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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...
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Thermal Energy Transfer - Conduction
Students examine how heat passes through a pane glass window. In this energy transfer lesson students complete a lab activity.
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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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TE Activity: Hot Cans and Cold Cans
Middle schoolers 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...
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Heat Transfer
Eighth graders form teams. Students place a thermometer in ball of clay and place in an insulated cup filled with hot water and then another thermometer in a ball of clay in an insulated cup of cold water. Students record temperature...
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Fusion Confusion
Learners are introduced to three types of energy transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. They model the scientific process of fusion to become with the sun and how it produces energy.
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temperature and the Scientific Method Lesson Plan
Sixth graders study heat, temperature, and heat transfer. Using probeware, the teacher demonstrates boiling points. Students participate in experiments and record the beginning and ending temperatures and mass of objects. After...
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The Earth's Energy Budget
Students study the Earth's energy budget. In this investigative lesson students observe a lab that shows all aspects of heat transfer and light processes.
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Animal Skin
Young scholars investigate the skin surface to body area ratios for different animals. In this seventh/eighth grade mathematics/science lesson plan, students explore heat transfer between an animal’s body and the environment. Using...
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Solar Box Cooker
Students explore solar power. In this solar power instructional activity, students build simple solar cookers after they study convection, conduction, and radiation. Students transfer their knowledge of how the solar cooker works to...
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Sunlight and Warm Air
Students discuss radiant energy from the sun, performing a simple experiment with sun glasses and bright light to demonstrate the concept. Students further participate in simple in-class experiments to demonstrate: air density as it...
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Ice Melting
Pupils design investigations to test various materials to prevent heat gain in frozen water. The task assess students' knowledge of scientific inquiry including the following skills: observation, data collection, measurement, graphing,...
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Driving Currents
Students conduct a variety of investigations to see how water, heat, and salinity affect the flow of the world's ocean currents,as well as, explore many factors that affect the flow of the world's ocean currents. They also describe in...
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Insulators
Students design and carry out an investigation to test which materials is the best insulator: they predict which way heat energy flows in a system and analyze the flow of energy in a system from one point to another and from one form to...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Energy in Motion
Fifth graders explore energy transfer. In this thermal energy instructional activity, 5th graders stretch rubber bands several times and estimate the band's temperature change. Students identify this action as an example of thermal...
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TE Activity: You're in Hot Water
Students study different ways of using solar energy. They design a solar water heater and determine how much water it can heat in a set amount of time. They examine how the heaters work by solar radiation and convection.
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Heat Unit
Students define thermal equilibrium. They distinguish between internal energy and heat. Students describe how the quantity of heat that enters or leaves a substance is measured.
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Thermal Energy and Heat Unit
Students explain that heat energy in a material consists of the disordered motions of its atoms or molecules. They know and explain that transformations of energy usually transform some energy into the form of heat, which dissipates by...
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Latent Heat and Clouds
Students explore latent heat and how it relates to clouds in the atmosphere. For this earth science lesson students investigate how clouds are formed. Students examine clouds and the water cycle.
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Energy Transfer
Students investigate the properties of heated air. They make predictions about what they think makes the wind blow on a worksheet, and conduct two experiments to demonstrate the properties of heated air. Students heat a bottle until a...
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Maintaining Body Heat
Students observe and compare heat loss in various objects with surface area-to-volume ratios and transfer this comparison to the physical characteristics of animals in their environment. In small groups they conduct an experiment...
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The Earth's Atmosphere and Temperature
Students describe and compare the layers of the atmosphere. They explain how to measure the temperature of the atmosphere and discover what causes the atmosphere to heat up in some places more than in others.
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What is the Best Insulator: Air, Styrofoam, Foil, or Cotton?
Students investigate the properties of insulators by attempting to keep a cup of water from freezing, and once it is frozen, to keep it from melting. They conduct the experiment, record and analyze the results, and answer discussion...
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The Great Ocean Conveyor
Young scholars investigate water density. In this water density instructional activity, students conduct an experiment with food coloring, water and salt to see how the salt effects bodies of water.