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Engineering · Grades 6–8

Cool a Model Building

Which roof design keeps a model building coolest?

The lesson

What students do

A school wants classrooms to stay cooler in the sun. Compare model roofs before recommending a design.

  1. Cover equal boxes with black paper, white paper, or foil.
  2. Measure the starting air temperature in each box.
  3. Place the boxes the same distance from a lamp for 15 minutes.
  4. Record the temperature every 5 minutes and repeat the test.

For teachers

Standards connections

This short investigation supports parts of these standards. It does not cover the full standard by itself.

MS-PS3-3Test a design that reduces thermal energy transfer.

MS-ETS1-2Compare roof designs using a shared test.

MS-ETS1-3Use temperature results to compare design features.

PracticeAnalyze and interpret test results.

Big ideaEnergy and matter

Included results

Where the results came from

Classroom model results included with ConductClass

These are model results, not building performance data.

Science source: U.S. Department of Energy: Cool Roofs

Included

Ready for one class period.

Student instructions Included results Chart choices and calculations Teacher notes and review guide

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