Kenan Fellows
Climate Change Impacts
Turn up the heat! Young mathematicians develop models to represent different climates and collect temperature data. They analyze the data with regression and residual applications. Using that information, they make conclusions about...
Curated OER
Radiation and Color
Tenth graders explore the relationship between color and heat absorption by measuring the temperature change of water in differently colored test tubes as they are exposed to a heat lamp. They work in small groups to collect data and...
Curated OER
Phase Changes
In this phase change worksheet, students read about the particles in substances that speed up and slow down for substances to change phases. They answer eight questions about phase changes, the states of matter and how changing...
US Environmental Protection Agency
Sea Level: On the Rise
With the global temperature on the rise, the effects of climate change are starting to be seen. However, many people have a difficult time conceptualizing the long-term effects, such as sea levels rising. Given an easy and effective...
American Chemical Society
Condensation
It's time to break the ice! If you are doing all of the lessons in the unit, children have already seen that increasing heat increases the rate of evaporation, but is the opposite true? Does decreasing temperature cause more condensation...
US Environmental Protection Agency
Carbon Through the Seasons
Meteorologists view an animated video by the Environmental Protection Agency to learn how the carbon cycle works, and then move into groups to analyze and graph actual data of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration from Hawaii's...
PhET
States of Matter
Water is the only molecule on Earth that can naturally exist in all three states of matter. The interactive simulation shows different molecules changing states of matter with the addition or removal of heat. Learners then see how...
Curated OER
My Angle on Cooling
Students explore how the angle and distance of an object can change it's temperature. After reviewing how the position of the Earth affects the temperature of the planet, student groups design and perform an experiment to test how...
Virginia Department of Education
Heat Loss from a Fur-Insulated Animal
How do animals adapt to weather changes? Provide your class with the ability to understand adaptations and body temperature as they participate in this hands on experiment, using fake fur and hot water. Pupils collect data and...
Curated OER
Temperature
Several slides compare different temperature scales. Thermal expansion, heat transfer, and Maxwell speed distribution are also explored. The last two slides seem unrelated to the topic of heat, but are easily left out of this otherwise...
NASA
The Heat is On: Urban Heat Islands, Detection Strategies, and Mitigation Solutions
It's sure getting hot out there! Scholars analyze satellite data on land use and surface temperatures, and then learn how to ground truth satellite data through an activity. They apply technology to identify urban heat islands and...
American Chemical Society
Energy Changes in Chemical Reactions
Some chemical reactions produce heat, but what is really going on? Lesson focuses on the concept of energy changes, both exothermic and endothermic. Scholars perform multiple experiments, hands-on activities, and view videos of the...
Curated OER
Specific Heat of Metal
Students 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
WS 7.5 Thermodynamics Concepts and Vocabulary
In this thermodynamics worksheet, students fill in the blanks with terms related to specific heat, calorimetry, phase changes, enthalpy, entropy and free energy.
Curated OER
Chemquest: Physical Changes or Chemical Reactions
Students explore physical and chemical changes. For this chemistry lesson plan, students will go outside to observe changes seen in nature. Students will then work in the lab to identify changes at different stations prior to doing a...
Curated OER
Heat Energy and Water
Fourth graders brainstorm the differences between heat and temperature. In groups, they determine the best way to melt ice without touching the ice. They record their observations and compare them with other groups. To end the lesson...
Curated OER
A Comparison of Land and Water Temperature
Students examine NASA satellite observations of surface temperature and investigate the seasonal changes of land and water temperature.
Curated OER
A Sweet Drink
Learners investigate reaction rates. In this seventh or eighth grade mathematics lesson, students collect, record, and analyze data regarding how the temperature of water affects the dissolving time of a sugar cube. Studetns...
Curated OER
Urban Heat Islands: An Introduction to Energy Transfer and Transformation
Elementary school physical scientists explore kinetic mechanical energy by dropping a golf ball on different surfaces. They discuss how human made materials might react to light differently from nature made materials. This lesson plan...
Curated OER
Heat and Matter
Students explore liquids and solids by conducting in class experiments. In this matter activity, students define the properties of matter and how heat can change those properties. Students experiment with heating objects such as butter...
Curated OER
Energy and Matter
A review of a full unit on energy and matter, this slide show starts with basic definitions of states of matter and their mass. It then develops the ideas of the forces that that matter can exert. Details about bonding within matter and...
Curated OER
Specific Heat and Insulation - Temperature Changes
Students expand their knowledge of how temperature changes between air and soil. They also examine how natural grass cover insulates the effects of the sun's direct radiation.
Curated OER
11 - The Heat Is On
Students observe physical change of melting by observing substance in original state, melting substance, allowing substance to return to original temperature, determining if substance retained its original properties, and recording results.
National Wildlife Federation
Stifling, Oppressive, Sweltering, Oh My!
Looking for a hot date? Pick any day in August, statistically the hottest month in the United States. The 15th lesson in the series of 21 instructs pupils to investigate the August 2007 heat wave through NASA data, daily temperature...