources available and abiotic factors, such as quantity of light and water, range of temperatures, and soil composition.

Unpacked Content

Scientific And Engineering Practices:

Engaging in Argument from Evidence; Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions; Developing and Using Models; Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking

Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect; Systems and System Models; Structure and Function

Disciplinary Core Idea: Unity and Diversity

Evidence Of Student Attainment:

Students:

Make a claim to be supported with evidence that in a particular habitat, some organisms can survive well, some can survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
Describe the given evidence necessary to support the claim that in a particular habitat, some organisms can survive well, some can survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
Evaluate the evidence to determine whether it is relevant to and supports the claim that in a particular habitat, some organisms can survive well, some can survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
Use reasoning to construct an argument, connecting the relevant and appropriate evidence to the claim, including describing that any particular environment meets different organisms' needs to different degrees due to the characteristics of that environment and the needs of the organisms (including the cause-and-effect relationship).
Describe the evidence necessary to support the explanation that forming groups helps some organisms survive.
Create models to describe and illustrate how organisms and their habitats make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.
Categorize resources in various habitats based on evidence from constructed arguments, explanations, and models.

Teacher Vocabulary:

Construct
Argument
Evidence
Likelihood
Organism
Survive
Resources
Habitat
Explanations
Groups
Populations
Communities
Niche
Illustrate
Models
System
Depend (on each other)
Categorize
Basic needs (examples: sunlight, air, fresh water, & soil)
Produced materials (examples: food, fuel, shelter)
Nonmaterial (examples: safety, instinct, nature-learned behaviors)

Knowledge:

Students know:

Some kinds of organisms survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all in a certain habitat.
If an environment fully meets the needs of an organism, that organism can survive well within that environment.
If an environment partially meets the needs of an organism, that organism can survive less well (lower survival rate, increased sickliness, shorter lifespan) than organisms whose needs are met within that environment.
If an environment does not meet the needs of that organism, that organism cannot survive within that environment.
Characteristics of a given environment (Examples: soft earth, trees, and shrubs, seasonal flowering plants).
Characteristics of a given organism (plants with long, sharp, leaves; rabbit coloration) .
Needs of a given organism (shelter from predators, food, water).
Characteristics of organisms that might affect survival.
How and what features of the habitat meet or do not meet the needs of each of the organisms.
Being a part of a group helps animals obtain food, defend themselves, and cope with changes.
Members of groups may serve different functions and different groups may vary dramatically in size.
Habitats and organisms make up a system in which the parts depend upon each other.
Resources and can categorize them as basic materials, produced materials or nonmaterials as resources in various habitats.

Skills:

Students are able to:

Make a claim supported by evidence about an organism's likelihood of survival in a given habitat.
Use reasoning to construct an argument.
Evaluate and connect relevant and appropriate evidence to support a claim.
Construct explanations that forming groups helps some organisms survive.
Articulate a statement describing evidence necessary to support the explanation that forming groups helps some organisms survive.
Create a model that illustrates how organisms and habitats make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.
Describe relationships between components of the model.
Categorize resources in various habitats as basic materials, produced material, or nonmaterial.
Organize data from the categorization to reveal patterns that suggest relationships.

Understanding:

Students understand that:

Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change.
Evidence suggests a causal relationship within the system between the characteristics of a habitat and the survival of organisms within it.
The cause and effect relationship between being part of a group and being more successful in obtaining food, defending themselves, and coping with change.
That the relationship between organisms and their habitats is a system of related parts that make up a whole in which the individual parts depend on each other.
Resources in various habitats have different structures that are related to their function.

AMSTI Resources:

AMSTI Module:
Heredity and Diversity

Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards

AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.3.11- Match common plants and animals with their best environment for growth and survival.

Tags:

animal, ecosystem, habitat, living thing, plant, survival, survive

License Type:

Custom Permission Type
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This resource provided by:

Author:

Stephanie Carver

ALEX Classroom Resource

Can You Dig It? - Martha Speaks