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Activity
It's About Time

Energy Flow in Ecosystems

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Emerging biochemists more fully understand the flow of energy in ecosystems as they explore the laws of thermodynamics and relate them to energy transfer in food chains. They also investigate heat loss from the human body and how...
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Lesson Plan
Rochester Institute of Technology

Solar Energy

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Warm up to the idea of solar energy. A lesson plan includes three activities that challenge scholars to apply knowledge in new ways. First, they learn to run an alarm clock without a battery by using solar energy. Next, they complete an...
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Lesson Plan
Foundation for Water & Energy Education

How Can Work Be Done with Water Power? Activity A

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Environmentally friendly engineering teams construct a water wheel and experiment with its speed and the resulting amount of weight it can lift. Consider following this activity with two more of the same title by the same publisher when...
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Activity
NASA

Feel the Heat

For Teachers 4th - 12th Standards
Heat water up like a NASA engineer. Using the engineering design process, investigators create a system to trap and move heat through a water-filled tube. Designers participate in a post-activity discussion that highlights the role of...
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Lesson Plan
American Physiological Society

Why is Kettle Corn Cooked in Copper Pots?

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
The kitchen — it's not just for eating anymore! Specific heat is often a difficult concept to grasp, so give it context by relating it to cooking. Learners gain experience in the principles of thermal energy transfer by designing an...
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Activity
Discovery Education

Cool It!

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Adjust the melting time of ice without varying the temperature! Learners experiment with different materials to decide how the materials affect the rate an ice cube melts. They then connect their findings to the conductivity of each...
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Lesson Plan
American Physiological Society

Thermal Insulators: Keep it Hot!

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

More on Conduction and Convection

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Why do some items feel colder when they are the same temperature? How should you keep your soda cold? What makes the wind blow? These are just some of the things middle schoolers discover when completing a lesson plan on conduction and...
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Activity
Discovery Education

It's Melting!

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
It's a race to the finish! Which ice cube will melt the fastest? Scholars discover the effect thermal energy has on melting ice. They experiment with melting ice cubes on different materials and learn that even at a consistent...
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Activity
PBS

Insulation Station

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
It's all about the material. Learners experiment with different substances as they try to keep an ice cube from melting. They draw conclusions by answering a set of questions about the types and amount of material that had the best result.
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Activity
Discovery Education

Perfectly Decomposed!

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
We all know someone who won't eat the banana with a brown spot, the grape with a dimple, and the apple with a bruise. Scholars use different fruits to explore what happens when fruits really start to decompose. They set up an experiment...
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Activity
Science Friday

Make a Model Eardrum to Detect Sound Waves

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Make sound waves visible with an experiment that asks middle schoolers to build a model ear drum using plastic bottles, rubber bands, plastic wrap, and sand-like substances.
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Activity
Discovery Education

Motion in the Ocean

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
How do temperature changes affect ocean currents? Scholars explore convection currents by demonstrating the flow of water in a baking dish. They use ice, heat, and food coloring to see currents. Then, they draw conclusions about their...
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Activity
Discovery Education

Smoke on the Water

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
How do clouds form? Learners demonstrate the formation of clouds and the water cycle by testing four different setups in a plastic bottle. They identify the key components of a cloud to help them understand the process of cloud...