Thermal Energy at School
Overview
This is a self-contained, no-technology substitute packet in which students explore how thermal energy moves — by conduction, convection, and radiation — and how temperature relates to the motion (kinetic energy) of particles. Working alone with a pencil, students read a short original passage, study a labeled classroom diagram and an original data table of building temperatures, classify transfer scenarios, and write an evidence-based explanation about reducing unwanted heat in a hot classroom.
At a glance
Grade: 7
Subject: Science
Time: about 45 minutes core plus a 15-minute optional extension
Materials: printed packet and a pencil (no calculator, computer, or lab materials)
Work mode: independent
Standards (provisional): 19 TAC §112.27 (Grade 7 Science), 7.8A (conduction, convection, radiation) and 7.8C (temperature and particle kinetic energy). Provisional — pending educator verification against the current official TAC source. Standards are paraphrased, not quoted.
Accessible version of the student activity
The full student activity is reproduced below in plain, screen-reader-friendly HTML. It reflows on phones and at 200% zoom. Write your answers on the printed packet.
Start (5 minutes) — Notice & Wonder
- You touch a metal locker handle and a wooden pencil that have been in the same room all morning. The metal feels colder even though a thermometer says they are the same temperature. Write one thing you notice and one thing you wonder.
- Name two places at school where something clearly gets warmer or cooler during the day, and say whether each warms up or cools down.
Build (5–10 minutes) — Read the science
Thermal energy is the energy of the tiny moving particles inside matter. Faster particles mean a warmer material; slower particles mean a cooler one. So temperature measures the average kinetic energy (motion energy) of the particles. Thermal energy always moves from warmer to cooler until both reach the same temperature — a balanced state called thermal equilibrium. There are three ways it travels:
- Conduction — energy passes through direct contact, particle to particle (a metal spoon warming in soup). Metals conduct fast; wood and plastic conduct slowly.
- Convection — energy is carried by a moving fluid (liquid or gas). Warm air is less dense and rises while cooler air sinks, forming a convection current.
- Radiation — energy travels as rays that can cross empty space, needing no particles (sunlight warming a desk).
Note: nothing "cold" flows in. Something feels cold because thermal energy flows out of your hand into it.
Word bank
- thermal energy
- the total energy of the moving particles in matter.
- conduction
- transfer of thermal energy through direct contact.
- convection
- transfer of thermal energy by a moving liquid or gas.
- radiation
- transfer of thermal energy as rays that can cross empty space.
- thermal equilibrium
- when two things reach the same temperature and net energy flow stops.
- In the diagram, which transfer mode does not need any particles to travel? Name it and give the example shown for it.
Apply (20–25 minutes) — Use the data
A science club measured surface and air temperatures around the building at the same time on a clear afternoon.
| Location / material | Temperature (°C) | In sun or shade? |
|---|---|---|
| Metal handrail (outside stairs) | 48 | Sun |
| Sunlit concrete sidewalk | 44 | Sun |
| Shaded concrete sidewalk | 29 | Shade |
| Wooden bench (outside) | 34 | Sun |
| Classroom air (near window) | 27 | Indoors |
| Classroom air (far corner) | 24 | Indoors |
- Observation vs. inference — mark O (directly measured/seen) or I (a reasoned conclusion):
- a) The metal handrail was 48 °C.
- b) The handrail felt too hot to grip because the sun heated it by radiation.
- c) The far corner of the room was 24 °C.
- d) The far corner is cooler because it is farther from the sunny window.
- The same concrete is 44 °C in the sun and 29 °C in the shade. In one sentence, explain the difference using a transfer mode from the word bank.
- Classify each scenario as conduction, convection, or radiation:
- 6a. A cold soda can set on the sunny metal handrail warms where it touches the metal.
- 6b. A ceiling fan pushes warm air near the ceiling back down across the room.
- 6c. Sunlight streams through the window and warms a dark backpack on the floor.
- Redesign reasoning: the classroom by the window gets too hot on sunny afternoons. Choose one change — (i) light-colored blinds, (ii) a fan, or (iii) moving desks to the far corner — and explain in 2–3 sentences how it reduces unwanted heat transfer and which mode it targets.
Explain (5–10 minutes) — Claim, Evidence, Reasoning
Question 8. Which design choice would most reduce heat transfer into a hot classroom? Write a claim, support it with two pieces of evidence from Table 1 or the diagram, and explain your reasoning.
Sentence stems you may use: "The best choice is… because…"; "One piece of evidence is… (from Table 1 / the diagram)."; "A second piece of evidence is…"; "This works because thermal energy moves by… and…"
Close (5 minutes) — ACE
- Articulate: explain one transfer mode in your own words.
- Connect: point to one row of Table 1 or one part of the diagram that shows that mode.
- Extend: give a new example of that mode from outside of school.
Continue (optional, ~15 minutes) — Early finisher
Design a "cool bench" that stays cooler in the sun than the 34 °C wooden bench. Sketch it, label two features, name the transfer mode each feature fights, and predict a lower temperature with a reason.
Turn in
Hand in the whole packet with your name, class period, and date, with questions 1–8 and the ACE box answered. Include the optional sketch if you did it.