Curated OER
Conduction, Convection, Radiation, Oh My!
Students draw a line graph, and use graphing as a tool to discover more about conduction, convection and radiation. They should design their own experiment using heat sensitive paper to show they explain these 3 processes.
It's About Time
Exploring Energy Resource Concepts
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...
Curated OER
Sources of Heat
Fourth graders conduct an experiment related to heat sources, and participate in a heat source hunt. They identify sources of heat, then compare the melting rate of ice cubes, illustrating the results in their science journal. Students...
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Heat Discrepancies
Students answer the question, "Why do Eskimos build houses out of ice to keep warm. Since heat goes from hot to cold, don¿¿¿t the ice walls take away the warmth inside the house?" They explain how snow or ice can actually be insulators.
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Stop Heat from Escaping
Students explore the uses of insulation and describe how insulation helps to conserve energy. They work in groups and use plastic, wool, paper and aluminum to experiment with the heat-retaining properties of various materials.
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Specific Heat of Metals
Students determine the specific heat of unknown metals. based on their hypothesis and design proposal. They analyze the findings of the specific heat of the unknown metals. Students complete this by questions, hypothesis, rationale,...
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Heat Flow
Students explore how a whale's countercurrent flow of blood is an example of a heat exchange system and conduction. Excellent worksheet provided.
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Gallery Walk Questions on Earth's Radiation Balance
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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Improving the Building Envelope System
Students explain the different heat transfer mechanisms and how they influence the building envelope. They develop ways in which the building envelope can be improved and test hypotheses about building envelope designs.
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The Envelope System: A Partial Solution
Studnet identify examples of conduction, convection and radiation. They develop an example of a building envelope. They also describe how heat transfer mechanisms can affect home energy costs.
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Energy At Play
If you can find Tinker Toys™, then this may be a fun assignment for your physical science class. Using the construction set and a few other toys, they examine the forces involved when it they are being played with. For each, they...
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Go With the Flow!
Students experiment with heat transfer in a countercurrent system and describe the importance of conduction in heat-energy transfer.
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Heat and Matter
Students explore liquids and solids by conducting in class experiments. For this matter lesson, students define the properties of matter and how heat can change those properties. Students experiment with heating objects such as butter...
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Melts in Your Bag, Not in Your Hands
Students study how the sun transfers heat to the earth through radiation. They examine how animals absorb energy from the sun to warm their bodies by experiment with chocolate melting. They examine sun safety.
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Insulators, Conductors, and Energy Transfer
Third graders conduct experiments to determine what types of material make good insulators. They prepare a graph of time vs. temperature for their sample. They choose a graph using each kind of material to display for class analysis and...
American Physiological Society
Why is Kettle Corn Cooked in Copper Pots?
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...
Curated OER
Transformation of Energy: Heat
Sixth graders investigate how heat is transferred and the concepts of conduction, convection, and radiation. They define key vocabulary terms, and observe teacher-led demonstrations of conduction, convection, and radiation.
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It's Gettin' Hot In Here, So Transfer Energy
Students study the means by which energy is transferred from the sun through the Earth's atmosphere. They examine radiation, conduction, and convection. They complete a lab to determine how the different transfers affect the atmosphere...
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Heat: Mini Unit
Learners experiment with heat. In this physical science lesson, students engage in hands-on activities to develop concepts related to heat. Learners offer explanations for their observations using given vocabulary.
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Conductivity
Students work together to create a simple conductivity tester. They discover the difference between conductors and insulators. They test different types of materials for their conductivity as well.
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Temperature Changes Everything
Middle school chemists visit interactive websites in order to discover what happens to molecular motion when heat is added to matter. They conduct an experiment that demonstrates the expansion of matter with the addition of heat. A lab...
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Containers
Students investigate the effect of different container materials on heat transfer; draws a conclusion about the best insulator; and applies concept to a new, seemingly quite different problem.
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Melt Away
Students explore objects before and after heating using their senses. In this matter and energy lesson, students experiment with a variety of objects and use their senses (except taste) to make predictions and record observations about...
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Hot Cans and Cold Cans
Young scholars investigate the physics of heating and cooling through conduction, convection, and radiation. Working in groups, they determine the best way to cool a can of water and warm a can of water. Temperature is taken at five...