Thermal Energy Transfer:
Conduction, Convection, Radiation
TEKS 6.9.A
Focus Objective(s):
What TEKS objective(s) does this lesson align to?
6.9A Investigate methods of thermal energy transfer including conduction,
convection, and radiation.
Lesson Summary
The student will:
 Generate prior knowledge about how heat transfers from a warmer medium to a cooler
medium.
 Participate in a Thermal Energy Transfer lab
 Identify situations necessary for thermal energy transfer.
 Create a visual representation of each of the three types of thermal energy transfer.
Assessment:
What will students be able to do successfully after
mastering the objective above?
Guiding Questions:
At least three questions that students should
be able to answer after mastery of
objective(s) listed above.
1. What is thermal energy?
The students will be able to distinguish
between and provide examples of
conduction, convection, and radiation.
2. What three ways is thermal energy
transferred?
3. What conditions make each form of
thermal energy transfer possible?
4. How are convection, conduction and
radiation similar? How are they
different?
Engage:
The first phase is to engage the student in the learning task. The student mentally focuses on an
object, problem, situation, or event. The activities of this phase should make connections to past and
future activities. The connections depend on the learning task and may be conceptual, procedural, or
behavioral. Asking a question, defining a problem, showing a discrepant event, and acting out a
problematic situation are always to engage the students and focus them on the instructional activities.
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Thermal Energy Transfer:
Conduction, Convection, Radiation
TEKS 6.9.A
Teacher Resources and Handouts for Engage section:
Have a copy of the comic strip below on each lab table. The comic strip can be viewed here .
NOTE: Remove the words from the top of the comic strip to engage students’ curiosity.
Lesson Engage section below:
With the students in groups at lab tables, the teacher will have the comic strip placed either on the
overhead projector or at each lab table.
Student directions:
Look at the comic strip. Discuss with your lab group what each picture has in common and their
differences.
Students should be generating prior knowledge at this time. Teacher should monitor students’
conversations and reinforce the questions that are being asked. No correction or feedback should be
given at this time.
(The teacher should hear conversations centered on heat. For example, “All of these pictures have
something to do with heat”).
As students are discussing the pictures the teacher will write on the board the words
Radiation, Conduction and Convection.
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Thermal Energy Transfer:
Conduction, Convection, Radiation
TEKS 6.9.A
After allowing students to make their observations for a few minutes, the teacher will define each
term on the board and ask students to discuss in their groups which term goes with each picture.
Then discuss as a class with teacher adding clarification and definition.
Explore:
Once the activities have engaged students, they need time to explore their ideas. Exploration activities
are designed so that all students have common, concrete experiences upon which they continue
building concepts, processes, and skills. This phase should be concrete and meaningful for the
students. The aim of exploration activities is to establish experiences that teachers and students can
use later to formally introduce and discuss content area specific concepts, processes, or skills
Teacher Resources and Handouts for Explore section:
Thermal Energy Transfer Lab
Resources for lab (6 stations, 2 of each):
Station 1:
1 each for each station: plastic spoon, metal spoon, wooden spoon, all of equal lengths, 1 small
plastic bead for each spoon, wax or butter, hot plate, boiling water, one 500-ml beaker
Station 2:
A 500-ml beaker, water, hot plate, pepper
Station 3
Two Styrofoam cups (same size), water, sand, thermometers, timers, heat lamp
Handout for each lab: Use instructions below to create handouts for each lab.
Chart: Heat Transfer Observations (either one per student or one per group or projected for the
entire class) (http://ecc.hmns.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/6-9-A-Thermal-EnergyTransfer-Observation-Sheet.doc) Lesson Explore section below:
Thermal Energy Transfer Lab Procedure:
Reinforce safety rules and regulations prior to this lesson.
Students will work in groups of 4-5 to investigate how thermal energy is transferred. There will be 6
total stations (two for each of the 3 types). Students will rotate so that they do the 3 different
activities.
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Thermal Energy Transfer:
Conduction, Convection, Radiation
TEKS 6.9.A
Station 1
Procedure: Stick a small plastic bead to the handle of a plastic spoon, a metal spoon and a wooden
spoon (of equal lengths) using a dab of wax or butter. Each bead should be the same distance from
the tip of the spoon. Stand the spoons in a beaker with the beads hanging over the edge of the
beaker. Carefully pour boiling water into the beaker until the height of the water is approximately 5
cm from the bottom of the beaker. Record observations in science notebook, observing the order in
which the beads fall from the spoons.
Station 2
Procedure: Pour about 450 ml of water into a 500-ml beaker. Sprinkle a small amount of black
pepper into the beaker and let settle. Heat the bottom of the beaker on a hot plate. Record
observations on how the particles of pepper move when the water is heated. Make a drawing in the
science notebook showing their motion.
Station 3
Procedure: Using two Styrofoam cups (same size), fill one to the top with room temperature water
and fill the second to the top with sand. (Teacher can do this part of the activity for time
management.) Measure the initial temperature of each material near the surface of the cup (no more
than 2 cm below). Turn on the heat lamp and place both cups directly underneath the light source.
Start the timer and measure the temperatures of each cup again after 1 minute. Repeat, making
temperature measurements every minute for 15 minutes. Record results in science notebooks. Be
sure ALL safety procedures are followed. (Depending on the time available, the teacher may adjust
the number of minutes to take measurements.)
When each student group has completed all 3 labs, instruct them to record in their journals their
observations using the chart Heat Transfer Observations.
Explain:
Explanation means the act or process in which concepts, processes, or skills become plain,
comprehensible, and clear. The process of explanation provides the students and teacher with a
common use of terms relative to the learning experience. In this phase, the teacher directs student
attention to specific aspects of the engagement and exploration experiences. First, the teacher asks
the students to give their explanations. Second, the teacher introduces explanations in a direct and
formal manner. Explanations are ways of ordering and giving a common language for the exploratory
experiences. The teacher should base the initial part of this phase on the students' explanations and
clearly connect the explanations to experiences in the engagement and exploration phases of the
instructional model. The key to this phase is to present concepts, processes, or skills briefly, simply,
clearly, and directly, and then continue on to the next phase.
Teacher Resources and Handouts for Explain section:
Frayer Model Template(www.google.com)
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Thermal Energy Transfer:
Conduction, Convection, Radiation
TEKS 6.9.A
Definition
In your own words
Characteristics
Non-Examples
Examples
You Tube has many videos about Energy Transfer.
This one is very student interactive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0itiVUXjuk&feature=related
This one is a song the students will enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y3mfAGVn1c&feature=related
Lesson Explain section below:
Part 1:Have students refer back to the comic strips they analyzed in the Engage activity. Make sure
the students know which pictures were conduction, convection, and radiation.
Part 2: The teacher will use Energy Transfer Explanation (http://ecc.hmns.org/wpcontent/uploads/2012/02/6-9-A-Thermal-Energy-Transfer-Explanation.doc) to discuss heat energy
transfer. Show pictures to the class. Show the chart if necessary.
Have each student complete Frayer Model Templates for Heat, Conduction, Convection, and
Radiation during the discussion in their Science Journals.
Elaborate
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Thermal Energy Transfer:
Conduction, Convection, Radiation
TEKS 6.9.A
Once the students have an explanation of their learning tasks, it is important to involve them in
further experiences that apply, extend, or elaborate the concepts, processes, or skills.
Elaboration activities provide further time and experience that contribute to learning. The teacher
should provide opportunities for students to practice their learning in new contexts.
Teacher Resources and Handouts for Elaborate section:
Large poster paper, markers, colored pencils; or computer and projector.
Lesson Elaborate section below:
Peer teaching teams: groups will be assigned an example of a topic that involves one of the methods
of heat transfer. Each team will be responsible for identifying the method of transfer, explaining
how thermal energy is transferred, and presenting this information to the class. Presentations can
be delivered by a poster or PowerPoint. They will also be responsible for taking notes on the other
presentations.
Topics can include:
1.
Why is a desert warm during the day and considerably cooler at night?
2.
Why is the sand at the beach warmer during the day than the ocean water?
3.
Explain how a lava lamp works.
4.
Why are cooking pots made of metal but the handles usually are not?
5.
How does a fireplace heat a room?
6.
Why are metals good heat conductors as opposed to plastic, glass or wood materials?
Evaluate
At some point, it is important that students receive feedback on the adequacy of their explanations.
Informal evaluation can occur from the beginning of the teaching sequence. The teacher can
complete a formal evaluation after the elaboration phase. This is the phase in which teachers
administer formative or summative evaluations to determine each student's level of understanding.
This also is the important opportunity for students to use the skills they have acquired and
evaluate their own understanding. At this point, the teacher also determines whether students have
met the performance indicators.
Teacher Resources and Handouts for Evaluate section:
Large poster paper, markers, colored pencils; or computer and projector
Lesson Evaluate section below
Students will work in groups of 4-5 (or individually) and create a visual representation of
each of the three types of thermal energy transfer using a real life example such as in
weather (different from the lab station activities). Provide a grading rubric that includes
proper use of terms, visual examples, diagrams, etc.
A simple rubric can be found here:
http://www.rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?code=D6BX4A&sp=true&
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