Students test the insulation properties of different materials by timing how long it takes ice cubes to melt in the presence of various insulating materials. Students learn about the role that thermal insulation materials can play in reducing heat transfer by conduction, convection and radiation, as well as the design and implementation of insulating materials in construction and engineering.

Students will record the temperature daily, using a bar graph, color coded bars. this monthly bar graph helps students understand phenology and interpreting graphs.

With the assistance of a few teacher demonstrations (online animation, using a radiometer and rubbing hands), students review the concept of heat transfer through convection, conduction and radiation. Then they apply an understanding of these ideas as they use wireless temperature probes to investigate the heating capacity of different materials sand and water under heat lamps (or outside in full sunshine). The experiment models how radiant energy drives convection within the atmosphere and oceans, thus producing winds and weather conditions, while giving students the hands-on opportunity to understand the value of remote-sensing capabilities designed by engineers. Students collect and record temperature data on how fast sand and water heat and cool. Then they create multi-line graphs to display and compare their data, and discuss the need for efficient and reliable engineer-designed tools like wireless sensors in real-world applications.

Students learn about the difference between temperature and thermal energy. They build a thermometer using simple materials and develop their own scale for measuring temperature. They compare their thermometer to a commercial thermometer, and get a sense for why engineers need to understand the properties of thermal energy.

This course serves as an introduction to working in an engineering laboratory. The student will learn to gather, analyze, interpret, and explain physical measurements for simple engineering systems in which only a few factors need be considered. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: Interpret and use scientific notation and engineering units to describe physical quantities; Present engineering data and other information in graphical and/or tabular format; Use automated systems for data acquisition and analysis for engineering systems; Work in teams for experiment design, data acquisition, and data analysis; Use elementary concepts of physics to analyze engineering situations and data; Summarize and present experimental design, implementation, and data in written format; Use new technology and resources to design and perform experiments for engineering analysis. (Mechanical Engineering 301)

This activity is an inquiry lesson where students learn how to accurately read a thermometer and then set up an investigation to compare the temperatures of different materials or locations.

Students come to see the exponential trend demonstrated through the changing temperatures measured while heating and cooling a beaker of water. This task is accomplished by first appealing to students' real-life heating and cooling experiences, and by showing an example exponential curve. After reviewing the basic principles of heat transfer, students make predictions about the heating and cooling curves of a beaker of tepid water in different environments. During a simple teacher demonstration/experiment, students gather temperature data while a beaker of tepid water cools in an ice water bath, and while it heats up in a hot water bath. They plot the data to create heating and cooling curves, which are recognized as having exponential trends, verifying Newton's result that the change in a sample's temperature is proportional to the difference between the sample's temperature and the temperature of the environment around it. Students apply and explore how their new knowledge may be applied to real-world engineering applications.

Planck found that to explain the relationship between temperature and radiation he had to assume that radiation energy is transferred in discrete quanta. Einstein pointed out that the so-called photoelectric effect provided convincing evidence that Planck's quanta were real particles, what we now call photons

This 10-minute video lesson provides intuition of how gases generate pressure in a container and why pressure x volume is proportional to the combined kinetic energy of the molecules in the volume.

This 10-minute video lesson provdes an Introduction to Kelvin. It presents an example of a problem involving the ideal gas law.

Students explore whether rooftop gardens are a viable option for combating the urban heat island effect. Can rooftop gardens reduce the temperature inside and outside houses? Teams each design and construct two model buildings using foam core board, one with a "green roof" and the other with a black tar paper roof. They measure and graph the ambient and inside building temperatures while under heat lamps and fans. Then students analyze the data and determine whether the rooftop gardens are beneficial to the inhabitants.

In this 5-lesson multi-media unit, students will explore various real-world applications of different forms of measurement, including time and distance. They will make estimations and calculations. Throughout the unit, students will be using online resources to familiarize themselves with coral reefs, the nation of Belize, and to plan a pretend scuba diving trip. Activity sheets (pdf), links to online resources, assessment options and other commentary are provided.

This lesson introduces students to the space environment. It covers the major differences between the environment on Earth and that of outer space and the engineering challenges that arise because of these discrepancies. In order to prepare students for the upcoming lessons on the human body, this lesson challenges them to think about how their bodies would change and adapt in the unique environment of space.

In this activity, students act as engineers to determine which type of insulation would conserve the most energy.

The Core Mantle Boundary (CMB) represents one of the most important physical and chemical discontinuities of the deep Earth as it separates the solid state, convective lower mantle from the liquid outer core. In this seminar course, we will examine our current understanding of the CMB region from integrated seismological, mineral physics and geodynamical perspectives. Instructors will introduce state-of-the-art methodologies that are employed to characterize the CMB region and relevant papers will be discussed in class. Topics will include CMB detection and topography, D'' anisotropy, seismic velocity anomalies (e.g., ultra-low velocity zones), temperature, chemical reactions, phase relations, and mineral fabrications at the core-mantle boundary. These results will be integrated to address the CMB's fundamental role in both mantle and core dynamics.

The term mammal encompasses a huge variety of animals, including humans. But what makes a mammal a mammal? This unit explores some of the features, such as reproduction, lactation and thermoregulation methods, that mammals have in common. It is the first

Students explore how the efficiency of a solar photovoltaic (PV) panel is affected by the ambient temperature. They learn how engineers predict the power output of a PV panel at different temperatures and examine some real-world engineering applications used to control the temperature of PV panels.

Three short, hands-on, in-class demos expand students' understand of energy. First, using peanuts and heat, students see how the human body burns food to make energy. Then, students create paper snake mobiles to explore how heat energy can cause motion. Finally, students determine the effect that heat energy from the sun (or a lamp) has on temperature by placing pans of water in different locations.

Students learn the importance of heat transfer and heat conductance. Using hot plates, student groups measure the temperature change of a liquid over a set time period and use the gathered data to calculate the heat transfer that occurs. Then, as if they were engineers, students pool their results to discuss and determine the best fluid to use in a car radiator.