ALEX | Alabama Learning Exchange

Steve Trash Science: The Water Cycle / Oh Yuck Pollution

Classroom Resource Information

Title:

Steve Trash Science: The Water Cycle / Oh Yuck Pollution

URL:

https://www.pbs.org/video/the-water-cycle-oh-yuck-pollution-lluvhh/

Content Source:

PBS

Type:

Audio/Video

Overview:

Steve Trash teaches kids about science with fun and magic. The show is filmed in Alabama.

You find water in oceans, rivers, lakes and ponds, in clouds and rain and snow. Explore how all of these are connected through a continuous cycle in the natural world. Then, Steve suggests ways to prevent litter and other destructive types of pollution. After all, it's no fun to play in the water if its full of garbage.

Content Standard(s):

Science SC2015 (2015) Grade: K	6 ) Identify and plan possible solutions (e.g., reducing, reusing, recycling) to lessen the human impact on the local environment.* NAEP Framework NAEP Statement:: E4.10: The supply of many Earth resources such as fuels, metals, fresh water, and farmland is limited. Humans have devised methods for extending the use of Earth resources through recycling, reuse, and renewal. NAEP Statement:: E4.11: Humans depend on their natural and constructed environment. Humans change environments in ways that can either be beneficial or detrimental for themselves and other organisms. Unpacked Content Scientific And Engineering Practices: Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect Disciplinary Core Idea: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics Evidence Of Student Attainment: Students: Identify possible solutions to lesson the human impact on the local environment. Plan possible solutions to lesson the human impact on the local environment. Identify potential human impacts on the local environment. Teacher Vocabulary: Identify Plan Solution Human impact Local Environment Reduce Reuse Recycle Causes Create Ask Imagine Improve Knowledge: Students know: Human impact can have both positive and negative impact on the environment. We can create possible solutions to reduce the negative impacts on the environment. Skills: Students are able to: Identify possible solutions to lessen human impact on the environment. Plan possible solutions to lessen human impact on the environment. Understanding: Students understand that: Human impact has a positive and negative effect on the local environment. There are solutions that can lessen the negative impacts on a local environment. AMSTI Resources: AMSTI Module: Plants and Animals Exploring Plants and Animals, STC Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards* AAS Standard: SCI.AAS.K.6- Classify human activities as harmful or helpful to the environment.
Science SC2015 (2015) Grade: K	7 ) Observe and describe the effects of sunlight on Earth's surface (e.g., heat from the sun causing evaporation of water or increased temperature of soil, rocks, sand, and water). NAEP Framework NAEP Statement:: E4.7: The Sun warms the land, air, and water and helps plants grow. NAEP Statement:: E4.8: Weather changes from day to day and during the seasons. NAEP Statement:: E4.9: Scientists use tools for observing, recording, and predicting weather changes from day to day and during the seasons. Unpacked Content Scientific And Engineering Practices: Planning and Carrying out Investigations Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems Evidence Of Student Attainment: Students: Observe the effects of sunlight on the Earth's surface. Describe the effects of sunlight on the Earth's surface. Teacher Vocabulary: Observe Describe Sunlight Earth Surface Evaporation Temperature Knowledge: Students know: Sunlight warms the Earth's surface. Know different patterns of relative warmth of materials in sunlight and in shade (e.g., hotter, warmer, cooler, and colder) Materials on the Earth's surface can be investigated (e.g., dirt, sand, water) and described. Skills: Students are able to: Investigate the effects of sunlight on Earth's surface. Observe the effects of sunlight on Earth's surface. Describe the effects of sunlight on Earth's surface. Understanding: Students understand that: Sunlight causes an observable effect on the Earth's surfaces including: water, soil, rocks, sand, grass. AMSTI Resources: AMSTI Module: Weather Walk Weather, STC Sunny Sandbox, ETA/hand2mind Clouds, GLOBE Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards* AAS Standard: SCI.AAS.K.7- Give examples of the sun's effects on the Earth (limited to heat and light).
Science SC2015 (2015) Grade: 5	15 ) Identify the distribution of freshwater and salt water on Earth (e.g., oceans, lakes, rivers, glaciers, ground water, polar ice caps) and construct a graphical representation depicting the amounts and percentages found in different reservoirs. NAEP Framework NAEP Statement:: E4.10: The supply of many Earth resources such as fuels, metals, fresh water, and farmland is limited. Humans have devised methods for extending the use of Earth resources through recycling, reuse, and renewal. Unpacked Content Scientific And Engineering Practices: Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking Crosscutting Concepts: Scale, Proportion, and Quantity Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems Evidence Of Student Attainment: Students: Describe and graph the amounts of salt water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth. Teacher Vocabulary: Fresh water Salt water Oceans Lakes Rivers Glaciers Ground water Polar ice caps Reservoir Graph Knowledge: Students know: Nearly all of Earth's available water is in the ocean. Most fresh water is in glaciers or underground; only a tiny fraction is in streams, lakes, wetlands, and the atmosphere. Skills: Students are able to: Graph the given data (using standard units) about the amount of salt water and the amount of fresh water in each of the following reservoirs, as well as in all the reservoirs combined, to address a scientific question: Oceans. Lakes. Rivers. Glaciers. Ground water. Polar ice caps. Use the graphs of the relative amounts of total salt water and total fresh water in each of the reservoirs to describe that: The majority of water on Earth is found in the oceans. Most of the Earth's fresh water is stored in glaciers or underground. A small fraction of fresh water is found in lakes, rivers, wetlands, and the atmosphere. Understanding: Students understand that: Standard units are used to measure and describe physical quantities such as the amounts of salt water and fresh water in various reservoirs. AMSTI Resources: AMSTI Module: Dynamics of Ecosystems Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards AAS Standard: SCI.AAS.5.15- Identify the distribution of freshwater and saltwater on Earth (e.g., oceans, lakes, rivers, glaciers, ground water, polar ice caps).
Science SC2015 (2015) Grade: 5	16 ) Collect and organize scientific ideas that individuals and communities can use to protect Earth's natural resources and its environment (e.g., terracing land to prevent soil erosion, utilizing no-till farming to improve soil fertility, regulating emissions from factories and automobiles to reduce air pollution, recycling to reduce overuse of landfill areas). NAEP Framework NAEP Statement:: E4.10: The supply of many Earth resources such as fuels, metals, fresh water, and farmland is limited. Humans have devised methods for extending the use of Earth resources through recycling, reuse, and renewal. Unpacked Content Scientific And Engineering Practices: Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information Crosscutting Concepts: Systems and System Models Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth and Human Activity Evidence Of Student Attainment: Students: Combine information from two or more sources to provide and describe evidence about: the positive and negative effects on the environment as a result of human activities as well as how individual communities can use scientific ideas and a scientific understanding of interactions between components of environmental systems to protect a natural resource and the environment in which the resource is found. Teacher Vocabulary: Natural Resource Scientific idea Individual Community Terracing Erosion Soil No-till farming Fertility Emissions Pollution Recycling Landfill Knowledge: Students know: Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life can have major effects, both positive and negative, on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. Individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth's resources and environments. Skills: Students are able to: Obtain and combine information from books and/or other reliable media to explain how individuals and communities can protect Earth's natural resources and its environment. Understanding: Students understand that: Individual communities interact with components of environmental systems and can have both positive and negative effects. AMSTI Resources: AMSTI Module: Dynamics of Ecosystems Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards AAS Standard: SCI.AAS.5.16- Identify a human action that can help the environment.
Science SC2015 (2015) Grade: 5	17 ) Design solutions, test, and revise a process for cleaning a polluted environment (e.g., simulating an oil spill in the ocean or a flood in a city and creating a solution for containment and/or cleanup).* NAEP Framework NAEP Statement:: E4.10: The supply of many Earth resources such as fuels, metals, fresh water, and farmland is limited. Humans have devised methods for extending the use of Earth resources through recycling, reuse, and renewal. NAEP Statement:: E4.11: Humans depend on their natural and constructed environment. Humans change environments in ways that can either be beneficial or detrimental for themselves and other organisms. Unpacked Content Scientific And Engineering Practices: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions Crosscutting Concepts: Systems and System Models Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth and Human Activity Evidence Of Student Attainment: Students: Collaboratively design solutions, test, and revise a process for cleaning a polluted environment. Teacher Vocabulary: Design Solution Test Revise Polluted Environment Engineer Technology Knowledge: Students know: Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life can have major effects, both positive and negative, on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. Individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth's resources and environments. Research on a problem should be carried out before beginning to design a solution. Testing a solution involves investigating how well it performs under a range of likely conditions. At whatever stage, communicating with peers about proposed solutions is an important part of the design process, and shared ideas can lead to improved designs. Skills: Students are able to: Use grade-appropriate information from research about a given problem, including the causes and effects of the problem and relevant scientific information. Generate at least two possible solutions to the problem based on scientific information and understanding of the problem. Specify how each design solution solves the problem. Share ideas and findings with others about design solutions to generate a variety of possible solutions. Describe the necessary steps for designing a solution to a problem, including conducting research and communicating with others throughout the design process to improve the design [note: emphasis is on what is necessary for designing solutions, not on a step-wise process]. Understanding: Students understand that: Engineers improve existing technologies or develop new ones to: increase benefits, decrease known risks, and/or meet societal demands. AMSTI Resources: AMSTI Module: Dynamics of Ecosystems Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards AAS Standard: SCI.AAS.5.17- Identify a way humans can prevent or reverse pollution of the environment.
Science SC2015 (2015) Grade: 6 Earth and Space Science	7 ) Use models to construct explanations of the various biogeochemical cycles of Earth (e.g., water, carbon, nitrogen) and the flow of energy that drives these processes. NAEP Framework NAEP Statement:: E12.11: Earth is a system containing essentially a fixed amount of each stable chemical atom or element. Most elements can exist in several different chemical forms. Earth elements move within and between the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere as part of biogeochemical cycles. NAEP Statement:: E8.14a: Water, which covers the majority of Earth's surface, circulates through the crust, oceans, and atmosphere in what is known as the water cycle. NAEP Statement:: E8.14b: Water evaporates from Earth's surface, rises and cools as it moves to higher elevations, condenses as clouds, falls as rain or snow, and collects in lakes, oceans, soil, and underground. Unpacked Content Scientific And Engineering Practices: Developing and Using Models Crosscutting Concepts: Stability and Change Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems Evidence Of Student Attainment: Students: Use models to explain the various biogeochemical cycles of Earth and the flow of energy that drives these processes. Teacher Vocabulary: Biogeochemical Biotic Abiotic Atom Water cycle Carbon cycle Nitrogen cycle Chemical compound Hydrogen Oxygen Gravity Atmosphere Water vapor Crystallize Transpiration Evaporation Condensation Precipitation Glacier Aquifer Ice sheet Organism Decompose Respiration Element Chemical process Ecosystem Geosphere Carbon dioxide Methane Photosynthesis Fossil fuel Nitrogen Carbon Amino acid Protein DNA Molecule Bacteria Fertilizer Livestock Nitrate Knowledge: Students: The cycle of atoms between living and non-living things is known as a biogeochemical cycle. Biogeochemical cycles interact through biotic and abiotic processes. Biotic involves living or once living things such as plants, animals, and bacteria. Abiotic involves nonliving things like air, rocks, and water. Biogeochemical cycles may include, but are not limited to, the water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles. The water cycle is the continuous process by which water is circulated throughout the earth and the atmosphere. Water is a chemical compound made up of the elements hydrogen and oxygen. Global movements of water and its changes in form are propelled by sunlight and gravity. Energy from the sun drives the movement of water from the Earth (e.g., oceans, landforms, plants) into the atmosphere through transpiration and evaporation. Water vapor in the atmosphere can cool and condense to form rain or crystallize to form snow or ice, which returns to Earth when pulled down by gravity. Water continually cycles among land, ocean, and atmosphere via transpiration, evaporation, condensation and crystallization, and precipitation, as well as downhill flows on land. Gravity causes water on land to move downhill (e.g., rivers and glaciers) and much of it eventually flows into oceans. Some liquid and solid water remains on land in the form of bodies of water, glaciers and ice sheets or can be stored below ground in aquifers. Some water remains in the tissues of plants and other living organisms, and this water is released when the tissues decompose. Water is also released by plants through transpiration and by other living organisms through respiration. Carbon is an element found in the oceans, air, rocks, soil and all living organisms. Carbon is the fundamental building block of life and an important component of many chemical processes. In a process called the carbon cycle, carbon is exchanged among Earth's oceans, atmosphere, ecosystem, and geosphere. Carbon is present in the atmosphere primarily attached to oxygen in a gas called carbon dioxide (CO2), but is also found in other less abundant but climatically significant gases, such as methane (CH4). With the help of the Sun, through the process of photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is pulled from the air to make plant food. Through food chains, the carbon that is in plants moves to the animals that eat them. When an animal eats another animal, the carbon is transferred. When plants and animals die, their bodies, wood, and leaves decay bringing the carbon into the ground. Some become buried miles underground and will become fossil fuels in millions and millions of years. Organisms release carbon dioxide gas through a process called respiration. When humans burn fossil fuels to power factories, power plants, cars and trucks, most of the carbon quickly enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide gas. The oceans, and other bodies of water, soak up some carbon from the atmosphere. Nitrogen is an element found in living things like plants and animals. Nitrogen is also an important part of non-living things like the air and the soil. Nitrogen atoms move slowly between living things, dead things, the air, soil and water. The continuous process by which nitrogen is exchanged between organisms and the environment is called the nitrogen cycle. Most of the nitrogen on Earth is in the atmosphere as molecules of nitrogen gas (N2). All plants and animals need nitrogen to make amino acids, proteins, and DNA, but the nitrogen in the atmosphere is not in a form that they can use. The molecules of nitrogen in the atmosphere can become usable for living things when they are broken apart during lightning strikes or fires, by certain types of bacteria, or by bacteria associated with bean plants. Most plants get the nitrogen they need to grow from the soils or water in which they live. Animals get the nitrogen they need by eating plants or other animals that contain nitrogen. When organisms die, their bodies decompose bringing the nitrogen into soil on land or into ocean water. Bacteria alter the nitrogen into a form that plants are able to use. Other types of bacteria are able to change nitrogen dissolved in waterways into a form that allows it to return to the atmosphere. Certain actions of humans can cause changes to the nitrogen cycle and the amount of nitrogen that is stored in the land, water, air, and organisms. The use of nitrogen-rich fertilizers can add too much nitrogen in nearby waterways as the fertilizer washes into streams and ponds. The waste associated with livestock farming also adds large amounts of nitrogen into soil and water. The increased nitrate levels cause plants to grow rapidly until they use up the supply and die. The number of plant-eating animals will increase when the plant supply increases and then the animals are left without any food when the plants die. Skills: Students are able to: Use a model of the various biogeochemical cycles and identify the relevant components. Describe the relationships between components of the model including the flow of energy. Articulate a statement that relates a given phenomenon to a scientific idea, including the various biogeochemical cycles of Earth and the flow of energy that drives these processes. Understanding: Students understand that: The transfer of energy drives the motion and/or cycling of matter of the various biogeochemical cycles. AMSTI Resources: AMSTI Module: Understanding Weather and Climate Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards AAS Standard: SCI.AAS.6.7- Use a model to explain the water cycle, including evaporation, condensation, and precipitation; recognize that the sun provides the energy which drives the water cycle.
Science SC2015 (2015) Grade: 6 Earth and Space Science	16 ) Implement scientific principles to design processes for monitoring and minimizing human impact on the environment (e.g., water usage, including withdrawal of water from streams and aquifers or construction of dams and levees; land usage, including urban development, agriculture, or removal of wetlands; pollution of air, water, and land).* NAEP Framework NAEP Statement:: E8.15a: Human activities, such as reducing the amount of forest cover, increasing the amount and variety of chemicals released into the atmosphere, and intensive farming, have changed Earth's land, oceans, and atmosphere. NAEP Statement:: E8.15b: Studies of plant and animal populations have shown that such activities can reduce the number and variety of wild plants and animals and sometimes result in the extinction of species. Unpacked Content Scientific And Engineering Practices: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth and Human Activity Evidence Of Student Attainment: Students: Design a process for monitoring human impact on the environment using scientific principles. Design a process for minimizing human impact on the environment using scientific principles. Teacher Vocabulary: Habitat Extinction Species Human Impact Population Per-capita consumption Technology Object System Process Engineer Engineering Design Process (EDP) Monitor Minimize Solution Causal and correlational relationships Criteria Constraints Limitations Knowledge: Students know: Human activities have significantly altered the environment, sometimes damaging or destroying natural habitats and causing the extinction of other species. Changes to Earth's environments can have different positive and negative impacts for different living things. Typically as human populations and per-capita consumption of natural resources increase, so do the negative impacts on Earth unless the activities and technologies involved are engineered otherwise. Technology is anything man-made that solves a problem or fulfills a desire. Technology can be an object, system, or process. Engineering is a systematic and often iterative approach to designing objects, processes, and systems to meet human needs and wants. The Engineering Design Process (EDP) is a series of steps engineers use to guide them as they solve problems. The EDP may include the following cyclical steps: ask, imagine, plan, create, and improve. Scientific information and principles regarding human impact on the environment must be used to design a process or solution that addresses the results of a particular human activity. Scientific information and principles regarding human impact on the environment must be used to design a process or solution that incorporates technologies that can be used to monitor negative effects that human activities have on the environment. Scientific information and principles regarding human impact on the environment must be used to design a process or solution that incorporates technologies that can be used to minimize negative effects that human activities have on the environment. Causal and correlational relationships between the human activity and the negative environmental impact must be distinguished to facilitate the design of the process or solution. Criteria and constraints for the solution must be defined and quantified to include individual or societal needs or desires and constraints imposed by economic conditions (e.g., costs of building and maintaining the solution). Criteria are the principles or standards by which the process or solution is judged. Constraints are the limitations or restrictions on the process or solution. The process or solution must meet the criteria and constraints. Limitations of the use of technologies exist. Skills: Students are able to: Use scientific information and principles to generate a design solution for a problem related to human impact on the environment. Identify relationships between the human activity and the negative environmental impact based on scientific principles. Distinguish between causal and correlational relationships to facilitate the design of the solution. Define and quantify, when appropriate, criteria and constraints for the solution. Describe how well the solution meets the criteria and constraints, including monitoring or minimizing a human impact based on the causal relationships between relevant scientific principles about the processes that occur in, as well as among, Earth systems and the human impact on the environment. Identify limitations of the use of technologies employed by the solution. Understanding: Students understand that: A process or solution must meet criteria and constraints, including monitoring or minimizing a human impact based on the causal relationships between relevant scientific principles about the processes that occur in, as well as among, Earth systems and the human impact on the environment. AMSTI Resources: AMSTI Module: Exploring Planetary Systems Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards AAS Standard: SCI.AAS.6.16- Assess how human behaviors impact the environment (e.g., recycling, conservation, pollution); suggest processes to minimize human impact on the environment.

Tags:

Alabama Public Television, APTV, collection, condensation, environment, evaporation, groundwater, pollution, precipitation, recycle, runoff, Steve Trash, water cycle

License Type:

Custom Permission Type
See Terms: https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/terms-of-use/
For full descriptions of license types and a guide to usage, visit :
https://creativecommons.org/licenses

Accessibility

Video resources: includes closed captioning or subtitles

Comments

In the first half of this video, students will learn about the different stages of the water cycle with a visual model to represent each step. Steve Trash will discuss the different areas on Earth where water is collected, such as in the ocean and in lakes. In the second half of the video, students will learn about different sources of pollution and various methods to prevent harming the Earth's environment. This video could provide background information for students to develop their own solutions to protect Earth's natural environment.

This resource provided by:

Author:

Hannah Bradley

ALEX Classroom Resource

Steve Trash Science: The Water Cycle / Oh Yuck Pollution