Hot Stuff – Lesson 6 – Making Heat
Students explore ways heat can be produced and moved from one object to another. Working in groups, they conduct the activity at each ‘heat generation’ station. These activities are followed up with a discussion about sources of energy and how the energy is changed into heat energy.
Introduction: Review the previous lessons and introduce the learning intentions using Lesson 6 of the Hot Stuff PowerPoint.
Explain that students will explore several examples where heat is created and learn that to produce heat there must be an energy source and some way of changing the energy into heat. Explain that there are several heat generation activities set up. Students will follow the instructions at each one and then complete their worksheet.
Activities – Heat generation stations: Working in groups, students explore the activity at each heat producing station; the students or a supervising adult at each station will generate a small amount of heat by operating the equipment there. Students record observations and complete their Making heat worksheet.
Discussion: Remind students that temperature is a measure of how fast atoms and molecules move.
Optional Video and/or Home Activity: Students list appliances in their family kitchen that rely on heating or cooling. For each, they identify the energy source and how the energy is changed into heat energy.
Review and introducing lesson 7: Review the main learning from the lesson and add to the class Word Wall. In addition, let students know that in the next lesson they will learn about insulation and rates of cooling of warm objects with different coverings.
The learning intentions for this lesson are that students will:
- know that heat is produced in several ways and identify heat sources
- Prepare each of the heat producing stations. Feel free to use alternative activities to those listed.
- Engage a parent volunteer or teaching assistant to help carry out heat generating activities which may require adult supervision.
- Be sure each activity has a clear title and set of instructions, including any safety warnings.
The following heat generation stations:
| Rubbing hands together | ‘Hottie’ hand warmers |
| Exercise on the spot | Tea candle burning on a protective mat |
| Pumping up a bicycle tyre |
Dissolving powdered laundry detergent |
| Using a rechargeable drill to drill a hole | Hair dryer/toaster/electric heater |
* These activities can be varied depending on resources available and some activities may need adult supervision/demonstration, such as using a rechargeable drill to drill a hole
Review the previous lessons and introduce the learning intentions using Lesson 6 of the Hot Stuff PowerPoint.
Students will explore several examples where heat is created.
- Explain that there are several heat generation stations set out around the room.
- Instruct students to follow the instructions at each station.
- Ask students to use the pre-prepared worksheet.
- Demonstrate one of these stations, being sure to focus on:
- The energy source was . . . (e.g., electricity, chemicals, movement, muscle energy, etc.)
- We observed (saw, felt, measured, heard, smelt) . . .
- The energy receiver was . . . (the object that warmed up)
- The way the energy changed was . . . (e.g., friction, electrical heating/resistance, chemical reaction, etc.)
Allocate groups to the stations (they will then rotate around the stations as far as time allows).
On the right you will find a demonstration video for this activity. We recommend viewing this video before proceeding with the text description below.
Working in groups, students explore the activity at each heat production station. Where it is safe, they do this themselves, otherwise the adult assistant/volunteer carries out the activity to generate a small amount of heat.
Students should:
- take five minutes at each station which includes recording the results (use a buzzer or alarm to signal students need to move to their next station)
- discuss what they find at each station with their group members
- complete the relevant section on their Making heat worksheet each time
Review learning about how atoms and molecules move and reinforce the idea that temperature is a measure of how fast atoms and molecules are moving.
Optional video: Summary of main lesson points about heat energy:
The brief 2-minute video by NGScience: Sources of Heat provides a good overview of sources of heat, including the importance of the Sun as our main heat source on Earth.
Review the main learning from the lesson and add to the class Word wall.
In addition, let students know that in the next lesson they will learn about insulation and rates of cooling of warm objects with different coverings.
Optional Extension Task
Students list appliances in their family kitchen that rely on heating. For each, identify the energy source (electricity, gas etc) and how the energy is changed to heat.
The following could be used as a template to record their findings.
These stories could be shared with parents.
Students can use the Sources of heat in the kitchen worksheet.
Energy source: where the energy came from.
Energy receiver: what received the energy.