ALEX Classroom Resource

  

Steve Trash Science: Ecosystems Gimme Shelter/Rock Paper Scissors

  Classroom Resource Information  

Title:

 Steve Trash Science: Ecosystems Gimme Shelter/Rock Paper Scissors

URL:

 https://www.pbs.org/video/ecosystems-gimme-shelterrock-paper-scissors-n8jzws/

Content Source:

 PBS
Type: Audio/Video

Overview:

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

Ecosystems are not only the places where living things live, but also the connections between the living things in those places. Steve explores this cool idea and then tries to figure out the logical steps needed to get computer program to play the game rock paper scissors with him.

Content Standard(s):
Science
SC2015 (2015)
Grade: 5
11 ) Create a model to illustrate the transfer of matter among producers; consumers, including scavengers and decomposers; and the environment.

NAEP Framework
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.

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Developing and Using Models
Crosscutting Concepts: Systems and System Models
Disciplinary Core Idea: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Construct and use models to illustrate the transfer of matter among producers; consumers, including scavengers and decomposers; and the environment.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • Model
  • Transfer
  • Matter
  • Producer
  • Consumer
  • Decomposer
  • Environment
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants.
  • Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants.
  • Some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms (both plants or plants parts and animals) and therefore operate as "decomposers."
  • Decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil.
  • Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met.
  • A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life.
  • Newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem.
  • Matter cycles between the air and soil and among plants, animals, and microbes as these organisms live and die. Organisms obtain gases, and water, from the environment, and release waste matter (gas, liquid, or solid) back into the environment.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Develop a model to describe a phenomenon that includes the movement of matter within an ecosystem, identifying the relevant components such as matter, plants, animals, decomposers, and environment.
  • Describe the relationships among components that are relevant for describing the phenomenon, including the relationships in the system between organisms that consume other organisms, including the following:
    • Animals that consume other animals.
    • Animals that consume plants.
    • Organisms that consume dead plants and animals.
    • The movement of matter between organisms during consumption.
  • Use the model to describe the following:
    • The cycling of matter in the system between plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
    • How interactions in the system of plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment allow multiple species to meet their needs.
    • That newly introduced species can affect the balance of interactions in a system (e.g., a new animal that has no predators consumes much of another organism's food within the ecosystem).
    • That changing an aspect (e.g., organisms or environment) of the ecosystem will affect other aspects of the ecosystem.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • A system can be described in terms of its components, like producers, consumers, and the environment, and their interactions, like the cycling of matter.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Dynamics of Ecosystems
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.5.11- Using a given model, identify a missing part of a simple food chain.
Science
SC2015 (2015)
Grade: 5
14 ) Use a model to represent how any two systems, specifically the atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere, and/or hydrosphere, interact and support life (e.g., influence of the ocean on ecosystems, landform shape, and climate; influence of the atmosphere on landforms and ecosystems through weather and climate; influence of mountain ranges on winds and clouds in the atmosphere).

Unpacked Content
Scientific And Engineering Practices:
Developing and Using Models
Crosscutting Concepts: Systems and System Models
Disciplinary Core Idea: Earth's Systems
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students:
  • Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • Atmosphere
  • Hydrosphere
  • Geosphere
  • Biosphere
  • Model
  • Phenomenon
  • System
  • Earth
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • Earth's major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere, and the biosphere (living things, including humans).
  • These systems interact in multiple ways to affect Earth's surface materials and processes.
  • The ocean supports a variety of ecosystems and organisms, shapes landforms, and influences climate.
  • Winds and clouds in the atmosphere interact with the landforms to determine patterns of weather.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • Develop a model, using a specific given example of a phenomenon, to describe ways that the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact. In the model, identify the relevant components of their example, including features of two of the following systems that are relevant for the given example:
    • Geosphere (i.e., solid and molten rock, soil, sediment, continents, mountains).
    • Hydrosphere (i.e., water and ice in the form of rivers, lakes, glaciers).
    • Atmosphere (i.e., wind, oxygen).
    • Biosphere [i.e., plants, animals (including humans)].
  • Identify and describe relationships (interactions) within and between the parts of the Earth systems identified in the model that are relevant to the example (e.g., the atmosphere and the hydrosphere interact by exchanging water through evaporation and precipitation; the hydrosphere and atmosphere interact through air temperature changes, which lead to the formation or melting of ice).
  • Use the model to describe a variety of ways in which the parts of two major Earth systems in the specific given example interact to affect the Earth's surface materials and processes in that context. Use the model to describe how parts of an individual Earth system:
    • Work together to affect the functioning of that Earth system.
    • Contribute to the functioning of the other relevant Earth system.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • Systems, like the atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere, can be described in terms of their components and their interactions.
AMSTI Resources:
AMSTI Module:
Dynamics of Ecosystems
Alabama Alternate Achievement Standards
AAS Standard:
SCI.AAS.5.14- Identify how the atmosphere and hydrosphere interact to support life (e.g. air, water).
Digital Literacy and Computer Science
DLIT (2018)
Grade: 3
6) Describe the function of a flowchart.

Unpacked Content
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students will:
  • describe the function of a flowchart.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • flowchart
  • function
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • the purpose of a flowchart.
  • how flowcharts function.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • discuss the purpose and function of a flowchart.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • a flowchart is a visual representation of an alogrithm, program, or process.
Digital Literacy and Computer Science
DLIT (2018)
Grade: 4
5) Use flowcharts to create a plan or algorithm.

Unpacked Content
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students will:
  • use flowcharts to create a plan or algorithm.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • flowchart
  • plan
  • algorithm
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • flowcharts are used in creating plan or algorithm.
  • strategies to use flowcharts to create a plan or algorithm.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • use flowcharts to create a plan or algorithm.
  • explain how flowcharts help in creating a plan or algorithm.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • flowcharts are used in creating plan or algorithm.
  • flowcharts help to visualize a plan or algorithm.
Digital Literacy and Computer Science
DLIT (2018)
Grade: 6
6) Identify steps in developing solutions to complex problems using computational thinking.

Unpacked Content
Evidence Of Student Attainment:
Students will:
  • use the problem solving or design thinking process to think logically through a previously solved complex problem.
Teacher Vocabulary:
  • computational thinking
Knowledge:
Students know:
  • how to define the problem.
  • how to plan solutions.
  • how to implement a plan.
  • how to reflect on the results and process.
  • how to iterate through the process again.
Skills:
Students are able to:
  • identify the steps involved with formulating problems and solutions in a way that can be represented or carried with or without a computer.
Understanding:
Students understand that:
  • computational thinking is formulating problems and solutions in a way that can be represented or carried out with or without a computer.
Tags: algorithm, code, computational thinking, consumer, decomposer, ecosystem, environment, flowchart, producer, program, pseudocode, scavenger
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
AccessibilityVideo resources: includes closed captioning or subtitles
Comments

The first half of the episode describes the components of ecosystems on Earth and how biotic and abiotic factors are interrelated in ecosystems. Steve Trash shows models and examples of ecosystems, which students can use to create their own models. The second half of the episode explains computational thinking with a focus on flowcharts and pseudocode. 

  This resource provided by:  
Author: Hannah Bradley
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