Interactive
Chemistry Collective

Virtual Lab: Measuring the Heat Capacity of an Engine Coolant II (Advanced Version)

For Students 9th - Higher Ed
Cool it! A virtual lab has users conduct an experiment to find the specific heat capacity for an unknown substance. The substance is an engine coolant, and calculating the specific heat capacity lets learners determine if it is a better...
Worksheet
Rhythm Rhyme Results

Whatʼs the Same and Whatʼs Different?

For Students 6th - 8th
Learn about radiation, convection, and conduction with a multiple choice worksheet. Each question prompts kids to decide what is different about each form of heat energy transfer, and what is the same.
Lesson Plan
Virginia Department of Education

Charles’ Law

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Searching for a relatively interesting way to demonstrate Charles' Law? Here is a lesson plan in which pupils heat air inside a flask and then cool the flask to quickly cool the air. They make observations about what occurs during...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Heating/Cooling Curve

For Students 9th - 12th
For this heating and cooling curve worksheet, students use a given graph of a substance being heated from a solid to a liquid and then a gas over time. They use the graph to answer eleven questions about the phases of the substance and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Matter and Heat

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students examine how heating causes substances to expand, and cooling cause it to contract. They investigate the states of matter.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Stop Heat from Escaping

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
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.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

TE Activity: Hot Cans and Cold Cans

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students work on problems in which they investigate conduction, convection, and radiation. They attempt to maintain the warmth in one can of soda while cooling the other as much as possible in a thirty minute period. They examine how...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Teaching about Heat Budgets of Lakes

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers investigate how much energy is stored in lake water as latent heat, calculate how much latent heat is exchanged with the atmosphere, and consider the effects of heat gain and heat loss on the surrounding environment.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Convection and Wind

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Learners use water, beakers, hot plates, paper dots, and goggles to participate in a hands on activity where they see how a convection current creates wind. In this convection current lesson plan, students participate in a hands on...
Worksheet
Texas State Energy Conservation Office

Investigation: Heat it Up!

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
This demonstration of solar ponds can be used in an earth, environmental, or physical science setting. Lab groups set up a solar pond and model how it is able, due to a salt concentration gradient, to maintain heat for future use. 
Lesson Plan
Captain Planet Foundation

Solar Cooking Race

For Teachers 3rd
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.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Hot Is It?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
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.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cooling With Sunshades

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students conduct research in order to find the effects of properties exposed to heat and how they change temperature. They consider the effect of sunlight upon objects that are placed outside with the help of an experiment. They also...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Warm and Toasty

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students are introduced to the concepts of specific heat and heat capacity. In groups, they design an experiment to test these two topics on various fabrics. They compare and contrast the amount of heat loss on the different materials...
Lesson Plan
Aquarium of the Pacific

States of Matter: Making Ice Cream

For Teachers 1st Standards
Who knew that learning about the states of matter could taste so sweet? This fun hands-on lesson plan captures the attention of learners as they use what they know about solids, liquids, and gases to create their very own batch of ice...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Specific Heat

For Students 9th - 12th
In this specific heat worksheet, 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.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Urban Heat Island Effect - Lesson 2 (Grade 5)

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders use the scientific process to examine how when various surfaces are exposed to similar environmental conditions, surface temperatures may vary. They conduct an experiment to show the relationship between surface and...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Specific Heat

For Students 10th - 12th
In this specific heat learning exercise, 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...
Worksheet
Curated OER

What happens When Air is Heated or Cooled?

For Students 7th - 9th
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.
Worksheet
Curated OER

The Sun, Moon, and Our Solar System: Teacher/Student Notes

For Students 3rd - 5th
Introduce basic Earth and space science to your budding astronauts. This handout works in two ways, the first part provides information about the sun, moon, eclipses, and Earth to be read to or by the class. The second part is composed...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Latent Heat and Clouds

For Teachers 5th - 12th
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.
Activity
DiscoverE

Aviary Architect

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Groups of two to four work collaboratively to engineer a birdhouse that will stay cool in the summer heat. Teams examine several different-colored roofs, testing the efficiency of each with a heat lamp. Then, groups sketch their ideas,...
Activity
Colorado State University

How Do Long and Short EM Waves Interact with the Earth's Atmosphere?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Simple Circuit: Electric Currents and Circuits

For Teachers 4th
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...