A Mercury Thermometer. Early ES / Science. Definition, Measurement, Nature, Science, Tools

Transcription

1 A Mercury Thermometer Early ES / Science Definition, Measurement, Nature, Science, Tools Set up a small weather station at your school or classroom and track the high and low temperatures in Fahrenheit of each day for at least one week. Note the time of day when the highs and lows occurred. Each student should make a line graph that shows the high and low temperature he/she recorded each day. Use the internet to compare these temperatures to the record highs/lows for the same dates as well as the average highs/lows. Discuss what kinds of natural factors affect the temperature. Hand out the color image of a mercury thermometer that has both Fahrenheit and Celsius temperature markings. Display actual thermometer if available. Discuss with students what types of things they might discuss using this artifact as a text. 1

2 Share when appropriate: A temperature is a comparative objective measure of hot and cold. It is measured, typically by a thermometer, through the bulk behavior of a thermometric material (such as mercury) or by other means. It may be calibrated in any of various temperature scales: Celsius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin, etc. Discuss the nature of mercury and how it expands and contracts as the temperature changes. Discuss all of the appropriate scientific vocabulary needed to discuss and write about this text: including: temperature, thermometer, Celsius, Fahrenheit, etc. Divide the class into three teams (Mercury, Celsius, and Fahrenheit). Have each team research their elements of the thermometer, compose a background paragraph that explains its significance and then share with the entire class. Discuss each in turn while all participants have the image of the thermometer in front of them. 2

3 What is the most important detail on the face of the thermometer? (roundrobin response) Why? (spontaneous discussion) 0 degrees Fahrenheit and 0 degrees Celsius are marked at different places on the thermometer. What do the numbers below the 0 indicate? Can there be a measure below 0 that means anything? There are more Fahrenheit degrees marked on the thermometer than there are Celsius degrees (120 degrees F = 50 degrees C). What does this tell us about the two systems? What time of day or night do you think this thermometer will register the hottest temperature? The coldest temperature? Why? Why do you think we see thermometers almost everywhere we go? Based on this thermometer and our discussion, how do you think scientists use this tool to observe, record, and predict the weather? What is your favorite time of the day and year according to its temperature? Why? 3

4 Return to the small weather station that you created at your school or classroom and note the high and low temperatures that you recorded for each day for a week. Examine the line graphs that the students created as part of the Launch Activity. Discuss what seasonal and daily factors affect those temperatures. What factors contribute to the temperature on a given day and time? After examining and discussing a mercury thermometer (about temperature), write a paragraph in which you explain what factors contribute to the temperature at a certain day and time. Use details from the text to support your response. (Informational or Explanatory/Explain) (LDC Task#: 14 ) Write a different day of the week and time of day on slips of paper: the same number of slips as there are students in your class. Have each student draw a slip at random. Direct the students to record the temperature in Fahrenheit and Celsius on that day and time. Discuss with students the factors that contribute to the temperature (time of year, time of day, cloud cover, moisture, etc.). Encourage students to record these factors when they record the temperature on their day and time. 4

5 Share a graphic organizer that gives students sentence starters for both the temperature (day and time) and the factors that contribute to that temperature. Have them fill in the graphic organizer with complete sentences. Have students write the first draft of their complete paragraphs. Stress using the correct data from the thermometer as well as details about weather conditions. Have participants work in pairs to read their first drafts aloud to each other with emphasis on reader as creator and editor. Listener says back one point heard clearly and asks one question for clarification. Switch roles. Give time for full revisions resulting in a second draft. Once the second draft is complete, have participants work in groups of three-four and this time take turns reading each other s second drafts slowly and silently, marking any spelling or grammar errors they find. (Have dictionaries and grammar handbooks available for reference.) Take this opportunity to clarify/reteach any specific grammar strategies you have identified your students needing. Give time for full revisions resulting in a third and final draft. Create a multi-day graph to be displayed in the hallway outside your classroom. Work with students to mark the temperature for each hour on that graph and connect the dots to portray the rise and fall of temperature over several days. Post the student paragraphs above and below the appropriate points on the graph to complete the story of the temperature for those days and times. Terry Roberts National Paideia Center 5

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