This session will focus on heat transport mechanisms. The structure of this session will focus on the formative end of the scientific method because we will not have time to perform experiments and test our hypotheses.
We hope the student will recognize at least three ways in which heat moves. Also, the student should realize that heat is associated with mass. We don't yet have the concept of energy so much of today's session will be difficult to express in a thoroughly scientific way. However, the student will form some concepts that will be useful in later sessions.
Let the students stand in bright sunshine and feel the warmth. If no sunshine is available, have a radiant heater on and let the students bask in its warmth. Have them record what they feel and try to conjecture why they feel the heat.
Put the copper rod in boiling water. Have the student very briefly touch the copper rod far from the boiling water. BE CAREFUL. The rod can be very hot.
Also mix a beaker of boiling water with two beakers of ice water. Have the students touch the water.
Ask the students to describe the difference between the way heat traveled along the copper rod and the way heat mixed in the beakers. Then extend the description to include the way heat traveled in the case of sunshine (or radiant heater).
Review the steps in the scientific method. Ask the students to devise a hypothesis or hypotheses about the various ways in which heat can move. Also ask them to devise some experiments to test and quantify their hypotheses. (We will not have time to perform these experiments but the students could share their ideas in one minute presentations.)
Toward the end of the session, the instructor should provide vocabulary for the heat transport mechanisms the students have been investigating.