Temperature

Objectives

• Students will be able to tell key temperatures as they relate to water and human beings.
• Students should realize that hot and cold are relative terms that vary depending on circumstances.
• Students will be exposed to two different measurements of temperature, Fahrenheit and Celsius.

Kit Contents

• Red Program Folder

• Books (in kit)
  • Granowsky, Alvin My World Hot and Cold

• Equipment (in kit)
  • 1 Classroom Thermometer

Lesson

• Introduction
  • A thermometer is the instrument used to measure heat.
  • The scale used on the thermometer is Fahrenheit or Celsius.[Note: There is a formula to convert from one scale to the next, but it might well be beyond most of the students until their math skills increase. C = (F-32)/1.8 F = (1.8) C + 32]
  • Basic temperatures to remember:
    Boiling Point of water 100 deg. C or 212 deg F
    Body Temperature 37 deg. C or 98.6 deg F
    Freezing point of water 0 deg. C or 32 deg. F
  • Practice using the thermometer to measure different liquid temperatures. NOTE: For sanitary reasons, no body thermometer is included.
  • Heat flows from the warmer object to the cooler object.

• Program
  • Fill one bowl with hot water from the tap, fill another with cold water and add some ice to it, fill a third bowl with water that is somewhere in between.
  • Use the thermometer to take temperature readings for each of the three. (Allow a minute or so for temperature readings to adjust and give more accurate readings.)
  • Help your student to read and write down temperatures both in Fahrenheit and Celsius temperatures as shown on the thermometer.
  • Have your student put one hand in the hot water, one hand in the cold water and wait for a minute. Ask your student to predict what the middle water will feel to each hand. Then put both hands into the middle bowl and compare the relative temperature being registered by each hand. Is the actual temperature any different in that middle bowl? Does it feel different to each hand?
  • Using heat effectively
    • Take two glasses of water. Fill one glass with hot water, and one glass with cold water.
    • Take two tea bags and place one in each glass. Observe the difference between the time it takes each to change color. The hotter the water, the faster it will change.
    • Repeat the process trying to dissolve salt, sugar, Kool-aid, iced tea mix, or something similar. Although the tea bags are a little more obvious with the change and time difference, it is noticeable for the others.
    • Practical application - see the difference in dissolving grease with hot or cold water. Which would be better for washing dishes, hands, etc.

 

Kit Topics | Families Counts