Curated OER
Heat, Temperature, and Transfer
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,...
Curated OER
Melting the Ice: Energy Transfer
Students study thermal energy and energy transfer to sea ice processes. In this energy transfer instructional activity, students make their own ice cream and discuss energy transfer and thermal energy. Students view a radiation overhead...
Curated OER
What Is Energy? Short Demos
Students engage in three short, hands-on, in-class demos which expand students' understand of energy. First, using peanuts and heat, students see how the human body burns food to make energy. Then, they create paper snake mobiles to...
Curated OER
Project Energy
Students explore multiple types of energy. In this energy lesson, students prepare a science fair project through completing a WebQuest. Students investigate radiant, thermal, and biochemical energy.
Curated OER
Urban Heat Islands: An Introduction to Energy Transfer and Transformation
Elementary school physical scientists explore kinetic mechanical energy by dropping a golf ball on different surfaces. They discuss how human made materials might react to light differently from nature made materials. This lesson plan...
University of Tennessee
Potential Energy
Did you know a tennis ball has potential? Collaborative groups analyze the potential energy of a tennis ball based on its height. They measure its starting height and the height after its first bounce. Using a graphical analysis, they...
Curated OER
Transfer of Thermal Energy
Students define temperature and heat, distinguish between temperature and heat flow, calculate amount of heat energy released or absorbed in chemical process, and design procedure, through experimentation, to gather and evaluate data to...
American Chemical Society
Matter on the Move
Start this mini unit on matter out by demonstrating how food coloring behaves when placed in cold and in hot water. Then have the class experiment with warm water and soap film. Pupils will learn that an increase in thermal energy also...
Curated OER
Steamship Portland: Where's the Energy?
Young scholars examine how steamships operate. They describe the necessary energy conversions. They construct a model paddlewheel ship. They use rubber bands as examples of potential and kinetic energy as they unwind and set the models...
Curated OER
Heat and Thermodynamics
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...
American Chemical Society
M&M's in Different Temperatures
Help your class come up with a procedure for comparing the dissolving rates of colored candy coating in different temperatures of water. If you are placing importance on controlled variables with your class, make sure that they use equal...
American Chemical Society
Changing the Density of a Liquid - Heating and Cooling
During a unit on density, pupils ponder whether or not temperature affects this property. By carefully inserting blue cold water and yellow hot water into a room-temperature sample, they will see the answer. Make sure to have done the...
Curated OER
What's Cooking
Learners complete a solar radiation activity. For this solar radiation lesson, students complete an experiment to learn about solar radiation. Learners make solar tea by using the energy of the Sun to brew tea.
Curated OER
Endothermic or Exothermic That Is the Question
Students conduct an experiment to determine what happens to heat energy during a chemical reaction. They examine an endothermic reaction by observing a chemical reactions.
Curated OER
Who Turned on the Lights?
Seventh graders discuss how energy is transformed from one form to another. In this physics lesson, 7th graders design and build their own hydro generator. They identify the factors that affect its energy production.
Curated OER
The Great Heat Escape
Students observe a demonstration on the role of thermal conductivity in heat transfer. In this thermal conductivity lesson, students design and conduct an experiment to compare the thermal conductivity of four substances. Lesson...
Curated OER
Solar
Students study solar energy. In this renewable energy lesson students complete several lab activities using different controls and variables.
Curated OER
Water Pollution
Students investigate a variety of pollutants that can affect water and the plants and animals that live in the water. In this water pollution lesson plan, students identify pollutants in a bog, marsh, stream or other wetland area and...
Curated OER
All Steamed Up
Students examine the energy conversions and simple machines are involved in the operation of a steam engine. They make a replica of a small steam engine.
Discovery Education
Cushion It!
Sugar cubes, collide! Groups design protection systems using bubble wrap to protect sugar cubes from being destroyed by falling batteries in the STEM lesson. They consider how the experiment relates to collisions in real-world...
Cornell University
Glued into Science—Classifying Polymers
Explore the unique characteristics of polymers. A complete activity begins with a presentation introducing polymers. Following the presentation, young scientists develop a laboratory plan for creating substances using polymers. They test...
Curated OER
Electricity Generation
Students study the history of electricity and the different ways we generate electricity. In this electricity lesson plan students complete several experiments on generating power.
Curated OER
Discovering How a Car Works
Students explain the four stroke process in internal combustion engines. In this physics lesson, students role play this process and present their reenactment in class. They draw and label the diagram of an internal combustion engine.
Curated OER
Analyzing Birds and Planes
Students find a variety of topics and subjects in this lesson. In the math section of this lesson, students graph linear equations and analyze their data. They solve one and two step equations to find the variable.