Student Project

The purpose of this activity is to enable the students to demonstrate their knowledge of the properties of heat, including conduction, radiation, convection, and insulation. The goal is to build an operable thermos that is as good or better than a manufactured thermos. Students are instructed to utilize any materials available in class and or they may choose to purchase additional materials. Subsequent to building the thermos, each group must demonstrate empirically that their thermos is as good or better than the manufactured one used as a sample. Furthermore, the task requires the students to evaluate their own work and to articulate the reasoning behind the construction of their final product.

Objectives

This project requires students to understand heat concepts and apply them to the construction of a device.

After completing this project, students will be able to:

• Apply the principles of conduction, convection, radiation and insulation to the design of a thermos;
• Construct a working thermos;
• Articulate the principles on which the design is based; and
• Appreciate the need to test/re-test designs.

Sample Activity

Groups of three students will construct a thermos that will be as good the manufactured model that each group will be given.

Materials

• hot plate
• metal, ceramic, glass, rubber, paper and Styrofoam containers
• plastics and polymers
• beakers
• thermometers
• stop watch

In addition, students may purchase their own items to use in the construction of their model.

Each group consisting has three weeks to accomplish the following:

• analyze the manufactured thermos;
• test the manufactured thermos;
• test individual materials that for the group’s thermos;
• design a blue print;
• gather materials;
• construct the thermos;
• test the designed thermos against the manufactured thermos; and
• re-test and modify the design thermos to achieve better results.

Math, Science, Technology and Everyday Connections

The construction of the thermos utilizes mathematics, science and technology. In this project, students are responsible for recording the length of time it takes for the water to boil, calculating the temperature of the water once it is placed in the thermos and periodically measuring the temperature to see if there are any changes. Therefore, students are responsible for knowing measurement of heat, how to calculate the temperature of the water from Fahrenheit to Celsius, and possibly Kelvin. Students must also measure how much insulating material is needed to retain heat in the thermos they construct.

Furthermore students must not only perform the various calculations, but they must also know specific scientific concepts in order to construct a thermos that would actually provide a substantial amount of heat retention in water. By analyzing the manufactured thermos and their own thermos, students apply conduction, insulation, convection and radiation principles and understand the relationship between each concept as well as the relationship between temperature and heat.

Inquiry and laboratory experiments are a major component of this activity. Utilizing the scientific method and pre-existing research skill, students must find information about the first thermos and the materials used to produce their own thermos. They compare the information to determine the similarities and differences in construction. From their research, they design a thermos from a blueprint and construct the thermos. To determine if any adjustments are needed, students constantly test their thermos. If adjustments are needed, students need to know what needed to be changed and why. After a considerable amount of testing and gathering data, this information is analyzed.

Technology must be used on several levels. Student gather information from the Internet. Furthermore the construction of a device that retains heat is a technological endeavor. This device, a thermos, is something common to everyday life.

Instructional Design/Methods and Strategies

The activity is designed as primarily an inquiry project. The students are given just enough information for them to be able to successfully complete the assignment. Each group is given the opportunity to analyze a model of what they hope to accomplish and was expected to fully explore the model until they were certain about what made it work. The goal of such directive is to allow students to face the same type of challenges professional individuals encounter everyday. In order to duplicate a product, one must understand what makes the product work.

In addition to serving as an inquiry project, this activity requires each member in a group to work cooperatively. Group members or asked to share their prior experiences concerning insulation, conduction, and radiation with the group. Furthermore, the project requires students to perform a number of tasks such as measuring, boiling water, recording data, and the collection of materials. Consequently, groups must coordinate tasks among their members in order to complete their projects within the three-week time frame.

Cross-and Inter-Disciplinary Links

This project includes language arts and social studie. The students employ their language arts skills through writing, comparing, and drawing. They are required to write a report on their experimental procedures, and design a blueprint of their thermos. In addition, the students develop their critical thinking skills by comparing the effectiveness of their design to currently available products. The social studies link is through research conducted by the students on the history of thermos.

Gender and Ethnicity

In this experiment, a collaboration of four boys and one girl works to produce a thermos that will retain as much heat as the consumer brand thermos.

Science and MST Standards Addressed

This project addresses the national science standards (1-7) and the New York State MST standards (1-7).

Implementation Plan

• The students are asked to create a thermos as good or better than the model provided.
• They must first analyze the thermos, identify the materials that make the model, and discuss materials that they can use in their thermos.
• Every group is given a set of materials. If the teacher does not have an item available, then the students have to purchase it.
• Groups are told to produce a blueprint of their thermos.
• Students have to test their thermos against the manufactured model. The test is to determine which one is able to keep the same amount of water at the same temperature given the same period of time.

Evaluation/Assessment Plan

Students are given the rubric (see below) on which they are to be assessed. Each group assesses their own product. Contribution is a measure of verbal, written and investigative effort. Testing of the thermos involves placing the same amount of water at equal temperature in both the professionally manufactured and the student-designed thermos for the same amount of time.

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION (25 points)

0-5	5-10	10-15	15-20	20-25
no to minimal	minimal to moderate	moderate to average	average to good	good to excellent

FINAL PRODUCT (25 points)

0-5	5-10	10-15	15-20	20-25
water 20-15 deg. lower than model	water 15-10 deg. lower than model	water 10-5 deg. lower than model	water 5-0 deg. lower than model	water 0-5 deg. higher than model

BLUE PRINT (25 points)

0-5	5-10	10-15	15-20	20-25
none to unclear	unclear to average	average to good	good to very good	very good to excellent

MATERIAL SELECTION (25 points)

0-5	5-10	10-15	15-20	20-25
none to minimal	minimal to average	average to good choice	good to very good	very good to excellent choice