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Water All Around Us
- Lesson 1: Play Water Connects Us All
- Student Ages: 10-14 years old
- Activity Time: 1 day (35 minutes)
- Activity Level: Beginner Coder
Description: Lesson 1 is a guided inquiry activity that lets students explore the important role that water plays in underwater animal ecosystems through the lens of the life of a cybersalmon, a creature whose life in the Kodu world would be in close resemblance of the North American Sockeye Salmon. They do this exploration by playing a Kodu mini game designed to model how different characteristics of water (its depth, temperature, purity, speed, and nutrients) become key to the salmon’s survival during different phases of its life.
Prerequisites
- Download and Installation of Kodu
Learning Objectives
- Observe, experiment with a computer model, and create hypotheses, of the relationship a fresh water ecosystem, and the survival of salmon during the earliest stages of its life.
Contents
Student Activities
Activator
Students will discuss prior knowledge on the lifecyle of salmon. Students will have a discussion about the sort of ecosystem do salmon mothers lay their eggs in when they spawn. Students will have a discussion about why water and ground conditions are important for a salmon mother to consider to maximize the chances of her eggs’ survival. Students will have a discussion about the conditions changes as a salmon turns into an alevin, a fry, or an adult. Students will have a discussion about what ways the water levels connects salmon to its predators at different stages.
Subjects:Science, Computer Science, Engineering, 21st Century Learning
Cybersalmon Eggs Guided Discovery: Water Quality is essential to the Life of a Salmon
Students should read the Salmon Eggs Handout. The article describes the factors that a Salmon ready to spawn must consider when choosing a spot (the redd) that can maximize the potential survival of her eggs. In the world of Kodu there are very interesting animals just as in our world. The cybersalmon is a fascinating creature that lives in three different habitats during the four main phases of its life, just like Salmon do on earth. In this activity, students should form pairs and take turns at Cybersalmon eggs, where they take the role of a Mother Salmon trying to find the best redd to lay her eggs on a mountain lake bed. While one of the students is playing, the other one should take notes as to the hints mother will give them about the sites they will explore. The game has two phases. In phase 1, the goal is for the player to control cybersalmon mother to explore the lake and discover potential spawning sites. Phase 2 begins when players have found the 10 potential sites. At this point, a message will indicate it’s now time to select the best one to lay her eggs in.
Subjects:Science, Computer Science, Engineering, 21st Century Learning
Skills
Character, Citizenship, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Project Based Learning