Classroom Resource

Steve Trash Science: Ecosystems Gimme Shelter/Rock Paper Scissors

Subject Area

Science
Digital Literacy and Computer Science

Grade(s)

3, 4, 5, 6

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.

Digital Literacy and Computer Science (2018) Grade(s): 3

DLCS18.3.6

Describe the function of a flowchart.

Unpacked Content

UP:DLCS18.3.6

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 (2018) Grade(s): 4

DLCS18.4.5

Use flowcharts to create a plan or algorithm.

Unpacked Content

UP:DLCS18.4.5

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 (2018) Grade(s): 6

DLCS18.6.6

Identify steps in developing solutions to complex problems using computational thinking.

Unpacked Content

UP:DLCS18.6.6

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.
Science (2015) Grade(s): 5

SC15.5.11

Create a model to illustrate the transfer of matter among producers; consumers, including scavengers and decomposers; and the environment.

Unpacked Content

UP:SC15.5.11

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.

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Developing and Using Models

Crosscutting Concepts

Systems and System Models
Science (2015) Grade(s): 5

SC15.5.14

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

UP:SC15.5.14

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.

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Developing and Using Models

Crosscutting Concepts

Systems and System Models
Link to Resource
https://www.pbs.org/video/ecosystems-gimme-shelterrock-paper-scissors-n8jzws/

CR Resource Type

Audio/Video

Resource Provider

PBS
Accessibility

Accessibility

Video resources: includes closed captioning or subtitles
License

License Type

CUSTOM

Custom License Type (URL)

https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/terms-of-use/

Comments or Notes

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. 

Approved Date

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