Curated OER
Too Cool for School-The Greenhouse Experiment
Students create a town model and analyze the type of greenhouse gases their town emits. In this earth science lesson, students build greenhouses to investigate how trapped heat causes temperature change. They relate this activity to...
Purdue University
Field Trip Snack Holder
Is light related to insulation? An informative hands-on STEM activity demonstrates how light affects temperature. First, the class investigates how light passes through different mediums and how that relates to temperature. Then,...
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
Energy from the Sun
In this energy worksheet, learners conduct an experiment and observe the various ways in which heat energy can be transferred. They explain what happened to the wooden block when it was placed in direct sunlight. Students also explain...
Curated OER
Global Warming - The Heat is On: Global Climate Change Revisited
After listening to your lecture on climate change, young scientists access NOAA's database listing Mauna Loa's carbon dioxide data. They graph the monthly means and then compare their graphs to NOAA's. This is a concise plan that could...
Curated OER
Calculating Joules
In this calculating joules instructional activity, students read about the relationship between mass, temperature change, specific heat and energy. They find the number of joules needed to heat water in five different problems using the...
Curated OER
Thermochemistry
In this thermochemistry worksheet, students indicate whether the given processes are endothermic or exothermic reactions. Students complete the phase change diagram as well as define a given set of vocabulary words. Students calculate...
Curated OER
What is Wind Chill?
Middle schoolers calculate wind chill using a mathematical formula. In this earth science lesson, students compare the wind chill in Antarctica to that of their local area. They explain how this can lead to hypothermia.
Curated OER
Solar Water Heater Kit
For this earth science worksheet, students identify and experiment how hot water gets in a solar water heater. Then they respond to four short answer questions that follow related to the experiment.
Curated OER
Energy Resources and Transfers
In this heat and temperature worksheet, students decide how 4 objects transfer their heat energy. Students answer 8 short answer questions involving energy resources and transfers.
Curated OER
Interesting Temperatures Quiz
In this interesting temperatures quiz activity, students complete an on-line game, clicking on questions and matching answer cards and scoring 1 point per correct answer. Printable version available also.
Space Awareness
Global Warming of the Atmosphere
Scientists know the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today is higher than at any point in the last 800,000 years. Scholars learn about the amount of thermic radiation absorbed by air and what happens to the rest of the...
Science Geek
Basic Thermochemistry
Heat is more than just temperature, as viewers discover throughout a presentation about thermochemistry that emphasizes vocabulary. Definitions include joule, calorie, energy, enthalpy, calorimetry, exothermic and endothermic process,...
Space Awareness
Oceans on the Rise
Temperature rises and land disappears! Through a lab exploration, learners understand the effect of temperature increase on water similar to the effect of global warming on our oceans. As they heat the water in a flask, they measure the...
Curated OER
Thermal Expansion and Sea Level Rise
Placing a thermometer and a glass tube into a flask of cold water and sealing it, you can expose it to heat and very visually demonstrate thermal expansion to your earth science class. Follow it with a discussion about how the increasing...
Teach Engineering
How Hot is Hot?
Elementary schoolers identify the three methods of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. The instructional activity is mostly lecture-based. When the teacher has finished the presentation, groups of pupils get into teams...
Curated OER
More on Conduction and Convection
Why do some items feel colder when they are the same temperature? How should you keep your soda cold? What makes the wind blow? These are just some of the things middle schoolers discover when completing a instructional activity on...
Center for Learning in Action
Water—Changing States (Part 1)
Here is part one of a two-part lesson plan in which scholars investigate the changing states of water—liquid, solid, and gas. With grand conversation and up to three demonstrations, learners make predictions about what they think will...
Curated OER
Metals and Non-metals
A half-page chart compares the properties of metals and nonmetals. Properties include appearance, melting and boiling point, density, strength, malleability, ductility, heat and electrical conductivity, and the nature of their oxides....
American Chemical Society
Air, It's Really There
Love is in the air? Wrong — nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide are in the air. The final lesson plan in the series of five covers the impact of temperature on gases. Scholars view a demonstration of gas as a type of matter before...
Messenger Education
My Angle on Cooling—Effect of Distance and Inclination
When exploring Mars, spacecrafts are exposed to 5-11 times more sunlight than when near Earth. Groups of pupils complete a hands-on activity to explore how distance and angle of the sun affect temperature. Through discussions, they then...
University of California
Hot! Hot! Hot!
Calories are not tiny creatures that sew your clothes tighter every night, but what are they? A science activity, presented at multiple levels, has learners experiment with heat, heat transfer, and graph the function over time. It also...
NOAA
Wooly Magma
Model the earth's core with a neat activity that uses science as an inquiry and step-by-step procedures. The activity acquires a lot of assistance from the teacher or volunteer helpers.
Curated OER
Bringing Climate Change Into the Classroom
Students investigate the greenhouse effect and examine the potential effects of climate change in the Arctic. They construct a mini-greenhouse and test its effect on temperature, analyze historical climate statistics, and conduct an...