Science Learning Community: Science and Engineering Lesson Plans
This is a Breeze: Designing an Evaporative Cooler
Marta Balusek
July 18, 2014
Adapted from: Evaporative Cooler. (2010, September 23). Retrieved 2014, July 18, from The Concord Consortium:
http://concord.org/stem-resources/evaporative-cooler
INFORMATION ABOUT THE LESSON
Grade Level and Subject Area: 6th-8th grade Science.
Time Frame: This is meant to be a one-week lesson, consisting of 5-6 consecutive 37-minute class periods.
Objectives: Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to:
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Identify a problem that can be solved using the engineering design process.
Understand and explain how thermal energy is transferred from an object to the environment.
Understand how the thermal energy of particles decreases when evaporating from a liquid into a gas.
Explain how the cooling effect of evaporating water can be used for air conditioning.
Construct and test a device, and make revisions and modifications based on collected data.
Next Generation Science Standards:
Funded by an Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title IIb Wisconsin Improving Teacher Quality Grant in
Partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Stout
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Science Learning Community: Science and Engineering Lesson Plans
Standards for Technological Literacy 6-8:
8.E – Design is a creative planning process that leads to useful products and systems.
8.G – Requirements for a design are made up of criteria and constraints.
9.H – Modeling, testing, evaluating, and modifying are used to transform ideas into practical solutions.
10.G – Invention is a process of turning ideas and imagination into devices and systems. Innovation is the process of modifying an
existing product or system to improve it.
11.H – Apply a design process to solve problems in and beyond the laboratory-classroom.
11.J – Make two-dimensional and three-dimensional representations of the designed solution.
11.K – Test and evaluate the design in relations to pre-established requirements, such as criteria and constraints and refine as
needed.
11.L – Make a product or system and document the solution.
Common Core State Standards in Mathematics:
MP.2 - Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
6.SP.B.5 - Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context.
Common Core State Standards in English and Language Arts:
RST.6-8.3 - Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.
Prior Learning:
Funded by an Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title IIb Wisconsin Improving Teacher Quality Grant in
Partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Stout
Page 2
Science Learning Community: Science and Engineering Lesson Plans
Students should be able to relate how sweat can cool them down when they are hot. Many may already have made the connection
that it is the evaporation of the sweat that provides the cooling effect.
Materials:
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Whole class:
A graph that demonstrates the change in thermal energy compared with the phase changes of water. Can easily be found
electronically. I like the one found at:
http://www.mrzimmerman.org/New%20Folder/HW/STUDY%20GUIDE%20for%20Prop%20of%20Matter.htm
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Each student:
Interactive notebooks
Pen
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Each group:
Temperature probes or thermometers
Aluminum pan/tray
Various cups and containers
Various selections of cloth and material
Scissors
Wire hangars
Pipe cleaners
String
Rubber bands
Small electric fan
Water
Teacher-made “paper doll” made out of foil.
LESSON 1 IMPLEMENTATION
Objective: Upon completion of this lesson, students will be able to:
Identify a problem that can be solved using the engineering design process.
Pre-Assessment
Ask students to brainstorm all the positive things about summer heat. Have them then brainstorm and list all the negative things about
summer heat. Share in a whole group discussion. Create a T-chart as a class.
Procedures
Time
Instructional Strategies/Learning Tasks
One 37minute
class
period
1.
After discussion on positive and negative effects of summer heat
show the following video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUsa1xa3Y8s
2.
After the video have students brainstorm ways to help people
cool down on hot days
Purpose
For students to
identify possible
solutions to a
problem that affects
people in their
community.
Funded by an Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title IIb Wisconsin Improving Teacher Quality Grant in
Partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Stout
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Science Learning Community: Science and Engineering Lesson Plans
Formative Assessment
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None
Closure
Discuss all the possible solutions that have been brainstormed.
Summative Assessment
Exit ticket: Students tell you one way to beat the summer heat
LESSON 2 IMPLEMENTATION
Objective: Upon completion of this lesson, students will be able to:
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Understand and explain how thermal energy is transferred from an object to the environment.
Understand how the thermal energy of particles decreases when evaporating from a liquid into a gas.
Pre-Assessment
Use the following discussion prompts:
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You may have noticed how good a breeze feels when it hits sweaty skin on a hot summer day.
You probably know that evaporating water causes the cooling effect. You probably have also observed that a moving air
increases the cooling effect.
Ask the following question:
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How could the cooling effect of evaporation be used to cool the air in a room?
Have students draw a picture of their idea in their notebooks, and describe how it would work.
Procedures
Time
Instructional Strategies/Learning Tasks
Purpose
One 37minute
class
period
1. Using the graph, discuss how the thermal energy changes as
matter goes through phase changes. Discuss how this relates to
temperature.
For students to
understand the
relationship between
thermal energy and
temperature of matter
as it goes through
phase changes.
2. Examples that can be discussed include cooling down from
sweating, why hot days feel hotter in higher humidity, as well as why
farmers will spray their fruit with water before a freeze to protect them.
3. Have students create a phase change graph in their interactive
notebooks
Formative Assessment
Choose what is most appropriate for your students:
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Using their hands balled up into fists, have students demonstrate the energy of the particles in the different phases of
matter and how it changes during a phase changes.
Funded by an Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title IIb Wisconsin Improving Teacher Quality Grant in
Partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Stout
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Science Learning Community: Science and Engineering Lesson Plans
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Have a phase of matter dance party where students demonstrate the thermal energy of particles using dance moves.
Examples would be standing and just nodding their heads would mimic a liquid while jumping around quickly to the
beat would be like a gas.
Closure
Have students relate the lesson to how air conditioning might work in their homes. Have students revisit their original drawing and
revise as necessary based on their new understanding of thermal energy changes.
Summative Assessment
Exit ticket: Students must write whether thermal energy increases or decreases with each phase change.
LESSON 3 IMPLEMENTATION
Objective: Upon completion of this lesson, students will be able to:
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Explain how the cooling effect of evaporating water can be used for air conditioning.
Construct and test a device, and make revisions and modifications based on collected data.
Procedures
Time
Instructional Strategies/Learning Tasks
ThreeFour 37minute
class
period
1.
Purpose
Have students research in groups how air conditioners work.
http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/how_it_works/air_conditioner.html
http://home.howstuffworks.com/ac.htm
2. In groups, students are to design a system for cooling the temperature
of a foil “paper doll” person. They will have two class periods to plan
and build. Materials and assessment will being on a rubric.
3. When groups are finished with their models, they will be tested as a
whole class demonstration using either temperature probes or
thermometers. Students should record their data on the data table and
graph their results.
For students to apply
their understanding of
the relationship
between thermal
energy and phase
changes of matter to
construct a system
that will effectively
cool a person.
Closure
Students will reflect on their groups’ design and compare it to the success of other groups. They can make revisions on a drawing of
their model if they choose to do so.
Summative Assessment: Rubric
Rubric
Cost of materials– Price will vary based on teacher discretion and availability of items:
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Various cups and containers
Various selections of cloth and material
Wire hangars
Pipe cleaners
String
Rubber bands
Funded by an Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title IIb Wisconsin Improving Teacher Quality Grant in
Partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Stout
Page 5
Science Learning Community: Science and Engineering Lesson Plans
Scoring
Budget:
Top ½ spenders – 5 points
Bottom ½ spenders – 10 points
Sustainability:
Falls apart during use: 0 points
Remains intact during use: 10 points
Effectiveness:
Temperature of foil person drops 20o or more: 20 points
Temperature of foil person drops 10-19o: 10 points
Temperature of foil person drops 1-9o: 5 points
Temperature of foil person does not drop: 0 points
Funded by an Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title IIb Wisconsin Improving Teacher Quality Grant in
Partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Stout
Page 6