In this lesson, students act as engineers and use what they know about one kind of shelter—a burrow— to design and build a shelter to solve the problem of keeping burrowing owls cool in the hot sun.
Prepared hands-on materials, full year grade-specific curriculum, and personalized live professional development designed to support mastery of current state science standards.
How Animals Insulate
Animals use natural materials to insulate their shelter. The ground insulates burrows. It keeps heat from leaving the burrows when it is cold out. It keeps heat from entering the burrows when it is hot out.
Many birds build nests for shelter. They use soft plant materials to insulate the nest. They also use feathers.
How People Insulate
When people build homes, they need materials that keep their homes from getting too hot or too cold. Some materials are reflective. This means they don’t absorb much light or heat. This helps to keep an object from becoming too hot. The color white is reflective. Some shiny materials are also reflective. Dark colors are not reflective. They absorb light and heat. This makes them heat up more.
Other materials keep heat from moving to or from an object. This is how your coat keeps you warm. It keeps heat from moving from your body to the air.
This is important for houses as well. Houses have materials that keep heat from moving into or out of them. This is a house’s insulation. Insulating materials are often thick.
KnowAtom incorporates formative and summative assessments designed to make students thinking visible for deeper student-centered learning.
Discover hands-on screens-off core science curriculum for student centered K-8 classrooms. KnowAtom supports classrooms with all hands-on materials, curriculum, and professional development to support mastery of the standards.
