Temperature

Jackie Baker                   Crown Community Academy
                               2128 South St. Louis
                               Chicago IL 60623
                               (312) 534-1680

Objectives:

Students in grades kindergarten through second will learn that the skin is not 
 always a reliable sensor of temperature.
Students will learn how to read a thermometer.
Students will practice using a thermometer to determine a specific temperature.
Students will observe that dark colors absorb heat faster than light colors.

Materials Needed:

hot, warm, and cold water in three separate bowls
towels
thermometers (one per child or one for every group of two children)
styrofoam cups (one for each group of two)
water
colored construction paper
crayons

Preparation:

Put a piece of tape over the numbers of each thermometer.
Put a color of construction paper on the inside and outside of each styrofoam 
 cup.
Prepare a graph illustrating the colors used across the bottom and the 
 temperatures in fahrenheit along the side.

Strategy:

1.  Set out the three bowls of hot, warm, and cold water and invite one child to 
tell you which one is hot, warm, or cold.  When the child has accomplished this, 
ask the class what the student used to tell the temperature of the water.  When 
they acknowledge that the child used her hands, ask them if they think our sense 
of touch is a good way of telling the temperature of something?  Tell them that 
we are going to find out. 

2.  Have each child put one hand in the hot water and one in the cold water.  
Have them hold it there for a few seconds.  Next, have them put both hands 
quickly in the luke warm water.  Ask them to concentrate on what each hand 
feels and be prepared to describe what they have felt after everyone has had a 
turn.  After each child has had a turn, discuss what the water felt like to both 
hands.  The children should have noticed that the warm water felt cold to the 
hand that was in the hot water and felt warm to the hand that was in the ice 
cold water.  Discuss the differences and ask if they still think that skin is a 
good sensor of temperature.

3.  Ask if there are any other ways to reliably measure the temperature?  
Discuss each idea and then tell the children that you have a thermometer.  Give 
each child a thermometer with the numbers covered.  Allow every child to put 
their thermometer into the hot water and the cold water; marking a line on the 
tape where the red indicator stops.  Discuss what happened to the thermometer 
when it was placed in the two different temperatures of water.  Have the 
children take off the tape on the Fahrenheit side and discuss what they see.  
Have them read the number across from their mark and compare their answers.  
Their answers should be relatively close.  Discuss why a thermometer is a more 
reliable sensor of temperature than our sense of touch.

4.  Tell the children that they are going to get a chance to actually measure 
the temperature of water when it is placed in the sun.  Have the children get 
into groups of two.  They will need one thermometer, a styrofoam cup, and some 
water in their cup.  Make sure that all thermometers start at the same 
temperature by placing them in a cup of water with ice.  Have the children put 
their styrofoam cups filled with water outside in the sun and place their 
thermometers in the water.  Leave the cups outside for 30 minutes.  When the 
children bring their equipment back inside, have them take a final reading and 
put their results on the class graph according to their specific color.  Discuss 
the graph.  Which color had the highest temperature?  Which color had the lowest 
temperature?  Ask the children if they can explain what happened.  (Black or 
dark colors absorb the light energy of the sun and it is changed to heat.  Light 
colors act as reflectors and bounce light off.)  

Performance Assessment:

The students will color in a given thermometer to show 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  
Next, they will write and illustrate what color clothing they would wear to 
school on a very hot, sunny day.  

References:

Primarily Physics Grades K-3, AIMS Activities