Cycle 1

In the module, students learned about thermal energy transfer. Students defined thermal energy and how it relates to temperature, saw how thermal energy transfers from areas of high temperature to areas of low temperature, and conducted investigations to see how mass and material affects thermal energy transfer.

In the Performance Task, students will answer the question, “How can we as architects and engineers design and construct a model house to minimize heat transfer?” To do this, students will be assigned a region of the world to design a house for. They will then use the engineering design process to develop a prototype, test its effectiveness at minimizing thermal energy transfer, redesign their prototype using data, and construct an argument about which group has the most effective home for minimizing thermal energy transfer.

This module sets the foundation students will need as they transition to high school. There students will use this information to make sense of the second law of thermodynamics and apply mathematical and computational thinking to energy transfer.