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
My Angle on Cooling: Effects of Distance and Inclination
Middle schoolers discuss what heat is and how it travels. They discover that one way to cool an object in the presence of a heat source is to increase the distance from it or change the angle at which it is faced.
Curated OER
Melting and Freezing Behavior
Young scholars investigate melting and freezing behavior in substances. In this melting and freezing points lesson plan, students perform experiments to test the impact of various salts on the freezing point of water, they test the...
Curated OER
How Heating and Convection Contributes to Natural Disasters
Students study the basics of heating and cooling and how it pertains to the earth. In this global lesson students read the Magic Tree House book then create a chart of their findings.
Kenan Fellows
How Much Heat Can a Phase Change Produce?
Scholars learn about heat release in phase changes. They perform calculations as they compare and contrast a science fiction passage and a home heating application.
NOAA
The Great, Glowing Orb What You Will Do: Make a Solar Heat Engine
How is solar energy able to move wind and water to control the climate? Scholars explore the concept of solar energy in the first of 10 activities in the Discover Your Changing World series. They follow instructions to build homemade...
Science 4 Inquiry
Investigating How Heat Flows
It is impossible to cool down a glass of water by adding ice. Young scientists explore heat transfer through videos, experiments, and interactive games. They quickly catch on that the water melts the ice and things aren't always as they...
Curated OER
What Do Heating and Cooling Do?
In this changes of matter worksheet, students write in what happens when water is heated and when water gets very cold. This worksheet is a graphic organizer.
Curated OER
Melting and Freezing of Water
High schoolers examine the three states of matter. They identify the segments of heating and cooling curves. Students analyze data and create a graph to determine the freezing and melting temperature of water.
Curated OER
A Device That Condenses Water
Fifth graders who are studying water vapor and the condensation process use this learning exercise to help them understand the process of condensation. Most of the learning exercise is simply a source of information, with a good...
American Chemical Society
Matter on the Move
Start this mini unit on matter out by demonstrating how food coloring behaves when placed in cold and in hot water. Then have the class experiment with warm water and soap film. Pupils will learn that an increase in thermal energy also...
Curated OER
STATES OF WATER
Students identify the various states of water. They use hypothesizing and hands-on experimenting on changing the states of water, the properties of water, and the role of heating and cooling in the changes of state.
Curated OER
Hot and Cold Colors
Students examine how temperature effects changes in materials. In this physical science lesson, students use food coloring and cups of water of varying temperatures to observe the effects temperature has on matter. Students predict and...
Curated OER
Plants and the Water Cycle
Students study the role of plants in recycling water by collecting water vapor that is emitted, or transpired, by green plant leaves. They collect and measure the water that transpires through the tiny pores of plant leaves. Afterwards,...
Curated OER
Heat Energy - Energy Transfer
Here's a great selection of slides for a class being introduced to heat transfer. Types of materials that are good conductors or insulators are covered and the diagrams that accompany the information should make understanding more...
US Department of Energy
Effects of Solar Radiation on Land and Sea
Earth science enthusiasts experiment to compare the heating rates of soil and water. They relate their findings to the weather conditions near bodies of water. Consider also having middle schoolers measure the cooling rates to...
Virginia Department of Education
Molar Heat of Fusion for Water
How can you describe heat of fusion in a way the class understands and relates the importance of this concept to present day issues? In this third lesson plan of the series, learners conduct an experiment, demonstrating the flow of...
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.
Curated OER
Teaching about Heat Budgets of Lakes
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.
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.
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...
Weebly
Definitions of Conduction, Convection, and Radiation
There's quite a bit in this physical science packet. First, how is heat transferred? Learners read a brief explanation of conduction, convection, and radiation before identifying common occurrences (with pictures) as one of the three....
Curated OER
Warm and Cold Air
Students conduct an experiment to discover what happens to air when it is heated or cooled, discover that wind moves from a high-pressure area (an area of sinking air) to a low pressure area (an area of rising air).
Mr. E. Science
Climate and Climate Change
What factors make up climate? How does longitude and latitude affect climate? What is causing Earth's climate to change? These questions are the topic of a presentation that explains characteristics of climate and climate change.