Kayla Roby
CSI: Thermometer Lesson Plan
ED 418 and 317
Professor Wright
10/18/2011
Description: Temperature is measured using an instrument called a thermometer.
Through this lesson students will learn how we can tell what the temperature is,
what a thermometer is, and how you read a thermometer. Students will also learn
how to use numbers and make observations.
Context: about 28 students, classroom settings, small groups of children rotating
stations throughout the classroom (about 6 children per group)
Grade Level: 3rd grade (Mr. Webb)
Standards:
Science, Engineering and Technology
3.4
Define a real world problem and list criteria for a successful solution.
3.4.1
Choose and use the appropriate tools to estimate and measure length, mass and
temperature in SI units.
3.4.2
Define the uses and types of simple machines and utilize simple machines in the
solution to a ¿real world¿ problem.
Materials:
1. Thermometers (7)
2. Cups (6)
3. Tape Labels (1 for each cup)
4. Ice (about a whole cup of ice; carry to school in a cooler)
5. Kids Journals
6. Pencils (kids will have their own journals and pencils)
Procedure and Time: (20 minutes total)
BEFORE ACTIVITY: (10 minutes-there are 4 major questions or topics to discuss
here, about 2 and 1/2 minutes per major question)
Getting students hooked: CSI we need to know everything possible about where this
leak came from. We are going to have to test everything we can about all the
different sources of water in the museum. Testing the temperature of water in the
water clock, the aquarium, the pond, and the cannon (all things that have water that
are in the Children’s Museum) is just one way that is going to help us figure out
where this leak came from!
Kayla Roby
CSI: Thermometer Lesson Plan
ED 418 and 317
Professor Wright
10/18/2011
Share with students:
 Temperature is measured using an instrument called a thermometer. Does
anyone know what temperature is? Students answers the degree of hotness or
coldness of a body or environment. Does anyone know what a thermometer is?
An instrument used to determine the temperature.
 Thermometers are commonly made from a glass bulb connected to a tube of
glass with a numbered scale written on the outside.
 Inside the glass tube is a liquid like mercury or colored alcohol that rises and
falls in the tube as the temperature around it warms or cools.
 When the temperature rises, the liquid in the glass tube warms up and
molecules expand, which in turn takes up more space in the tube.
 Most thermometers have two temperature scales: Fahrenheit and Celsius.
Both scales are divided in two-degree increments.
 When you read the temperature on a thermometer, it should be vertical and
your eyes should be level with the top of the liquid in the glass tube.
 Avoid handling the thermometer when you take your readings. The heat
from your hands will transfer to the glass causing its temperature to rise.
1. How can we tell what the temperature is?
Have kids share ideas.
Answers could be:
 we can feel the temperature or see our bodies react to temperature, as when we
sweat or shiver.
 Or we can see evidence of the temperature by observing: a pond or pool of
water freezing and thawing, wilting plant leaves on really hot days, seeing heat
rise in a shimmer from pavement.
Lead discussion to the point of realizing that we cannot tell the temperature
accurately just by feeling it or observing our surroundings. We depend upon an
instrument called a thermometer for accurate readings.
2. What is a thermometer?
Have students look at their thermometers. Help them define what this instrument
is made of: a glass bulb connected to a long and thin glass tube; glass tube has
numbers written on it; inside bulb and in tube is a liquid (either mercury or a colored
alcohol).
3. How do you read a thermometer?
Lead discussion and ideas to the following
points:
 Your eyes should be level with the top of the liquid in the tube to read it
accurately. (You can have them test this—seeing that the reading is not the
same when you look down or up onto the degree lines on the tube.)
 Handling the thermometer can affect its reading, as heat transfers from your
Kayla Roby
CSI: Thermometer Lesson Plan
ED 418 and 317
Professor Wright
10/18/2011
hands (if warmer) or to the (if cooler)
ACTIVITY: (10 minutes-should be about 1 minute for each measurement and
recording 5 minutes total, leaving 5 minutes to review safety precautions, make sure
students are recording correctly, and assess that they understand what a
thermometer is and how to read it correctly)
4. Give each student or pair of students a thermometer.
5. Review safety precautions and fact that if thermometers are dropped or
banged on a table they will break. (taking turns)
a. Handle thermometers with care, there can be danger of broken glass.
b. Students need to take turns measuring the cups of water. We do not
want to spill any water.
6. Have students read their thermometers in the room. Record their findings in
the journal.
7. Have students take the temperature of room temperature water. Record
findings in journal.
8. Have students take the temperature of hot water. Record findings in journal.
9. Have students take the temperature of ice water. Record findings in journal.
10. Have students hold thermometer in their hands for a few minutes. Read
thermometer and write down their findings.
AFTER ACTIVITY: (done during activity-answer questions if we have time at the
end)
do assessment and make sure kids have written (recorded) correctly in their
journals. Remind them why we learned how to use thermometers (CSI at children’s
museum)
Adaptations:
 Students who have difficulty reading and understanding thermometers: one
on one help demonstrating and guiding the reading of thermometers.
 Students who have difficulty with discussion: there will be a space in their
journal for reflections that they can write ideas if they do not feel
comfortable sharing aloud
 Students who may have difficulty recording: guide them the correct way to
do so and allow them to do the minimum recording required (description
and measurement)
Kayla Roby
CSI: Thermometer Lesson Plan
ED 418 and 317
Professor Wright
10/18/2011
Assessment: During discussion, note if students understand basic concepts of
temperature and thermometer. The parts of a thermometer and how it works, and
how to read a thermometer accurately. Students can also show others how to use
and read a thermometer to share and to demonstrate what they know.
Notes for me:
Have students tell you these answers at the end of the lesson:
1. How can we tell what the temperature is?
2. What is a thermometer?
3. How do you read a thermometer?