Sunlight and Temperature

In this lesson students explore temperature variation of different materials on their school playground. They conduct this experiment with the goal of discovering how the sun warms all of Earth, but different materials are warmed differently.

• We can tell how warm or cool a particular material is by using our sense of touch.
• Some materials are warmed by the sun more than others.

• How do we detect temperature with our bodies?
• Why is the sun important on Earth?
• When have you touched something cold? How does cold feel different than warm?
• When have you touched something warm? What made the surface warm?
• Are the materials that make up the playground or schoolyard the same temperature all the time? How could you find out?

Misconception: The seasons cause weather to change.

Fact: Seasons have specific weather patterns associated with them, but they aren’t the cause of the weather.  

Shade : the area around an object where sunlight cannot reach

The hands-on activity is a mini-lesson in which students investigate various materials in their school yard to notice how the sun warms them differently. They will have the opportunity to use their sense of touch to gauge different temperatures of materials such as plastic, sand, gravel, and tarmac. Through a Socratic dialogue, students are able to compare their discoveries and perceptions of temperature variance of multiple materials.