Heating up

This section includes the unabridged content from the PrimaryConnections 'Heating Up' resource.

It includes a number of comments to highlight issues that will help teachers better understand the science of 'heat'. The comment sections are preceded by the flag.

Heat is important to us in many ways in our everyday lives. We use heat in practical ways, such as drying our hair, cooking our dinner and warming our water. We enjoy the feel of the Sun’s warmth on our skin on a spring day or the satisfying warmth of holding a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter’s night. But we also know about the dangers of heat and react instinctively when we touch a hot stove or walk barefooted on hot sand. However, heat also preoccupies us. We worry about things being too hot or too cold—the daily temperature, our coffee, our food, the water in the shower, how we sleep.

The Heating up unit is an ideal way to link science with literacy in the classroom. It provides opportunities for students to investigate different heat sources and how heat moves from one object to another. Through hands-on activities, students investigate the difference in conductivity of materials.