American Chemical Society
Air, It's Really There
Love is in the air? Wrong — nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide are in the air. The final lesson in the series of five covers the impact of temperature on gases. Scholars view a demonstration of gas as a type of matter before performing...
STEM for Teachers
Temperature and Bounce
Take part in a fun experiment and hold an impromptu bouncing contest with your class. Young scientists heat and cool balls before bouncing them to determine whether temperature changes affect how they bounce. The set of STEM lesson plans...
Curated OER
Warm and Cold Air
Students conduct an experiment to discover what happens to air when it is heated or cooled, discover that wind moves from a high-pressure area (an area of sinking air) to a low pressure area (an area of rising air).
NOAA
The Great, Glowing Orb What You Will Do: Make a Solar Heat Engine
How is solar energy able to move wind and water to control the climate? Scholars explore the concept of solar energy in the first of 10 activities in the Discover Your Changing World series. They follow instructions to build homemade...
Curated OER
How Hot Is It?
Discuss the difference between conduction, convection and radiation of thermal energy, and complete activities with your class by investigating the difference between temperature, thermal energy and the heat capacity of different materials.
Curated OER
Changing State
Learners examine the changing states of water. In this solid, liquid, gas lesson, students discover that water changes when heated or cooled. Learners make predictions and then use the interactive whiteboard to "heat and cool" the water...
Curated OER
Stop Heat from Escaping
Students explore the uses of insulation and describe how insulation helps to conserve energy. They work in groups and use plastic, wool, paper and aluminum to experiment with the heat-retaining properties of various materials.
Curated OER
This is Cool!
Third and fourth graders who are studying states of matter will enjoy this simple exercise. In it, they look at a picture of a girl in her kitchen, and they must circle five examples of materials that have changed states of matter as...
Curated OER
Specific Heat of Metal
Learners experiment with different types of metal by dipping them in boiling water and cool water and recording temperature changes in the water. By doing this, they find the specific heat of the metals.
Curated OER
Heat Loss and Cool Gains
Fifth graders predict what happens when cold and hot water are mixed together. In this physics activity, 5th graders discuss how heat transfer takes place. They record temperature readings and compare it with their prediction.
Curated OER
Specific Heat
In this specific heat activity, students read about the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of a substance. They are given the equation for calculating joules and they solve four problems using the equation.
Curated OER
Specific Heat
In this specific heat worksheet, students are given examples to find the specific heats of substances and to use the specific heats to find the changes in temperatures of substances. Students solve eighteen problems using what they...
US Department of Energy
Thermodynamics—Teacher Guide
I'm so cool! No, you're exothermic. This thermodynamics lab unit includes an introduction, teacher demonstrations, six labs that students rotate through each class day, homework assignments, application of knowledge, and assessments....
Curated OER
What Do Heating and Cooling Do?
In this changes of matter worksheet, students write in what happens when water is heated and when water gets very cold. This worksheet is a graphic organizer.
Curated OER
Matter and Heat
Students examine how heating causes substances to expand, and cooling cause it to contract. They investigate the states of matter.
Curated OER
Heating and Cooling a Really Large Lizard
Students investigate the effect of temperature on cold-blooded animals, using a 5 x 8 inch index card to represent a dinosaur as their model organism. Students measure temperature changes that occurs at different angles to a light...
Curated OER
What happens When Air is Heated or Cooled?
For this pressure worksheet, students write down their observations of a can placed into hot water. They explain what happens to the air molecules and the pressure inside the bottle which causes it to collapse.
Curated OER
Melting and Freezing Behavior
High schoolers investigate melting and freezing behavior in substances. In this melting and freezing points lesson plan, students perform experiments to test the impact of various salts on the freezing point of water, they test the...
Concord Consortium
Boiling Point
Is it getting hot in here? Observe boiling from inside a beaker in an engaging interactive. Chemistry scholars heat and cool polar and non-polar solids and observe how molecules react to temperature changes. Your class' misconceptions...
Beyond Benign
Sublimation
Ah, caffeine! What would some of us do without it? Teach your high school chemistry class the concept of sublimation as they complete a hands-on experiment to visualize the changes caffeine undergoes during heating and cooling. They...
Curated OER
Things Are Heating Up
In this science learning exercise, students read about chemical changes. Students also answer 3 comprehension questions about the reading.
Curated OER
Heat and Matter
Students explore liquids and solids by conducting in class experiments. For this matter lesson, students define the properties of matter and how heat can change those properties. Students experiment with heating objects such as butter...
Curated OER
Calorimetry Problems
In this calorimetry worksheet, high schoolers complete 30 problems. They calculate the change in heat of a system given the mass and the change in temperature of the system. Students also find the final temperature of a reaction given...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Solar Structures
It's time to soak up the sun! Youngsters read about active and passive solar heating systems, then they collaborate to create a miniature solar-heated building. Provide a variety of materials for them to incorporate and watch their...