Lesson Plan: Heat Science
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to describe the transfer of thermal energy by heat conduction, convection, and radiation.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- recall that heat can transfer thermal energy across a solid by a process called conduction that is due to the oscillation of particles,
- recall that a thermal conductor conducts thermal energy easily and a thermal insulator does not,
- recall that heat can transfer thermal energy between substances without a need for a medium by a process called radiation that is due to waves,
- recall that heat can transfer thermal energy within gases and liquids by a process called convection,
- recall that within a gas or liquid, higher-temperature regions have a lower density and lower-temperature regions have a higher density,
- recognize that temperature and density variations within a gas or liquid can lead to movement within the gas or liquid,
- describe changes of temperature with time for objects being heated or cooled using graphs.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the fact that there is a category of energy for objects called thermal energy,
- the fact that there is a category of energy called heat that transfers energy between objects,
- the fact that thermal energy transfers from higher-temperature objects to lower-temperature objects.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- any heat-related calculations,
- relations of particle energy and object temperature,
- the existence of potential energy for particles in objects,
- any details concerning the waves involved in heat radiation other than that they can move through a vacuum,
- details of the mechanisms involved in convection currents,
- conduction in more than one direction.