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Heat Discrepancies
Students answer the question, "Why do Eskimos build houses out of ice to keep warm. Since heat goes from hot to cold, don¿¿¿t the ice walls take away the warmth inside the house?" They explain how snow or ice can actually be insulators.
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Three Little Pigs and Heat Transfer
Students use the Internet to research the ancient practices of building structures and to help them recognize what building materials serve as good conductors and insulators of heat. They build a structure using straw bale walls.
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The Great Heat Escape
Students observe a demonstration on the role of thermal conductivity in heat transfer. In this thermal conductivity lesson plan, students design and conduct an experiment to compare the thermal conductivity of four substances. Lesson...
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Solar Power
Fifth graders create their own solar panel. They use this experiment to see how the sun can be used as a form of energy.
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Energy Detectives at Work
Students are "Energy Detectives" working for an engineering firm that does energy evaluations at schools. In teams, they locate energy sources around the school, and record their findings on an Energy Detective Worksheet.
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How Electric Current Produces Energy
Fifth graders are introduced to the concept of electric currents. In groups, they develop their own game board to test different circuits to determine if they are complete. They record their observations of the energy transfer between...
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Observing Chemical Reactions
Start this series of lessons with a bang! Five exothermic reactions are outlined in this resource, including a demonstration that produces both light and sound. In the lab, chemistry apprentices record temperature changes, make hand...
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Energy Transformation
Students identify different kinds of energy such as heat energy, kinetic energy, potential energy, and magnetic energy. They investigate the concept of conservation of energy.
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Olympic Solar Energy
Students use cardboard and aluminum foil to construct a solar oven that concentrates enough sunlight to cook a hotdog. They review the history and use of solar energy in relation to the Olympics.
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Window Treatments for Energy Savings
Students investigate energy-saving window treatments. In this environmental lesson, students research how energy-saving windows work by conducting an experiment using a thermometer and graphing data. Students identify why energy-saving...
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Measuring Thermal Energy Transfer
Students conduct an experiment to calculate and quantify heat transfer. They conduct the experiment, and complete a data and lab conclusion sheet.
Virginia Department of Education
Heat and Thermal Energy Transfer
How does radiation affect our daily lives? Answer that question and others with a lesson that discusses radiation and its use in thermal energy transfer through electromagnetic waves. Pupils investigate vaporization and evaporation while...
American Physiological Society
Thermal Insulators: Keep it Hot!
There's nothing like a cup of hot chocolate on a chilly winter's day. Except for when that hot chocolate quickly becomes lukewarm chocolate ... or even cold chocolate. What material provides the best insulation to keep the chocolate from...
Curated OER
Make a Solar Oven
Students build a solar oven. In this Science lesson, students construct a functional solar oven. Students design the oven and explain the energy concepts involved.
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Chemistry: Energy Resources and Transfers
Students explore the concepts of energy resources and energy transfers. In this chemistry lesson, students examine renewable and non-renewable energy sources as they view classroom demonstrations and discuss the concepts as well as their...
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A New Phase In Town
Middle schoolers explore heat energy and how it is used to change the phase of matter, and discover that temperature does not increase or decrease until the phase change is complete. This extremely well-written plan is packed with great...
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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.
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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...
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...
Messenger Education
Cooling with Sunshades
Messenger's sun shade measures 8 ft x 6 ft and will have temperatures reaching 700 degree Fahrenheit on the outside while maintaining a cool 70 degrees underneath. In the third activity of four, groups discuss the basic properties of...
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Biomass Energy
Junior ecologists relate how food chains and food webs route matter and energy through an ecosystem. They trace feeding levels of a food chain or food web through a pyramid of energy. As a reinforcement activity, learners construct three...
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Ice Energy
Students study the concept of ice energy. In this ice energy lesson plan, students observe what happens when salt is sprinkled on a piece of ice before following a recipe to make two types of ice cream. They note the difference in the...
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Heat and Matter
Students explore liquids and solids by conducting in class experiments. In this matter instructional activity, students define the properties of matter and how heat can change those properties. Students experiment with heating objects...
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Transformation of Energy: Heat
Sixth graders investigate how heat is transferred and the concepts of conduction, convection, and radiation. They define key vocabulary terms, and observe teacher-led demonstrations of conduction, convection, and radiation.