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The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

Solar Sleuths: Investigating the Sun’s Impact on Our School

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Solar Sleuths: Investigating the Sun’s Impact on Our School

A 3rd grade STEM lesson

Arlette Johnson

9/6/2024

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Notes for teachers

This is a 100 minute lesson that takes place in one or two sessions
Students may work in small groups of 2-4
Students take temperature readings of different parts of the school throughout the day
Students place temperature readings into a line graph
An emphasis on understanding the impact of solar energy on different surfaces using student built solar ovens
Facilitate student reflection on how we can reduce the sun’s impact on our school and community

List of Materials

What is Solar Energy? (optional text)
Infrared Thermometer or student friendly thermometers
Graph paper or digital graphing tools
Solar oven construction instructions
8-10 small cardboard boxes (pizza boxes work great)
Black and white construction paper
Aluminum foil
Plastic Wrap
Popsicle sticks
Ruler
Marshmallows
Tape
Pencils & Markers
Scissors

Notes and Materials: This slide can be hidden or skipped when delivering the lesson.

If students are familiar with solar energy, you can begin this lesson by having a discussion about solar energy, explaining how the sun heats the Earth. Introduce the concept of the heat island effect, where urban areas become hotter than their rural surroundings due to human activities and materials like concrete and asphalt absorbing more heat. If students are unfamiliar with solar energy, you many consider giving students a copy of, What is Solar Energy, to read before the beginning of the lesson. This text lends itself to close read strategies. Another option is to copy and paste paragraphs of the text on this slideshow and read aloud whole group. After reading, begin the discussion.

Decide on how many solar ovens you want to construct. If you want each group to make one, you will need that many cardboard/pizza boxes. If you don’t want to create solar ovens, have students create solar panels (see remediation notes). For this you just need pieces of cardboard that students can cover with black and white construction paper, then measure the temperature of each panel using the infrared thermometer.

If using online digital graphing tools, I used this site: https://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/classic/ If you use this, you will need to mark half and hour times with .5. So 9:30 would be 9.5. Also, once you transition from 12.5 to 1:00, you have to show 1:00 as 13. If you type in 1, the graph line displays incorrectly. For my measurement data points I used 9, 12, and 14 (9am, noon, and 2pm)

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Standards

Arizona Science Standards

3.E1U1.4: Develop and use models to describe how organisms and their habitat are affected by the Sun’s energy

3.E1U2.6: Observe, measure, and record changes in weather and describe how weather affects humans and other organisms.

Science and Engineering Practices

ask questions and define problems
develop and use models
plan and carry out investigations
analyze and interpret data
use mathematical and computational thinking
construct explanations and design solutions
engage in argument from evidence
obtain, evaluate and communicate information

Standards

Arizona Mathematics Standards

3.MB.B.3: Draw a scaled picture graph and a scaled bar graph to represent a data set with several categories. Solve one- and two-step “how many more” and “how many less” problems using information presented in scaled bar graphs

Arizona ELA Standards

3.SL.4: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

3.W.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

Standards:

For the AZ science standards, students develop models (solar ovens) that demonstrate how the sun’s energy heats different materials, connecting this to how environments are impacted by solar energy (heat island effect). Students measure temperature changes throughout the day and discuss the impact of solar energy (a weather-related factor) on different environments, once again touching on the heat island effect.

Students use the science and engineering practices when they define the problem of needing to create a solar oven that heats efficiently. One of the extension ideas is to find ways to increase the effectiveness of their solar oven. As students generate and compare multiple possible solutions to the impact of the sun’s energy, they experiment with different materials and designs for their solar ovens, comparing the effectiveness of each design in capturing or reflecting solar energy.

When students are measuring temperature changes throughout the day, they create line graphs from the temperature data collected during the lesson, which aligns with drawing and interpreting graphs.

Finally, students present their findings from the temperature data and the heat island effect, discussing how solar energy impacts different areas. A possible exit ticket is for students to write reflections or reports on what they learned about solar energy, the heat island effect, and/or the results of their experiments. Another possible outcome of 3.W.2 is for students to write a letter to the principal explaining how acting as “Solar Sleuths” they have a plan to reduce solar energy absorption on the hottest parts of campus.

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Objective(s):

I can explain how solar energy affects the temperature of different surfaces.
I can describe the heat island effect and how different areas of the school heat up at different rates due to the materials used.
I can accurately measure and record temperature data at different times of the day.
I can create a line graph to show how temperature changes in different areas over time.
I can build a simple solar oven and explain how it uses solar energy to heat up.
I can present my findings and explain how solar energy impacts different areas of the school.

Objective(s):

You can choose to keep all six objectives, use fewer, or write your own. You or a student can read the objective(s).

Here are the success criteria for each objective (You can use these as points on a rubric):

1: I can correctly explain how different materials absorb solar energy differently.

I can describe why certain areas of the school become hotter during the day

2: I can identify areas of the school that heat up faster and explain how this relates to the heat island effect

3: I can use an infrared thermometer accurately and record temperatures at specified times.

4: I can create a clear and accurate line graph that shows the temperature changes in different areas over time

5: I can successfully build a solar oven that increases in temperature when placed in the sun.

6: I can clearly present my temperature data and explain how solar energy affects the temperature of different areas

I can write a well-organized reflection that describes what I learned about solar energy and how it impacts the environment.

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Agenda (100 Minutes)

Introduction to Solar Energy and Heat Island - 15 Min

Temperature Measurement Activity - 20 Min

Create a Line Graph - 20 Min

Build a Simple Solar Oven - 30 Min

Discussion and Conclusion - 15 Min

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Which area is hotter in temperature and why?

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Which car will get hotter and why?

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Based on what you’ve learned, which areas at school will be hotter or cooler?

Basketball Court Parking Lot Soccer Field Playground

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Hands on Activity Instructions

In a group of 2-4 , use an infrared thermometer to record the temperature of your assigned area at different times of the day and record the data in your notebook.

Constraints:

Check the temperature in the morning
Check the temperature midday
Check the temperature in the afternoon
Measure the temperature in the same spot each time

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Hands on Activity Instructions

In your group, take the temperature data collected and create a line graph to visualize how temperatures changed throughout the day in different areas of the school.

Why did certain areas get hotter than others?

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Hands on Activity Instructions

In your group, build a simple solar oven using a cardboard box or pizza box, aluminum foil, black paper, tape, and plastic wrap.

Place a marshmallow inside and see what happens after an hour in the sun.

Trade out the black paper with white paper. Will the marshmallow cook as quickly?

Can you improve the effectiveness of your solar oven?

Cut a flap in the lid

Line inside with foil

Put black paper inside

Line opening with plastic wrap

Seal the edges of the plastic wrap

Put oven in the sun & cook marshmallow

Hands-On Activity:

This part of the lesson may be challenging for students. To help students, you can mark where students will cut to make the flap of the oven (the directions state about 1 inch around). I have also included an instructional sheet on how to make the solar oven.

One suggestion for this hands on activity is to divide your groups and have half use black construction paper and the other half white. You might have a class discussion about what they think will happen when they use different materials. Students should hypothesize that using black paper vs. white paper will cause the solar ovens to absorb sunlight differently and that the marshmallow will cook slower or not at all in ovens that have white paper inside because the white paper reflects the light. The black paper will absorb the light causing the oven to heat up faster.

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Discussion and Conclusion

How does solar energy impact temperatures at our school?

What infrastructures at our school are causing the heat island effect?

What are some ways to reduce the heat island effect at our school? In our community?

Discussion and Conclusion

At the conclusion of the lesson, project this slide and have students discuss in their groups these 3 questions. For the first question I want to guide students to realize that different materials absorb light differently causing some areas to be hotter than others. For example, the black asphalt in our parking lot is hotter than the gray sidewalk, and our dark red painted metal doors are hotter than the white bricks of our school.

The infrastructures at our school that cause the heat island effect are of course are asphalt parking lots. Asphalt is coal and tar based and absorbs heat from the sun. At our school we have many buildings that are all grouped together made from brick so they absorb and re-emit the sun’s heat. Another contributing factor to the heat island effect is the hot air ventilation from each classroom’s air conditioning.

Some ways we can reduce the heat island effect are planting more trees, resurfacing our parking lot with solar reflective “cool” pavements (using reflective aggregate, or a reflective surface coating), placing more shade structures in areas that retain a lot of heat, repainting our dark colored doors white, etc.

As students start thinking about what they could do at school level, guide them to think about their own homes and community. An extension to this of course would be researching elected officials in the community or a local community outreach program to discuss ways to reduce the heat island effect in the community.

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Assessment

Line Graph Assessment:

My line graph includes…

A title that tells where the temperature was taken
An X axis labeled with the time of day
A Y axis labeled degrees in Fahrenheit
Include 3 data points for the three measurements I took?

Solar Oven Assessment

Did your solar oven increase in temperature to melt the marshmallow?

Can you suggest improvements to increase the temperature of your solar oven to make it more effective?

ELA Assessment

I can present my findings from the temperature data and the heat island effect to explain how solar energy impacts different areas.

I can write a reflection on what I learned about solar energy, the heat island effect, and the results from my experiments.

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Assessment Ideas for the Teacher

Formative Assessment

Observation: Monitor students during the temperature measurement activity and the solar oven construction to assess their understanding and participation.

Check-ins: Ask guiding questions as students work on their graphs and solar ovens to gauge their comprehension and provide immediate feedback.

Peer Review: Have students share their graphs and solar ovens with a partner or small group for feedback, focusing on accuracy and creativity.

Summative Assessment

Line Graph: Assess the accuracy and completeness of the students’ line graphs, looking for correct plotting of data points and clear labeling.

Solar Oven: Evaluate the effectiveness of the solar ovens based on how well they increase in temperature and how thoughtfully students consider improvements.

Presentation: Assess students’ ability to communicate their findings, focusing on their explanation of the heat island effect and how solar energy impacts different areas.

Written Reflection: Review the students’ reflections to assess their understanding of key concepts and their ability to articulate what they have learned.

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Differentiation

Guided Graphing: Create a template for creating the line graph. Include a title, and labeled X and Y axis.

Data Collection Support: Show a video on how black and white surfaces heat differently under the sun. Have them collect temperature from different colored paper in the sun to directly observe the heat absorption differences.

Build a solar panel instead of a solar oven: Create a more basic version of the oven by covering cardboard with white and black paper to observe its temperature rise in the sun.

Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

Watch this video: Why it’s Usually Hotter in a City by NPR. After watching, have students design a model of a “cool school” that uses techniques to reduce the heat island effect, like green roofs, reflective materials, or shaded areas.

Challenge students to experiment with different materials for the solar oven. For instance, they could test which materials (foil, plastic wrap, black cloth) are most effective at trapping heat.

Ask students to redesign a solar oven with improvements based on their observations, such as adding insulation or reflectors to increase the oven’s efficiency.

Differentiation (remediation and enrichment): This slide should be hidden or not shared with students. Some students might find graphing difficult, so I would suggest posting an anchor chart that has the X and Y axis labeled, and a simple title that could be interchangeable among the different groups (Temperature Changes on the __________, or Temperature Changes at the ________).

This quick 1:40 video on colors and heat is a great visual to show how different colored crayons melt in the sun. It shows the darker areas melting, clearly illustrating how the darker colors absorb the light and create more heat to melt them.

The solar oven can be tricky so to if time is short or students are struggling, have them create solar panels (1 piece of cardboard is covered in black paper, and another piece of cardboard is covered in white paper). Have them use the infrared thermometer to compare temperature of each.

For extension activities the video from NPR is excellent! It explains the concepts learned in this lesson and offers suggestions on how to reduce the heat island effect. After watching the video, students could use some of those examples to create a “cool school”. The can also research other cooling ideas like green roofs.

Another extension activity is to have a variety of materials so students can experiment to see which materials are most effective in trapping heat. Once students have tested a variety of materials, have students redesign their solar oven to get even hotter. This could become a contest and really motivate students to find ways to make their solar ovens more effective.