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...
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,...
Space Awareness
Water is a Heat Sink
One of the key objectives of Europe's Copernicus Earth program is to monitor the temperatures of the oceans and seas on Earth. Young scholars learn the effects of different heat capacities through two experiments. These experiments...
Virginia Department of Education
Heat Transfer and Heat Capacity
It's time to increase the heat! Young chemists demonstrate heat transfer and heat capacity in an activity-packed lab, showing the transitions between solid, liquid, and gaseous phases of materials. Individuals plot data as the...
Space Awareness
Continental Climate and Oceanic Climate
There's nothing better than a cool breeze blowing in from the ocean. Scholars explore how water affects change in temperature using a hands-on experiment on climate. They use measurement tools to compare the continental and oceanic...
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,...
NOAA
The Climate Team: Make a Solar Heat Engine
Learners investigate how solar energy is converted into heat in part two of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series. They build and test homemade solar cookers to boil water and cook rice. Pupils consider the impact of heat...
Curated OER
Caterpillars and Climate: How Temperature Affects Feeding Rate In Insects
Do you eat more when you are hot or when you are cold? Young scientists observe the eating pace of two caterpillars at different temperatures. The differences in endotherm and ecotherm animals' ability to adjust to temperature change...
Curated OER
Keeping Warm: Science Review Game
Test the class on what they know about thermal conduction, insulation, and heat. This interactive game provides 15 questions related to the science of temperature, heat, and cold. Keep your class warm with a fun review game!
American Chemical Society
Temperature Affects Dissolving
Stir chocolate drink mix into hot and cold water to see if there is a difference in how quickly it dissolves. Number three in a six-activity unit on dissolving, this installment investigates the effect of temperature. If you consult the...
Baylor College
Using Heat from the Sun
Let's heat things up! This simple experiment demonstrates for learners the important role the sun plays in providing the earth with energy. Place one cup of water in direct sunlight and one in shade, then take measurements in order to...
Curated OER
Heat and Temperature
Ninth graders explore the relationship between heat and temperature. After performing experiments, 9th graders record their observations and discuss the results. They investigate the properties of heat and explore how energy possessed...
Kenan Fellows
What Is Heat?
If objects have no heat, how do they can gain and lose it? Scholars experiment with heat, temperature, and specific heat of various substances. They create definitions for these terms based on their own conclusions to complete the fourth...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Albedo, Reflectivity, and Absorption
What is reflectivity, and what does it have to do with the Earth's climate? As reflectivity is measured by albedo, scientists can gather information on Earth's energy balances that relate to global warming or climate change. Budding...
Mr. E. Science
Climate and Climate Change
What factors make up climate? How does longitude and latitude affect climate? What is causing Earth's climate to change? These questions are the topic of a presentation that explains characteristics of climate and climate change.
American Chemical Society
Exothermic, Endothermic, and Chemical Change
Scientists can't observe bonds breaking or forming, so how do they distinguish between exothermic and endothermic reactions? Young scholars complete two experiments to do just that. They monitor temperature change and calculate the...
American Chemical Society
Does Temperature Affect Dissolving?
When making sweet tea, why do people dissolve the sugar in hot tea instead of cold tea? The class discusses the previous lab and builds upon it. Working in groups, they design an experiment to determine how temperature affects the...
It's About Time
Renewable Energy Sources - Solar and Wind
There has been a huge solar energy spill! Let's go outside to play in it. This lesson includes multiple experiments showcasing solar and wind energies. Scholars build a solar heater and an anemometer before testing the results. The...
American Chemical Society
Preparation and Combustion of Biodiesel
The United States is the world's largest producer of biofuel. During an in-class investigation, young scientists produce their own biodiesel. They burn a sample of it to determine the heat of combustion. Then they discuss the...
Curated OER
Hot and Humid, That's Manu
Elementary and middle schoolers participate in a demonstration of the heat and humidity of the Manu rainforest environment. They watch and discuss a video, calculate the humidity and temperature in the humidified tent, and write a...
Space Awareness
Oceans as a Heat Reservoir
Oceans absorb half of the carbon dioxide and 80 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Scholars learn how and why the oceans store heat more effectively than land and how they help mitigate global warming. Pupils...
Curated OER
Feeling the Heat
Pupils record temperatures at different locations around campus. They examine the results and draw conclusions about how materials and colors affect the amount of heat produced. They also analyze Los Angeles' temperature records over a...
Chymist
Temperature
Three Dog Night isn't just the name of a band; it is also the way an Australian tribe, who used dogs to stay warm, would describe the temperature on a cool evening. After reading about many different ways of measuring temperature, the...
Curated OER
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.