Week # 4 Application - The Heat is On

 I want to explain my choices of materials; I choose the aluminum foil, because that is a supply that is used quite often in cooking both in the oven and also when taking a baked item elsewhere. I felt like it might have some purpose as an insulator, how much or little, was to be determined. Next, I chose the diaper, because having a two year old son and two month old son we have lots of diapers around the house, and being that a diaper does a great job of absorbing fluids, I was curious how well it did at insulating things. I chose cardboard, because we have an infinite supply of cardboard around and felt it was an easy supply to test at home. The last supply is a tricky one, my mother-in-law (a teacher for thirty plus years, soon to be retired) told me about, she had stated that rice crispy treats were used once by a student in her class for an insulator lab they did in class and they worked incredible well. So, I thought I would give them a try, I enjoy eating them so what a great way to include science and desserts into one setting! Now, this is what I predicted would happen with the order of insulation (best = first); diaper, rice crispy treat, aluminum foil, cardboard.

In conclusion at the end of the thirty minutes, I tested the temperature of the water in each container to find out which had the most significant change in temperature. These are the results that I found;

Aluminum Foil            (Start Temp) = 30       (End Temp) = 22        Difference - 8

Cardboard                  (Start Temp) = 30       (End Temp) = 23        Difference - 7

Diaper                         (Start Temp) = 30       (End Temp) = 26        Difference - 4

Rice Crispy Treat      (Start Temp) = 30       (End Temp) = 28        Difference – 2

My thoughts before completing this investigation were a little bit different than what I found out. I wasn’t completely off-base, but each of these was not in the correct order. I didn’t mention earlier, but my mother-in-law had stated that rice crispy treats are a really good insulator, that they work like Styrofoam Insulation. I think the other reason that they worked so well is the overall thickness of them played a role in their ability to insulate compared to the others that were much thinner with the exception of the diapers.

One thing I would like to tweak with this investigation, and I know that it was probably shortened just so that people didn’t have to spend time working on this lab for a long period of the week. I would have liked to see the testing time go on for a longer duration, like 2, 4, 8, or even as long as 24 hours. I think in order to truly find out which of these materials is the best insulator it would be best to complete the testing over a longer time period, because some of these supplies might lose a lot of heat initially, but over time might not lose as much as a few of the others. So it would have been interesting to test for that, I know it may not be applicable for students, but maybe?

How might you set up this or a similar experiment for students in your classroom?

Much the same way that it was set-up for my own experimenting, give the students the ability to select their own materials to test with. I think this was a great way for students to learn in an open inquiry-type of setting. I would probably have to give some parameters as to what could and could not be used, but leave a majority of that process with the students.

How might you set up this or a similar experiment for students in your classroom? How could you make this experiment more fun, interesting, or engaging for your students? How might you design this experiment so that it is relevant to students’ lives?

Right a way the first thing that came to mind with this experiment was tying this process into our discussion in class about weather. Weather is a relevant experience for each and every student in the classroom. It is a around us and affects what we do as people on earth each and every moment of the day. One of the labs that we complete helps students understand what conduction, convection, and radiation are, it is a tough lab for students to understand. This type of lab investigation might help reinforce some of those concepts through a different setting that students might connect better with.