The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

Introduction to Edison EdScratch

Edison finds the Grassland

Edison, the Animal of Yellowstone Part 3

A 6th grade STEM lesson

Author: Aimee Katz

Date: 5/23/23

Notes for teachers

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Ecosystem Cards Link

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Students have already had prior lessons using the Ecosystem cards.

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Students will have prior knowledge using EdScratch but may be helpful to review how to download code to the Edison.

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See speaker notes on slide 12 so that students understand the rules to the game.

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If may be useful to print slide 12 so that each student has a physical copy to use.

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Part 1- Click here

Part 2- Click here

Part 3- Click here

Part 4- Click here

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List of Materials

• Edison Robots
• Computer
• EdGrid or create your own
• Ecosystem Cards
• two dice per group or use Google dice roller
• optional printing of slides 12, 14 and 15 for each student

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Science Standards

6.L.2U1.13- Develop and use models to demonstrate the interdependence of organisms and their environment including biotic and abiotic factors.

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6.L.2U1.14- Construct a model that shows the cycling of matter and flow of energy in ecosystems.

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Computer Science Standards

6.AP.A.1 Identify planning strategies such as flowcharts or pseudocode, to simulate algorithms that solve problems.

6.AP.PD.5 Document programs in order to make them easier to follow, test, and debug.

Objectives:

• Students will be able to code a simple program using EdScratch in order to survive in the ecosystem by finding the sources of food.

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• Using Edison as an animal in the food chain, students will be able to create a model of energy flow in an ecosystem.

Driving Question

How do living things interact with living and nonliving parts of the environment?

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What is the most efficient way to get to the food source(s) so that your animal conserves energy in order to survive?

Agenda

1 60 minute class period

Rules of the Game

Survivor of Yellowstone

1. Randomly place Ecosystem cards on the EdGrid.
2. Roll both dice to find out which animal Edison will become in this game. If you roll an 11 or 12, players choice of animal.
3. Your Edison will start the game on the animal that you rolled. For example if you are an Elk and it is located on A4, this is where you start.
4. Make a plan of how your Edison will move on the grid
5. Find all the sources of energy in the ecosystem that you need to survive.
6. You cannot enter a grid space containing an animal that could eat you, but you can enter that space if the animal or plant is not harmful to you.
7. If you enter a grid space that has an animal that can eat you, push the square button on your Edison and return to the start. Debug your code and try again to run the grid.
8. Code your Edison to find all the sources with the least amount of code possible.
9. Your Edison must return to your starting position to end the game.

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Log in to the Wifi and type in the following:

www.edscratchapp.com

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Edison the Yellowstone Survivor

What you will need:

Edison Robot

EdCom Cable

Computer logged in to the Wifi

EdGrid or premade Grid

EcoSystems cards

Dice or Google roll

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Edison The Yellowstone Survivor

Example game board

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• Dice rolled = 6 Elk
• Place Edison on A4 where the Elk is located.
• Elk eat all kinds of plants according to the animal diet sheet.
• Avoid coyote, gray wolf, grizzly bear and winter tick.
• Need to get to graywillow plant, grasses, aspen trees and pine seeds and back to starting position at A4

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Evaluation/Assessment

Students will share their solutions either as a group share.

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Students will save their code with a screenshot or using the paper version on slide 14.

Differentiation

Offer a paper version of coding by printing out slide 14. Have students cut out a paper Edison and use the Edison physically to move on the grid. Circle all the food sources with a green marker an place a red X over all the predators. As students physically move their paper Edison have them make lines with arrows indicating how their Edison will successfully find all the food sources and avoid the predators.

If coding using https://www.edscratchapp.com/

is not an option due to language barriers, have students use the icon based https://www.edblocksapp.com/

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Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

Students who have shown proficiency in coding with Edison can try to code 2 Edison’s as two different animals. They can press the start button at the same time and try to avoid running in to the other Edison animal trying to find their food sources.

Students may use more blocks such as the wait block, leds, music, or events to enhance their solution.