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Let's teach! Primary

Lesson 2

How does heat travel?

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Lesson Plan
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Lesson Plan

Preparation

  • Lesson 1 of this unit should be completed before this unit. It is also advisable to cover or revise Lesson 1 from the Year 3 Chemical Sciences unit first (on investigating solids, liquids and gases).
  • Where possible, obtain the items described throughout the lesson to demonstrate to the students.
  • Organise the equipment needed for the investigation sheet: a kettle filled with hot water, one large coffee mug and 3 or 4 equally sized spoons made of different materials (e.g. metal, wood, ceramics and plastic).

Curriculum links

  • Australian Curriculum: ACSSU049, ACSHE051, ACSIS053, ACSIS054, ACSIS055, ACSIS057, ACSIS215, ACSIS058, ACSIS060
  • NSW Curriculum: ST2-8PW-ST, ST2-10ES-S, ST2-1WS-S, ST2-2DP-T
  • VIC Curriculum: VCSSU063, VCSSU056, VCSIS065, VCSIS066, VCSIS067, VCSIS068, VCSIS069, VCSIS070, VCSIS071, VCSIS072
  • WA Curriculum: ACSSU049, ACSHE051, ACSIS053, ACSIS054, ACSIS055, ACSIS057, ACSIS215, ACSIS058, ACSIS060

Suggested teaching strategies

Introduction

  • Display the digital lesson on your smartboard to introduce how heat travels.
  • The student summary and worksheet pages should be used together.

Development

  • Demonstrate how a metal spoon heats up in hot water/soup by conduction and how a plastic or wooden one does not. Discuss how the water/soup gradually heats up by convection and how stirring helps this process.
  • Provide students with printable versions of the student summary and worksheet. Have students complete the worksheet.
  • Discuss how a fair test can be achieved in the experiments on experiment page; e.g. when comparing results from different groups of students doing this experiment, coffee cups used should be the same thickness and size so same heat is contained; spoons should be placed in cup at same time and left for the same length of time; spoons should be close to the same size. Note: Ensure students take care when feeling the metal spoon as it can become quite hot to touch.

Differentiation

  • Students could work in pairs or a small group to complete the investigation sheet. However, ensure that all have the opportunity to feel and compare the heat of the spoons.

Conclusion

  • All students check that they received the same final result for the best conductor.
  • Invite students to consider as a class why spoons of materials might be better in different situations (i.e., using a wooden rather than metal spoon to stir a boiling pot of soup).

Assessment

Worksheet answers

1. into, out
2. conduction, convection, radiation
3. (a) (ii) metal spoon should be ticked (b) Answers should indicate that metal is a good conductor of heat and the wood is not so the metal spoon will get hotter.
4. Answers should indicate that plastic does not let heat travel through easily so the handle will stay cool and not burn their hand.
5. insulator
6. a convection current
7. Answers should indicate we feel the sun’s heat because infrared heat rays radiate from the sun to Earth.

Science as a Human Endeavour question

Good conductors are the metals tin, copper and steel. (The others are good insulators.)

Investigation sheet answers

The students should discover a metal spoon will be the best thermal conductor. Not only will it feel the hottest but the heat will remain there for the longest. If a ceramic spoon is used, they will find that spoon will hold less heat than the metal spoon but more than the plastic and wooden spoons. The plastic spoon will hold a slight amount of heat for a short time, while the wooden spoon will hold the least heat.

Student pages

Student Pages

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Intro 1
Lesson 2
How does heat travel?
Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Intro 2
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Lesson 2
How does heat travel?
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Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 1

Heat is a form of energy or power.

We can feel heat from sources like the sun or a fire; from friction when we rub our hands together; from hot water from a tap; and from appliances such as heaters, toasters and electric blankets.

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 2

But how does the heat travel so we can feel it?

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 3

Heat travels into and out of objects.

This is called heat transfer.

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 4

All objects are made up of tiny particles called atoms and molecules.

If an object is hot, its molecules and atoms move quickly.

If an object is cooler, they will move much slower.

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 5

Science – Unit 4 – Lesson 2 – image – heat transfer

Heat travels from one object to another through conduction, convection or radiation.

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 6

Conduction is the main way heat travels through solid objects.

When you stir a pot of hot soup with a metal spoon (a solid), the spoon will gradually heat up all the way to the handle.

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 7

The molecules and atoms in the spoon move more quickly and bump into others.

Heat travels throughout the spoon in this way and it can get quite hot to touch.

Science – Unit 2 – Lesson 2 – image –

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 8

Metal is a good conductor.

The pot is made of metal, too, and will also get very hot.

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 9

What happens if you use a
wooden or plastic spoon
to stir the soup?

Wood and plastic are not
good conductors of heat.

Heat does not travel easily through them.

They are called insulators.

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 10

You will notice that most pots have plastic handles.

This is so we can hold the pot and not burn our hand.

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 11

Gases and liquids transfer heat by convection.

When a pot of cold soup is put on a hot plate, the soup (a liquid) at the bottom heats up first.

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 12

This warm soup is lighter and moves up to the top where the soup is cooler.

The cooler soup moves down.

The warmer and cooler molecules and atoms mix until the temperature is the same throughout.

Science – Unit 4 – Lesson 2 – image – convecton

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 13

The same thing happens when we turn on a heater in a cold room.

The air (a gas) is heated right in front of the heater.

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 14

Warm air is lighter than cool air so it rises.

Cool air comes down to take its place. It gets warmed and rises.

The movement of the liquid or gas is called a convection current.

Science – Unit 4 – Lesson 2 – image – convection current

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 15

Radiation is another way of heat transfer.

It is the spreading out of heat rays.

The sun is the best example.

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 16

Heat from the sun cannot travel by conduction or convection because space is almost completely empty.

We feel heat from the sun as it travels to Earth by infrared rays.

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Slide 17

We can also feel heat from a light bulb in the same way.

It radiates heat into the surrounding air.

Science Year 3 Unit 4 Lesson 2 Final Slide
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Student Summary

Summary of student page information

Student Pages

Worksheet

Activities for students to complete

Worksheet

Investigation Worksheet

An experiment to consolidate learnings

Investigation Worksheet
Report and Experiment Format