Provided by: CLEAN |Published on: November 13, 2023
Lesson Plans
K12
Synopsis
In this collection of 8 lessons, students will learn about light energy, heat energy, how light interacts with objects, and how color affects heat.
Students will begin by connecting the Sun to Native culture and listen to a Native American story about the Sun.
Inspired by the story, students will design a hat to minimize the effects of the Sun's heat on the eagle's head, then do experiments and activities to update their design and demonstrate their learning.
The animated video does a great job of explaining translucent, transparent, and opaque in simple terms.
Many hands-on activities, videos, and stories will keep students engaged and are effective for all kinds of learners.
Additional Prerequisites
The link to the solar energy experiment will not take you to the correct page on the website, but you can find a similar activity here.
The link to the Program Manager of Energy Efficiency in the extension section is broken.
Differentiation
Students can go on a hunt around their homes for objects that are transparent, translucent, opaque, and reflective and either bring in what they find or pictures of them to school.
After they learn about heat and color, have students plan an outfit for different weather conditions.
If you have the time and materials, have students make their hat designs and test them outside.
Scientist Notes
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
About the Partner Provider
CLEAN
The CLEAN Network is a professionally diverse community of over 630 members committed to improving climate and energy literacy locally, regionally, nationally, and globally in order to enable responsible decisions and actions. The CLEAN Network has been a dynamic group since 2008 and is now led by the CLEAN Leadership Board established in 2016.
Related Teaching Resources
All resources can be used for your educational purposes with proper attribution to the content provider.