Using the NASA website, class members try to determine if changes could be detected in cloud cover, temperature, and/or radiation measurements due to the lack of contrails that resulted from the halt in air traffic after the attacks...

Physical science scholars discover an array of heat sources. They experiment to connect radiation to heat. They begin to understand thermal equilibrium. Then, they test to see if mass affects the rate of temperature change. Choose a few,...

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,...

Middle schoolers study plots and use a Live Access Server to generate plots.  In this temperature lesson students examine the process of incoming and outgoing radiation. 

Noting the color of a star is equivalent to taking its temperature! A creative lesson describes the connection between a star's temperature and the color it emits. As pupils interact with a simulation, they learn how to connect the...

Tenth graders explore the relationship between color and heat absorption by measuring the temperature change of water in differently colored test tubes as they are exposed to a heat lamp. They work in small groups to collect data and...

Students examine the different ways heat can be felt.  For this radiation and conduction lesson, students recognize that the sun radiates heat. Students conduct three experiments to find how the sun warms the Earth and how that heat...

Students experiment with sunlight and temperature. They study the definition of albedo, or the percentage of incoming sunlight that is reflected, rather than absorbed.

Questions that can be used in a instructional activity 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" instructional...

Young scholars examine NASA satellite observations of surface temperature and investigate the seasonal changes of land and water temperature.

Students explore the layers of earth's atmosphere and conduct an experiment to identify carbon dioxide. They construct models using styrofoam to represent molecules in the atmosphere's layers. To discover how sunlight efffects...

Students investigate how different surfaces absorb heat, and how the physical characteristics of a surface have a powerful effect on the way a surface absorbs and releases heat from the sun.

Four modules are a part of this stellar lesson plan. Space scientists view the electromagnetic spectrum, they generate waves on a computer screen in order to measure frequency and wavelength, discover how light is related to temperature,...

Students study the variables that affect the Earth's albedo.  In this environmental data analysis lesson students interpret and graph information and calculate changes. 

Things are about to heat up in your classroom! A kinesthetic lesson asks learners to play the part of the gases in the earth's atmosphere and interact with the sun's radiation. The focus is to learn the impact of the increasing...

Students work on problems in which they investigate conduction, convection, and radiation. They attempt to maintain the warmth in one can of soda while cooling the other as much as possible in a thirty minute period. They examine how...

Students 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 minute...

Students use a microcomputer connected to a light sensor and temperature probe to explore the reflection and absorption of radiation for different surfaces. Students follow instructions in this guided inquiry based lab and are then asked...

Eighth graders explore mathematics by conducting a series of investigations using a colorimeter. In this math lesson, 8th graders explain the purpose of food irradiation. They collect data and graph them.

Clouds are nature's insulator! A lab investigation asks learners to use an infrared thermometer to measure differences in infrared temperatures. They find that pointing the thermometer at a cloud has a much different result than pointing...

Students examine the influences of water and mulch on soil temperature.  In this investigative activity students complete a soil experiment. 

Learners measure the air and soil temperatures at designated times. They graph the temperatures of each on one piece of graph paper with different colors. Students compare the information for the two line plots and analyze their results...

Stars seem to be a far away mystery... but it turns out we know much more about stars than one would think! An engaging lesson shows learners how to read a light spectrum to determine the temperature and chemical makeup of a star....

Here is a physical science activity where pupils place thermometers inside of a white and a black paper pocket and place them under a lamp. They record and compare the temperature increase over a ten-minute period. Have your class...