Class Demonstration
Materials:
Take everyone outside in the warm sun. Have students describe the temperature. Then take the class inside a cool air-conditioned room. How does the temperature compare. Go back outside and see how the outdoors feels after being inside. Does it feel any different? Would you say the air-conditioned room is cold? Then take the class into a walk-in refrigerator, or ice room. How does this room compare to the air-conditioned room. Go back to the air-conditioned room. Does the air-conditioned room feel warm now after it felt cold from being outside? (Be careful with this activity that no one feels sick going between the different temperatures. Don't stay in the walk-in refrigerator for very long.)
- Walk-in refrigerator
- Warm sunny day outside
- Cool air-conditioned room
Take everyone outside in the warm sun. Have students describe the temperature. Then take the class inside a cool air-conditioned room. How does the temperature compare. Go back outside and see how the outdoors feels after being inside. Does it feel any different? Would you say the air-conditioned room is cold? Then take the class into a walk-in refrigerator, or ice room. How does this room compare to the air-conditioned room. Go back to the air-conditioned room. Does the air-conditioned room feel warm now after it felt cold from being outside? (Be careful with this activity that no one feels sick going between the different temperatures. Don't stay in the walk-in refrigerator for very long.)
Group Activity
- Water balloons
- Water at different temperatures
- Ice
- 4 tubs
Fill the water balloons with different degrees of water (hot (you can still touch it and not get burned), warm, room temp., cool, ice
cold). Fill the tubs with different degrees of water (warm, room temp., cool, ice water). Allow students an opportunity to feel the different water balloons and determine the difference between them. Have students place the water balloons in the tubs and compare the temperatures. Have students determine which is the coldest and which is the hottest. See if the room temperature tub feels cold or hot compared to the ice water and the warm water. Have students leave one hand in the warm water for three minutes, and then put both hands in the cool water together. Do they feel different? Afterwards have the students put all the balloons in order of hottest to coldest.
Effective Questions to use
How does the water temperature change?
Can the warm water be considered cold? How?
What would it be like if everything was always hot and we had no cold?
Can the warm water be considered cold? How?
What would it be like if everything was always hot and we had no cold?