University of Georgia
Heating and Cooling of Land Forms
Compare heating and cooling rates of different land forms. A lab activity has groups collect data on the rate of heating and cooling of soil, grass, saltwater, fresh water, and sand. An analysis of the rates shows how the different land...
Curated OER
Heating and Cooling Curves
High schoolers experiment with a pure substance and a phase change. In this heating and cooling curves lesson plan, students study the effects of heating and cooling a pure substance to observe a phase change. They determine both the...
Curated OER
Heating and Cooling Materials
When an object is heated or cooled, a change occurs. Learners will work through this presentation and decide whether or not the changes are reversible. They learn about heating and cooling, then assess changes that have taken place. This...
American Chemical Society
Changing the Density of a Liquid - Heating and Cooling
During a unit on density, pupils ponder whether or not temperature affects this property. By carefully inserting blue cold water and yellow hot water into a room-temperature sample, they will see the answer. Make sure to have done the...
Curated OER
Cool Stuff
Young scientists must place a check mark next to the answer they think is correct regarding things that are warm, cool, hard, and soft. This would be a good way to begin discussing how some things actually change states of matter...
University of California
Heating and Cooling of the Earth's Surface
Scholars collect data from heating sand and water before forming testable hypotheses about why sand heats up faster. Afterward, they develop and run experiments to test their hypotheses.
Curated OER
My Angle on Cooling: Effects of Distance and Inclination
Students 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.
American Chemical Society
Changes Caused by Heating and Cooling
It's heating up—and cooling down—in here! A hands-on lesson allows learners to experiment with melting and freezing butter to observe changes as a substance transitions between liquid and solid form. They also view an animation that...
American Chemical Society
Heat, Temperature, and Conduction
How does heat move from one item to another, even when the items are in different states of matter? Pupils experiment with adding washers to hot water and adding hot washers to room temperature water to observe the heat transfer.
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
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...
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
Heating and Cooling a Really Large Lizard
Remind your middle school scientists how fox ear size varies depending on the climate they live in; large ears allow heat loss while small ears keep heat in. Discuss how a cold-blooded animal might try to regulate body temperature. Then...
Curated OER
Specific Heat Problems
In this specific heat worksheet, students solve 4 problems for either the specific heat of the substance, the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of a substance a particular number of degrees or the amount of heat released in...
Oceanic Research Group
Heat Transfer and Cooling
Astronauts train underwater to simulate the change in gravity. An out-of-this-world unit includes three hands-on activities, one teacher demonstration, and a discussion related to some of the challenges astronauts face. Scholars apply...
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...
American Physiological Society
Feeling the Heat
How do the changing seasons affect the homes where we live? This question is at the forefront of engineering and design projects. Challenge your physical science class to step into the role of an architect to build a model home capable...
Curated OER
Specific Heat of Air and Soil
Students are introduced to the concept of specific heat. In groups, they are given a set of data showing the temperatures of air and soil samples in which they calculate the ranges of the data. They identify whether the air or soil...
Curated OER
For a Change
Here is a worksheet that has young scientists think about things that been changed as a result of heating and cooling, and if they can be returned to their original form. There are seven scenarios to consider, and they must choose,...
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.
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...
Space Awareness
Oceans as a Heat Reservoir
Oceans absorb half of the carbon dioxide and 80 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Scholars learn how and why the oceans store heat more effectively than land and how they help mitigate global warming. Pupils...
Discovery Education
Cool It!
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...
Parkway Schools
Phase Changes and Heat
In this phase changes learning exercise, students use the specific heats for different substances to determine how much heat is needed for those substance to change phases. This learning exercise has 9 problems to solve.