Curated OER
Turning the Air Upside Down
Learners analyze how engineers study temperature inversions and convection currents to understand why pollution levels may be higher in some areas than others. They participate in an experiment that allows them to build simple models to...
Curated OER
Early Central Heating
In this history of heating worksheet, students read about the different ways of heating rooms over time. They answer three critical thinking questions about conduction, convection and heating.
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Simulating the Greenhouse Effect in a Terrarium
Students identify what factors effect global warming and how the greenhouse effect occurs. In this environmental lesson students view videos then complete an experiment using a terrarium to observe greenhouse gas.
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...
Virginia Middle School Engineering Education Initiative
Save the Penguins: An Introduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer
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,...
NASA
Feel the Heat
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...
Curated OER
Be "Sun-sible" about Heating Water
Students create a solar water heater. For this solar energy lesson, students conduct an experiment to determine which colors absorb more radiant heat. Students investigate the relationship of heat loss to insulation. Students then create...
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...
Messenger Education
Design Challenge: How to Keep Gelatin from Melting
The inside of the spacecraft Messenger, which explores Mercury, will experience temperatures from 32 to 91 degrees Fahrenheit. In the final installment of a series of four space-related activities, groups spend time discussing and...
Curated OER
Secrets of the Ocean Realm - In the School "Mountain in the Sea"
Students learn how cold and warm water behave in the marine environment due to convection currents. Students also conduct an experiment to demonstrate the formation of a convection current.
Curated OER
Just How DO Those Plates Move?
Students experiment with water, temperature and paper to explore how convection currents occur and how they are used to explain the movement of the Earth's plates.
Curated OER
Three Methods of Heat Transfer
Pupils participate in a variety of experiments designed to illustrate types of heat transfer including conduction, convection and radiation. They complete worksheets as an assessment of the experiments.
Curated OER
Plate Tectonics
Students reinforce their knowledge of plate tectonics from what they have already learned on the subject. In this science lesson, students watch a small clip from the movie "Ice Age" which engages the students to participate throughout...
Curated OER
Was Goldilocks Telling the Truth?
Sixth graders explore the movement of heat between objects. In this heat lesson, 6th graders use the scientific method to conduct guided experiments regarding conduction, convection, and radiation.
Curated OER
Methods of Heat Transfer
Eighth graders discuss the forms of heat transfer that relate to the human body. Discussion revolves around the ability of different designs of hats to change the rate of heat transfer to and from the body. Students then experiment...
Curated OER
Heat And Heat Transfer
Learners role play molecules in a container as the container is heated to develop a definition of heat and temperature. They also observe demonstrations of conduction, convection, radiation, and phase transfer. Using these observations...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Convection
Students experiment with the cyclic process of convection and apply the principal to everyday events.
Teach Engineering
Insulation Materials Investigation
Don't melt away! Pairs investigate different insulation materials to determine which one is better than the others. Using a low-temp heat plate, the teams insulate an ice cube from the heat source with a variety of substances. They...
Curated OER
Climate And the Greenhouse Effect
Students demonstrate the greenhouse effect. They recognize that relatively small changes to our environment can stimulate significant climate changes. They determine that the "scientific method" is a process of testing hypotheses and...
Curated OER
Convection Currents
Students explain and understand the circulation of air in the atmosphere. They identify that energy can be carried from one place to another by heat flow or by waves, including water, light and sound waves, or by moving objects. ...
Polar Trec
Staying Warm in Antarctica!
Has your class ever wondered how animals and scientists stay warm in the Polar Regions? Kids will investigate to understand the three types of heat transfer and how heat transfer affects those trying to stay toasty in sub-zero...
NASA
Earth's Global Energy Budget
Introduce your earth science enthusiasts to the earth's energy budget. Teach them using an informative set of slides that include illuminating lecturer's notes, relevant vocabulary, embedded animations, colorful satellite maps, and a...