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...
Consumers Energy
Conductors and Insulators
Why did the orchestra director use a copper baton? She heard it makes a great conductor. Scholars select six items to test in a circuit to determine if each is a conductor or an insulator. Clear instructions for using electricity allow...
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Investigation: Insulation
Youngsters compare the heat-holding abilities of three different cans by insulating two with different materials and measuring the temperature change of hot water over a 20-minute period.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Power of Graphene
To prepare for the activity, STEM classes read about nanotechnology and the amazing properties of graphene. They collect a graphene sample from pencils, and then connect them into simple circuits to determine whether it makes a better...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Insulators and Conductors
In a classic activity, emerging electricians test various objects for electrical conductivity in a circuit. Each group constructs a simple circuit by following a diagram. Predictions are made and objects are inserted into the circuit,...
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...
PBS
Insulation Station
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.
Curated OER
Which Material is Best for Muffling Sound?
Two professors, Big-Hair and Bee-Hive, cannot do their work because the alarm clock won't stop ringing! Young scientists perform an experiment to help them wrap the clock in the best material for muffling the sound. This is a clever...
Science Matters
Blubber Gloves: It’s All About Insulation
Instill the concept of adaptation with the help of Blubber Gloves—ziplock bags, shortening, and duct tape. Scholars discuss how animals and plants keep warm in polar regions, record their predictions, and try on their Blubber Gloves to...
Mascil Project
House Insulation
Make sure your house is warm in the winter. Pupils analyze graphs of heating costs for two similar houses and make hypotheses for why the costs differ. They then build models of houses with appropriate insulation to reduce heating costs.
Curated OER
Winter Insulation
Students test insulation materials. In this energy conservation lesson, students use different insulation materials to see which one holds heat the best. Students pour hot water into bottles, take the temperature, wait 15 minutes, then...
Science Matters
Conductors and Insulators
Get that energy flowing while classes study conductors and insulators. Using a simple circuit, learners test different materials to determine the strength of conductivity. They use their results to classify materials as conductors or...
Curated OER
Insulation: Keeping Heat In or Out
Pupils compare different materials on their ability to insulate. They identify the best materials for keeping heat in and keeping heat out. They also examine the importance of insulating homes.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Keep it Cool
This cool lesson plan is ideal for elementary engineers or physical scientists, especially when learning about heat transfer and insulation. After reading a page of background information, engineering teams collaborate to design and...
Curated OER
Electrical Principals and Wiring Materials
Train a budding electrician about the principles of electricity and the wiring materials needed to complete the job. Briefly covered are basic electrical concepts such as, volts, watts, circuits, and safety. Also covered are the...
Curated OER
Conductors and Insulators
Fifth graders explore conductors and insulators. For this science lesson, 5th graders act as electrons moving through a wire. Students break into groups representing conductors and insulators and explore how they work with electrons.
Curated OER
Cool and Not-So-Cool Materials
Why do some materials feel cool to the touch, but not others? Learn about thermal conductors and thermal insulators with a fun science experiment. First, kids read the results of an experiment with spoons and hot water. They then try...
Curated OER
Conductors and Insulators
In this conductors and insulators activity, learners answer 11 questions about electrical resistance, conductance, gauge scale, and breakdown voltage.
Curated OER
What is the Best Insulator: Air, Styrofoam, Foil, or Cotton?
Students investigate the properties of insulators by attempting to keep a cup of water from freezing, and once it is frozen, to keep it from melting. They conduct the experiment, record and analyze the results, and answer discussion...
Curated OER
Insulators and Conductors
Students conduct an experiment in which they create open and closed circuits. In this insulators and conductors activity, students review open and closed circuits and then get in groups to make both kinds of circuit. Students use a...
American Chemical Society
Man and Materials Through History
From the start of the Industrial Revolution, it only took 147 years for someone to invent plastic. This may seem like a long time, but in the history of inventing or discovering new materials, this is incredibly fast. An informative and...
Curated OER
Insulators and Conductors
Fourth graders experiment to discover which items are conductors and which items are insulators. In this insulators and conductors lesson, 4th graders experiment and create a T-Chart. Students are assessed on the correctness of the...
Doing Maths
Insulating the House
Finding the area of a rectangle is the focus of this metric worksheet. Here, mathematicians use their knowledge of finding the area of a shape in meters to discover how much material can fit inside a shape.
Curated OER
Insulators
Young scholars design and carry out an investigation to test which materials is the best insulator: they predict which way heat energy flows in a system and analyze the flow of energy in a system from one point to another and from one...