Save Our Treats - Keeping it Cold

Engage students

• Students view The Magic School Bus E28 - In The Arctic video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBey0p296mA
• Students complete worksheet http://www.starmaterials.com/VideoGuide/MSB/MSB_Earth/MSB28_Arctic/total.pdf
• This will start our conversation about insulation.Students will transfer what they learn about staying warm in a cold climate to ways to keep something cold when it is warm outside. 

Elaborate on the concept

Ask the students to share their observations on how quickly ice cream melted at room temperature, and then ask how it melts on hot summer days.

The Librarian will stop by classroom for a mini-lesson on how to find and use the Supplemental Resourcesavailable in print and online to help with this lesson.

Introduction

Mr. Heil likes to bring freezer pops to the soccer field for an after game treat. He would go to the store before the game ended and purchase the frozen treats and bring them back to the field just as the game ended to keep them from melting.

Unfortunately, on the way back to the soccer field, he got caught in a terrible traffic jam and it took him forty minutes to return. The team was still at the soccer field when he finally arrived, but the treats were a melted mess.

"I wish someone would invent a container that would keep frozen treats from melting while transporting them in the car," exclaimed Mr. Heil.

Challenge 

The team of engineers have been asked to design a container that will slow the melting process of a frozen treat. The product must slow the melting process so the frozen treat can last in the car for thirty minutes.

Brainstorm

Conduct a class brainstorming session and record students initial ideas of what the engineers need to know about phase change from a solid to a liquid, the cause and effect relationship between temperature and phase change, and how heat energy is transferred from place to place.

Engineers at Work

Divide the class into engineering teams. 

Review the Engineering Design Process. Allow sufficient time for students to brainstorm, plan, and carry out their plan. Facilitate the team brainstorming by circulating among the students and listening to their ideas. To help students problem solve through reasoning, ask:

• What do you already know about melting that will help you solve the problem?
• How is that related to heat energy and energy transfer?
• What properties should you be looking for in the materials you will use to make your container?
• How might those properties be important?
• Tell me more…

Students will answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper:

1. Brainstorm ideas for the container with a partner/team.
2. Draw and label a model of the container.
3. Describe the most challenging part in engineering your container.
4. Describe the easiest part in constructing your container.
5. What improvements would you make to your container?

Presentation 

During the melting time have the students present their idea of how to keep the frozen treats from melting. 

• The students must have an appropriate explanation of what is important to consider when trying to keep an object from melting. 
• Have an explanation of how the heat energy from the surrounding air is prevented from transferring to the frozen treat. 
• Present ideas of how they could improve their design.

Give students time to collaborate in their teams to construct the containers. 

After finished with container allow sufficient time for the students to determine how well the container kept the treats cold. After about 40 minutes, they should check to see how much melting has occurred and record the data.

Students will also be expected to present their containers to the class. See attached rubric.