Don't miss the opportunity to make learning about conduction, convection, and radiation engaging, fun, memorable, and meaningful for your kiddos!
These are just a few of the activities that I have done in my own classroom or have seen other teachers use to teach the methods of heat transfer - conduction, convection, and radiation.
1. Popcorn Lab: I can guarantee that your students will have a blast with this popcorn lab. This lab uses three methods of popcorn popping to review conduction, convection, and radiation. For this lab, you will need a microwave, an air popper, and an oil popper. I recommend asking for the air popper and oil popper on your teacher wish list, or simply borrowing from a co-worker or student.
2. S'mores Lab: Here at S'more Time for Teaching, it only seems fitting to mention the s'mores lab for teaching conduction, convection, and radiation. If you have a true science lab as a classroom (which I don't!), this is such an engaging, hands-on activity for teaching heat transfer. Using three different ways to make s'mores, students get to explore conduction, convection, and radiation in a very yummy way!
3. Ice Cube Melting: When discussing conduction, I walk around the classroom and place a small ice cube on each table group. Strange, huh? For something that students have seen their whole lives, many of them have never thought about "where the heat is moving," or the fact that the heat is moving from the desk to the ice cube. I love hyping this one up as if I am about to show them a once in a lifetime experiment! Although this may seem silly, it leads to really great discussions in my classroom.
4. Brainstorm: We do a ton of brainstorming throughout our unit on heat transfer. If we have a few extra minutes in class, I love having the kids come up with as many examples of conduction, convection, and radiation as they can!
5. Cut & Sort Activity: This Conduction, Convection, & Radiation Cut & Sort is a great activity as a check for understanding or independent practice. This activity is compatible to be used as a handout or interactive notebook activity.
6. Lamp Demonstration: All you need for this one is a lamp and a few student volunteers! Have two volunteers high five. Have student A describe the temperature of student B's hands. Have student B hold their hands over the lamp (not touching the lamp) and count to 60. After 60 seconds, have the students high five again and have Student A describe the temperature of student B's hands after holding them over the lamp. This shows heat transfer through radiation because the heat moves from the lamp to the hands, even though the student is not directly touching the lamp. Note: I have found that LED lightbulbs do not work as well, since they do not get as hot.
7. Water Bottle & Balloon Demonstration: This is the perfect activity for squashing the misconception that "heat always rises." Yes, hot air rises. Yes, hot water rises. This is due to the fact that these fluids become less dense when they heat up. HEAT (or thermal energy, really), moves from warmer to cooler...not just up. Simply place a balloon over the mouth of an empty water bottle. Fill one container with hot water and one container with ice water. Place the bottom of the water bottle in the hot water and watch the balloon rise as the hot air moves up into the balloon. Then, place the bottle in the ice water and watch the balloon deflate as the warm air moves down into the cooler air of the bottle.
Comment below to share your favorite engaging, hands-on, or memorable ways to teach conduction, convection, and radiation!
