kinetic energy knowledge for 6th graders
October 31, 2017 9:05 PM Subscribe
I've been invited to help with a science class for 6th graders but I'm drawing a blank on how to start because the expectation for students seems harder than I'd envision: to understand that the temperature of an object depends on the average kinetic energy of its particles.
Am I underestimating 6th graders? How do I show that temperature is a measure of kinetic energy? Or is that not quite what the aim is? Is it sufficient simply to state that temperature measurement is a measurement of kinetic energy?
From "Next Generation Science Standards for California Public Schools" the stated performance expectations are for students to be able to:
1 Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.
2 Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample
3 Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object.
I'm OK with the experiments (though concrete suggestions would be great) but not clear on what level of understanding is expected.
Am I underestimating 6th graders? How do I show that temperature is a measure of kinetic energy? Or is that not quite what the aim is? Is it sufficient simply to state that temperature measurement is a measurement of kinetic energy?
From "Next Generation Science Standards for California Public Schools" the stated performance expectations are for students to be able to:
1 Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.
2 Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample
3 Construct, use, and present arguments to support the claim that when the kinetic energy of an object changes, energy is transferred to or from the object.
I'm OK with the experiments (though concrete suggestions would be great) but not clear on what level of understanding is expected.
Perhaps Richard Feynman can help.
And on jiggling atoms.
posted by ecorrocio at 9:37 PM on October 31, 2017
And on jiggling atoms.
posted by ecorrocio at 9:37 PM on October 31, 2017
Maybe this video on how gases increase in volume with heat: Golf Ball Atmosphere
posted by coberh at 10:06 PM on October 31, 2017
posted by coberh at 10:06 PM on October 31, 2017
I think you could adapt this activity to the appropriate grade level: Acting Out States of Matter.
As for the experiment, I distinctly remember a science class challenge to build an insulating container for water that would maintain its temperature as long as possible. Would something like that fit the bill?
posted by invokeuse at 10:51 PM on October 31, 2017
As for the experiment, I distinctly remember a science class challenge to build an insulating container for water that would maintain its temperature as long as possible. Would something like that fit the bill?
posted by invokeuse at 10:51 PM on October 31, 2017
A drop of cold food coloring in a tub of cold water leaves a distinct path for a relatively long time. A drop of blue and a drop of yellow will stay separate for a while. A drop of cold food coloring in a tub of warm or hot water quickly spreads throughout the tub, making its trail indistinct. Yellow and blue in a hot water tub will produce green rather quickly, even while the other tub will have separate trails. The trick is to get your students to look at it from the food coloringās perspectiveāthe temperature of the water is transferring kinetic energy to the dye, and separate yellow and blue canāt mix without something moving their particles around. (You can demonstrate this by having separate yellow and blue drops on white plastic and asking a student to produce green with the help of a plastic stirring utensil.)
Another thing I remember from 6th grade physics is that a warm golf ball will bounce higher when dropped from an arbitrary height onto a hard surface than a cold ball. That is something all your students can easily observe and verify for themselves. But the reasons why may get into the weeds quickly. A bunch of golf balls with small holes drilled in them to fit thermometers is a good way to see how well a student-designed-and-built device can maximize or minimize thermal transfer to or from the golf ball.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:53 PM on October 31, 2017 [6 favorites]
Another thing I remember from 6th grade physics is that a warm golf ball will bounce higher when dropped from an arbitrary height onto a hard surface than a cold ball. That is something all your students can easily observe and verify for themselves. But the reasons why may get into the weeds quickly. A bunch of golf balls with small holes drilled in them to fit thermometers is a good way to see how well a student-designed-and-built device can maximize or minimize thermal transfer to or from the golf ball.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:53 PM on October 31, 2017 [6 favorites]
I find the PhET ideal gas simulator useful for all sorts of things.
posted by BrashTech at 5:00 AM on November 1, 2017
posted by BrashTech at 5:00 AM on November 1, 2017
I know it's silly, but I highly recommend teaching with an above method, and showing Richard Feynman, as mentioned by ecorrocio.
There's a few professors out there that just simply teach physics with more passion and understanding than we could ever have. My college physics professor tried his hardest, but he assigned Walter Lewin lectures on the topics as homework. Watching those lectures gave me such immediate understanding and comprehension, and everything was perfect.
So, uh, plus one for youtube clips of old people, I guess.
posted by bbqturtle at 5:46 AM on November 1, 2017
There's a few professors out there that just simply teach physics with more passion and understanding than we could ever have. My college physics professor tried his hardest, but he assigned Walter Lewin lectures on the topics as homework. Watching those lectures gave me such immediate understanding and comprehension, and everything was perfect.
So, uh, plus one for youtube clips of old people, I guess.
posted by bbqturtle at 5:46 AM on November 1, 2017
I might start by laying a foundation of conservation of energy, because once you grasp that any kinetic energy you see has to go somewhere even though it seems to disappear, it becomes much more credible that it would turn into heat and your observations turn into a kind of a detective story.
And you also begin to develop a narrative in which fast moving things zoom around and bump into slow moving things and give up some of that energy, and before you know it, you get heat flowing from hot bodies to colder ones, and a probabilistic model of the Second law appears on the far horizon.
posted by jamjam at 10:50 AM on November 1, 2017
And you also begin to develop a narrative in which fast moving things zoom around and bump into slow moving things and give up some of that energy, and before you know it, you get heat flowing from hot bodies to colder ones, and a probabilistic model of the Second law appears on the far horizon.
posted by jamjam at 10:50 AM on November 1, 2017
« Older Getting from La Guardia to Washington Heights | Well actually, we do it *this* way... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
I have a small hamster cage (about 20cm long) half filled with 2cm polystyrene balls. I start by describing absolute zero and slowly moving the balls more as I describe it heating up as it goes from solid to liquid to gas. When it goes to gas, I hold a hairdryer on it so the balls go crazy.
Then I relate it to penguins (most kids have seen Happy Feet and are familiar with how penguin behaviour changes with seasons). Cold penguins don't move, summer penguins are constantly the move and spread out as far as they can š§. Bonus points of you have the kids running around the room with you yelling cold penguins or hot penguins to mimic these states.
posted by cholly at 9:23 PM on October 31, 2017 [9 favorites]