Teachers’ notes – Keeping warm
Synopsis
This Activity encourages learners to think about and discuss some of the ways they and other
animals keep warm. They carry out investigations that compare the insulating properties of
some materials. The use of different thermometers to measure different ranges of
temperature is introduced. The activity provides an introduction to later learning about
materials as insulators and conductors of heat.
Curriculum links
The sustainable Earth:
3. a comparison of the features and properties of some natural and made materials
4. the properties of materials relating to their uses
5. how some materials are formed or produced
Skills
Communication: 1, 2 & 3
Enquiry – Planning: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7
Enquiry – Developing: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7
Enquiry – Reflecting: 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6
Activities
Tab 1
The first tab in this activity invites learners to think about and
discuss some of the ways they keep their bodies warm. They could
record their ideas as a mind map and as part of their discussions
consider how other living things keep warm.
Tab 2
This tab encourages learners to activate their prior knowledge
and understanding by asking them to discuss and identify what
materials keep the following things warm.
A room, feet, hands, a baby, a hot drink, chips, pizza.
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As part of their discussions the term insulator could be
introduced.
Tab 3
This tab invites learners to make a sequenced drawing to show
their ideas of how an ice lolly changes if left in a bowl in a warm
place. Learners should explain their ideas.
Tab 4
This tab requires learners to plan, develop and reflect on an
investigation to find out if they could increase the time taken for an
ice lolly to melt. During the planning discussions a difference of
opinion is likely to emerge about the outcome of enclosing the
lollies in a material. These differing ideas should be discussed as
part of the planning process and may lead to the need for
preliminary investigations.
Tab 5
In this tab, learners are asked to consider three different ideas and
decide which one they support. They should provide explanations
to support their choice. Learners could then plan and carry out
investigations using materials such as ice cubes and layers of
fabric to check their ideas.
Tab 6
This tab invites learners to plan and carry out an investigation to
find the most suitable insulating material for a duvet. The
investigation encourages learners to consider the variable they will
change as they carry out their investigation (the independent
variable), the variable they will measure to collect their results (the
dependent variable) and any variables they will control to help
make their investigation fair.
Although learners should be
encouraged to reflect on their approach as they carry out their
investigation, the button labelled ‘reflect’ reminds learners to
evaluate their approach and to reflect on their results at the end of
it.
Tab 7
This tab presents learners with four different explanations of how
animals keep warm. Invite learners to think carefully about each of
the four ideas and consider if they agree with any of them. The
purpose of the tab is to encourage learners to reflect on their own
understanding in the light of other children’s ideas and then to use
secondary sources to find more information and to check their
ideas. They should be encouraged to decide their own search
terms and to select and report relevant information. Some learners
may be able to compare information available on different sites
and perhaps consider possible inaccuracies. Ensure learners use
the internet safely.
Tab 8
In this tab learners are asked to think about how temperature is
measured and discuss the ranges of temperature shown on
different thermometers. These discussions would best be
supported by direct observations.
Tab 9
The aim of the tab is to activate prior knowledge and to motivate
learners to find out more about thermometers and temperature.
The tab presents learners with different thermometers and invites
them to think about the range of temperatures that they are
designed to measure. They are encouraged to make a judgement
about the temperature range but also to indicate how confident
they might be in their judgement.