Captain Planet Foundation
Solar Cooking Race
Study heat transfer with activities that focus on how heat energy works. Using a solar cooker, ice cubes, and heat transfer bracelets, kids experiment and record what they find by keeping ice cubes cold and vegetables hot.
Columbus City Schools
Rocking the Cycle!
Time to rock out! Discover the "life" cycle of the average rock using an illustrative stations lab and stimulating pairs game. Roll the dice to determine your fate: will it be melting in magma or chilling out to form igneous rock? The...
Colorado State University
How Do Long and Short EM Waves Interact with the Earth's Atmosphere?
Things are about to heat up in your classroom! A kinesthetic lesson asks learners to play the part of the gases in the earth's atmosphere and interact with the sun's radiation. The focus is to learn the impact of the increasing...
Curated OER
Simple Circuit: Electric Currents and Circuits
Through inquiry and exploration, 4th graders will learn and understand the functions of open and closed circuits. They will break into 2 groups, define vocabulary, hypothesize how to light a bulb, then test their hypothesis 4 different...
US Environmental Protection Agency
Water Purification by Evaporation and Condensation
This easy-to-perform demonstration shows students how the water cycle, specifically the processes of condensation and evaporation, purifies Earth's water supply. Just mix up some water, dirt, and gravel in a glass bowl, place a cup in...
Curated OER
Land and Sea Breezes
In this specific heat worksheet, students read about the land and sea breezes along the coast and how the specific heat of the air cause the differences in land and sea air creating breezes. Students answer three critical thinking...
American Chemical Society
Temperature Affects Density
Different substances can have different densities, but can the same substance have different densities? Lesson explores the effect of temperature on the density of water. Extension idea connects the concept of how melting ice in lakes...
Curated OER
The Big Squeeze
Students observe what happens as crayon shavings are melted and/or pressed together. They compare this to the process some rocks go through as they are heated and compressed naturally on earth.
Curated OER
Changing States of Matter - Making Ice Cream
Students make ice cream as a result of viewing changes of states of matter. In this matter lesson plan, students learn how heating and cooling can effect a state of matter to change.
Curated OER
What happens When Air is Heated or Cooled?
In 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.
American Chemical Society
Molecules in Motion
I heard that oxygen and magnesium were going out and I was like "O Mg." Pupils experiment with adding food coloring to water of various temperatures in order to determine how temperature impacts molecular movement. This is the...
Colorado State University
How Can I Turn a Solar Oven into a Refrigerator?
Whether you want to heat things up in science class or cool things down a bit, an intriguing lab's got you covered! Science scholars explore the principles of thermodynamics using a solar oven, then change the conditions to turn their...
Curated OER
Heat Problems
In this heat worksheet, high schoolers calculate the heat energy required to raise the temperature of a liquid based on its specific heat. Students calculate specific heat. This worksheet has 7 problems to solve.
Parkway Schools
Phase Changes and Heat
In this phase changes learning exercise, students use the specific heats for different substances to determine how much heat is needed for those substance to change phases. This learning exercise has 9 problems to solve.
Curated OER
Hot and Cold Colors
Students explore the effect of heating and cooling on the dispersal of food coloring in water.
Teach Engineering
Capturing the Sun's Warmth
Passive solar heating is a technology that's been in use for thousands of years. Here, elementary schoolers are exposed to this type of heating, the materials that are used in passive solar heating, and they study how engineers design...
Curated OER
Latent Heat and Clouds
Students explore latent heat and how it relates to clouds in the atmosphere. In this earth science lesson plan students investigate how clouds are formed. Students examine clouds and the water cycle.
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...
Virginia Department of Education
States of Matter
Scientists have been studying exothermic reactions before they were cool. The lesson begins with a discussion and a demonstration of heat curves. Scholars then determine the heat of fusion of ice and the heat needed to...
Curated OER
Comparing Graphs of Temperature and Radiation
Students study plots and use a Live Access Server to generate plots. In this temperature lesson students examine the process of incoming and outgoing radiation.
Curated OER
Science: Heat Quiz
In this science: heat quiz activity, students answer ten questions, not interactively, about heat, water and temperature with the answers at the bottom of the screen.
Curated OER
Science Jeopardy - The Earth Sciences
The earth sciences are the focus for this Jeopardy-style review game. Categories include geology, space, scientific investigation, meteorology, and oceanography. Diagrams and pictures are involved with most of the questions, making this...
University of Minnesota
Homeostasis of Thermoregulation
Whether you're battling the flu or trying to warm up on a chilly day, your body's ability to react to temperature change is fascinating! Anatomy scholars discover the fantastic feedback loops that control body temperature in a rigorous...
Colorado State University
If Hot Air Rises, Why Is it Cold in the Mountains?
Investigate the relationship between temperature and pressure. Learners change the pressure of a sample of air and monitor its temperature. They learn that as air decreases its pressure, its thermal energy converts to kinetic energy.