episode description
Aubrey and Andre organize a surprise birthday party for A.J. complete with extravagant decorations and a humongous cake, but it turns out they got the day confused. 11-year-old Kid Investigator Evelyn wonders where all the decorations will end up once they’re thrown away. The STEAM Daydream team goes on a wild trash chase to find out. Suit up, this investigation might get a little stinky!
featured in this episode
meet our kid investigator
Evelyn C. (she/her)
- from Vienna, Virginia
- 11-years-old
- favorite school subject: social studies
meet our expert
Dr. Rachelle Riegerix, Ph.D. (she/her)
- Scientist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- fun fact: "Preventing food from going to landfills is one of the easiest and most powerful things you can do to fight climate change."
education standards
next generation science standards
- 5-LS2-1 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics: Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment
- 5-PS1-2 Matter and Its Interactions: Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved.
- 5-PS1-4 Matter and Its Interactions: Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances.
vocabulary
atmosphere:
the layer of gases surrounding a planet
climate change:
the long-term changes in the the Earth’s overall weather patterns, such as high and low temperatures and humidity
composte:
a way to break down organic waste, like leftover food scraps or shredded wood, into useable material like fertilizer for foil
greenhouse gases:
gases in Earth's atmosphere that trap heat by letting sunlight pass through the atmosphere but preventing the heat from leaving the atmosphere
greenhouse effect:
the way gases trap heat close to Earth’s surface making it warmer, like a blanket wrapped around our planet
methane:
a colorless, odorless gas that appears in nature and is produced from human and natural activity; classified as a greenhouse gas