Summary: This set of activities allows students to investigate their environment with the temperature probe or sensor.
Preparation: Students should investigate a wide variety of locations inside and outside their classroom, hallways, playground, driveway, etc. Encourage the students to select some areas in full light and others in the shade.
Materials:
temperature probe
meter stick (optional)
pencil
electronic or paper notebook
spreadsheet
Classroom Management: This activity is designed to allow the students "hands on" work in teams. The size of the teams will depend on the number of available probes. Each member of the team should have a specific task to complete.
Activity Steps:
Think About Relationship Between Light and Temperature
Students at this age are just beginning to understand the phenomenon we call heat energy and energy transfer. We do not expect them to understand the molecular model of matter. The goal is to build a group of experiences with the phenomenon of energy transfer from light. The main idea is that when in the presence of light, objects get warmer and when the light is removed, objects get cooler.
Ask the students to think about the following questions in their groups and present their answers and reasons to the class:
What makes an object warm?
Will the temperature be higher near a window during full sun or at night?
Will a cup of water in the sun warm faster than one in the shade?
What is the difference between the temperature in a shady location versus that in a location with direct sunlight?
Selection of Test Sites
Allow the students to investigate the school for varying levels of light and temperature. Have the students select five sites to investigate, which they think will provide them different temperature readings as a result of available light.
Have the students sketch each location. Be sure to have them label the amount of sunlight at each site (e.g., full, partial shade, etc.)
Ask the students to predict and rank the locations from highest (#1) to lowest (#5) temperature.
Recording Temperature Readings
Demonstrate the use and setup of the temperature probes to the students. You may wish the students to practice before releasing them to their selected sites.
Have the students record the temperature at each location on an electronic or paper notebook for each test site.
Ask the students to compare their predictions to the actual readings and speculate the reasons for the differences.
Displaying Data on a bar chart
Ask the students order the data starting with highest temperature to lowest temperature readings. Have the students enter temperature data from each site into a spreadsheet. Have the them enter the location in Column A and temperature data in Column B. The first row of each column should contain a header with the type of data and the units (where possible).
If you would like to see how to use a enter data into the spreadsheet, check out these Technical Hints.
Ask the students to highlight the location and temperatures and select Make a Chart from one of the menus. Ask the students to select bar chart from the options. The chart will be automatically open.
If you would like to see how to create a bar chart, check out these Technical Hints.
Interpreting the Data on an Bar Chart
The students will not realize that they should see a direct relationship between light and temperature. To help the students come to this conclusion, ask the following questions:
According to your spreadsheet, did the temperature at each location increase when the light at a location increased?
Does the bar chart show you the same relationship? Explain.
Have the students write a paragraph about the relationship between light and temperature. Encourage them to use their experiences at their test sites.
Extensions: Allow the students to repeat the tests at the same locations at different times of the day or during different weather conditions. Have them compare the bar charts from the different times of day or during different weather conditions.
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