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Unit Plan
Virginia Middle School Engineering Education Initiative

Save the Penguins: An Introduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Heat things up in your physical science class with this interactive lesson series on thermodynamics. Through a series of class demonstrations and experiments, young scientists learn how heat is transferred through conduction, convention,...
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Lesson Plan
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Science 4 Inquiry

Investigating How Heat Flows

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
It is impossible to cool down a glass of water by adding ice. Young scientists explore heat transfer through videos, experiments, and interactive games. They quickly catch on that the water melts the ice and things aren't always as they...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Heat and Thermodynamics

For Teachers 9th - 12th
This is actually a 10-day mini unit on thermal energy for your high school chemists. Every avenue is taken to get learners absorbed in heat: a pretest, a PowerPoint presentation, Internet exploration, demonstrations, lab activities, and...
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Lesson Plan
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American Chemical Society

Heat, Temperature, and Conduction

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
How does heat move from one item to another, even when the items are in different states of matter? Pupils experiment with adding washers to hot water and adding hot washers to room temperature water to observe the heat transfer. 
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Lesson Plan
NEED Project

Calibrating Thermometers

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Engage young scientists in the upper-elementary and middle school grades with this collection of simple experiments. Whether you're teaching about heat transfer, density, or potential energy this resource has a lab for you.
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Lesson Plan
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Keep it Cool

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
This cool lesson plan is ideal for elementary engineers or physical scientists, especially when learning about heat transfer and insulation. After reading a page of background information, engineering teams collaborate to design and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Evidence of Heat Transformations

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Earth, life, and physical science classes can all benefit from understanding heat transfer. There is not room enough to describe these seven exceptional laboratory experiments that explore conduction, convetcion, and radiation. Several...
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Lesson Plan
American Physiological Society

Feeling the Heat

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How do the changing seasons affect the homes where we live? This question is at the forefront of engineering and design projects. Challenge your physical science class to step into the role of an architect to build a model home capable...
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Lesson Plan
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NASA

Feel the Heat

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Pupils examine how solar energy can supply power and heat on the lunar surface. As groups design and build a solar-powered water heating system, they test their system to determine the change in temperature of the water and redesign it...
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Activity
NASA

Feel the Heat

For Teachers 4th - 12th Standards
Heat water up like a NASA engineer. Using the engineering design process, investigators create a system to trap and move heat through a water-filled tube. Designers participate in a post-activity discussion that highlights the role of...
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Lesson Plan
Space Awareness

Water is a Heat Sink

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
One of the key objectives of Europe's Copernicus Earth program is to monitor the temperatures of the oceans and seas on Earth. Young scholars learn the effects of different heat capacities through two experiments. These experiments...
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Unit Plan
Columbus City Schools

Keeping It Hot!

For Teachers 7th Standards
Hot off the presses, this collection of thermal energy activities, lessons, and printables is sure to amaze. Demonstrate how thermal energy moves about in a system using simple materials. Pupils demonstrate their understanding...
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Unit Plan
Teach Engineering

Solar Water: Heat it Up!

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Young engineers are instructed to design and build their own solar water heaters. Then, they calculate the efficiency and cost and compare them to commercially available models. This is a full unit for pupils to apply their knowledge.
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Lesson Plan
Space Awareness

Oceans as a Heat Reservoir

For Teachers 7th - 11th Standards
Oceans absorb half of the carbon dioxide and 80 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Scholars learn how and why the oceans store heat more effectively than land and how they help mitigate global warming. Pupils...
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Activity
It's About Time

Exploring Energy Resource Concepts

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Please turn off the lights to conserve energy. Or not, after all energy is always conserved. This first lesson in an eight-part series includes three parts. Part A contains one hands-on activity and two inquiry-based experiments on heat...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Bioreactor Water Circulation System

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Make those microbes warm up water. Pupils first investigate water pumps, then design a water circulation system that uses solar energy. A bioreactor in the system takes energy from compost and helps heat water.
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Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Thermal Energy Flow in Materials

For Teachers 6th Standards
The sun sends the earth 35,000 times the amount of energy required by all of us on the entire planet, every day. The fourth instructional activity in the 10-part series looks at how light energy from the sun transfers into thermal...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Gallery Walk Questions on Earth's Radiation Balance

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Questions that can be used in a lesson on Earth's radiation balance are suggested in this resource. It is not a lesson plan, per se, but it is a list of questions for stations within a "Gallery Walk" lesson. The link to how Gallery Walks...
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Lesson Plan
NASA

Hurricanes as Heat Engines

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Hurricanes are a destructive yet fascinating phenomenon. Individuals examine evidence that hurricanes use thermal energy from the ocean as they approach land. Learners use images, charts, and graphs to collect data and then draw...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Making the Standard Solar Heater

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Heat up a lesson on solar energy. The first of three parts in the Experimenting with Solar Heaters unit has scholars construct solar heaters. They then use them to heat up a container of water and calculate the amount of heat energy...
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Lesson Plan
American Physiological Society

Why is Kettle Corn Cooked in Copper Pots?

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
The kitchen — it's not just for eating anymore! Specific heat is often a difficult concept to grasp, so give it context by relating it to cooking. Learners gain experience in the principles of thermal energy transfer by designing an...
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Lesson Plan
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Bonneville

Creating the Most Effective Solar Heater

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
If changing one variable can improve a design, why not try changing more? Using the results from the previous activity, scholars decide on the variables that caused the most improvement in the effectiveness of the solar heater. They take...
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Lesson Plan
Teach Engineering

How Hot is Hot?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Elementary schoolers identify the three methods of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. The activity is mostly lecture-based. When the teacher has finished the presentation, groups of pupils get into teams and they must...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

The Cold, Hard Truth

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Things are really getting heated in the lab! Science scholars scope out the facts about heat energy transfer using a simple lab from the K20 Center. Groups collaborate to observe temperature changes between hot metal and water, then use...

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