Thermodynamics

The concept that I selected is thermodynamics. I researched this concept and chose the web sites that would be the most useful and interesting for my eighth grade students.
One way to engage my students would be through the use of a short video clip shown on my smartboard. I found such a clip at http://www.discoveryeducation.comwhich my district subscribes to. The clip is called The Three Laws of Thermodynamics and is two minutes and eleven seconds long (Discovery Education, 2006).
Once I have my students engaged, then I would take my students to the computer lab where I will direct them to a track that I will make at http://trackstar.4teachers.org/trackstar which will go along with a worksheet.
The first web site for my track would be on the history of Thermodynamics. The web site that I have selected for this is http://mooni.fccj.org/~ethall/thermo/thermo.htm. This site describes the contributions of several scientists into the developing of the laws of thermodynamics (Thall, n.d.).
Secondly, I would have the students go to the website physics4kids and read about thermodynamics. The website http://www.physics4kids.com/files/thermo_intro.html
has several pages of information on thermodynamics and an interactive quiz at the end for students to test how much they have learned.
Next, I would have students go to the physics interactive applet http://jersey.uoregon.edu/vlab/Thermodynamics/index.html where they are able to manipulate temperature to solve a series of problems on thermodynamic equilibrium. One physical science activity that I could do to go along with this activity is taking colored hot water and mixing it with cold water to see the diffusion of the temperature.
Last, I would have some additional websites available for students of different abilities: for low reading levels I prefer http://www.kids.esdb.bg/basic_principles.html, for my average learners I would use the site http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/light_lessons/thermal/transfer.html. For my gifted students I would use the site http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html Through this activity the students will be engaged through a video, gain knowledge of the history and definitions, and use their learning to experiment with thermodynamics.
One challenge that I would have for this activity would be getting the computer lab time. Math and reading use the computer lab regularly for testing objectives and it is difficult to find blocks of time open for other subject areas.


References
Bothun, Greg. “Thermodynamic Equilibrium.” Physics Applets. Retrieved June 12, 2010, from http://jersey.uoregon.edu/vlab/Thermodynamics/index.html
Discovery Education. (2006). The Three Laws of Thermodynamics [Video Segment]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
Esd Bulgaria. “Energy Principles.” Kids and Energy. Retrieved June 12, 2010 from http://www.kids.esdb.bg/basic_principles.html
Hermans-Killam, Linda & Daou, Doris. “How does heat travel?” Cool Cosmos. Retrieved June 12, 2010 from http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/light_lessons/thermal/transfer.html
Nave, Carl Rod. “Heat and Thermodynamics.” Hyperphysics. Retrieved June 12, 2010 from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html
Rader, Andrew. “Thermodynamics.” Physics4kids. Retrieved June 12, 2010, from http://www.physics4kids.com/files/thermo_intro.html
Thall, E. (n.d.). Thermodynamics: Who Wrote the Laws?. Thall's website. Retrieved June 12, 2010, from http://mooni.fccj.org/~ethall/thermo/thermo.htm
TrackStar : Home. (n.d.). TrackStar : Home. Retrieved June 12, 2010, from http://trackstar.4teachers.org/trackstar/