Temperature: How and Why

How We Measure It & Why It Matters (Science Club/Weather series of posts)

Wednesday, Oct 26

review the first portion of our Science Club/Weather lessons: pH, the Water Cycle, the Carbon Cycle, the Nitrogen Cycle

look at USGS newly released updated Weather Cycle graphic

do a K-W-L chart for the Layers of the Atmosphere

use sidewalk chalk to make a Layers of the Atmosphere model up the driveway (page 1 of PDF)

examine a Galileo thermometer, look at its temperature reading for outside, go inside where it's warmer and watch the bubbles fall, look up answers to questions about how a Galileo thermometer works



explain that next week we will be designing our own thermometers

add notes to Science Club notebook

Wednesday, Nov 2

do activities from the NEED EnergyWorks 2015-2016 Student Guide:
- do "Exploring Heat in Solids, Liquids, and Gases 1" (p.18)

- read "Wind is a Convection Current" and look at "Land Breeze" and "Sea Breeze" illustrations (p.8)

- do "Exploring Heat in Solids, Liquids, and Gases 2" (p.19)

- answer the question, "How does this investigation show how wind is made?"

brainstorm ways that we could invent our own thermometers, just as Galileo did

read Predict the Temperature with Cricket Chirps (count the number of chirps in 14 seconds, then add 40 to get the temp in Fahrenheit)

look up more facts about things in Nature that respond to temperature changes:

- at what temperature can an adult Monarch Butterfly fly? 55°F

- at what temperature does the element Gallium melt? 85.58°F

add notes to Science Club notebook

Wednesday, Nov 9

test out invention idea for a new thermometer (using coffee filters, food coloring, eyedroppers, and four temperatures of water)

do Layers of the Earth / Layers of the Atmosphere activity

each tickmark (representing 100 km / 1 hour of drive time) is approximately 3 mm, so the 94 tickmarks of the Exosphere mean that you have to attach a second piece of paper to the first piece and then extend your line 28.2 cm

our next exploration: air pressure

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