Home Heat Transfer

Everything you need to explore thermal energy transfer and weatherization

Students investigate the science of heat transfer in VT and NH homes, how heating our homes is related to CO2 and climate change, and what we can do to reduce our home heating impact and stay cozy. As part of their learning, students will design, engineer, and test mini model houses for best insulation strategies. We strongly recommend that you either take a VEEP PD training or have a VEEP educator in to offer our Home Heat Transfer: Weatherization and Thermal Energy workshop, as well as a Climate Modeling workshop to support this curriculum — but teachers can also borrow the Two Earths climate model in addition if they wish to run this experiment themselves without PD training. If you do not have experience with this storyline or its supporting kit, we encourage you t contact us with any questions regarding the storyline, the storyline kit, and supporting materials.

What's in the Kit

• Kit includes: Materials for conduction and convection experiments, combustion demos, Pre-made model houses, insulation material testing, IR thermometers for student home investigations, engineering challenge materials for students to design and insulate mini (cake box) houses, materials for investigating climate science through the Two Earth model and more.
  • Click here for the full Home Heat Transfer kit inventory.
  • Click here for the HOT Engineering Design Challenge kit inventory (included in a regular HOT kit rental).
  • Click here for the Two Earth model inventory
• Kit size: 4 large totes, 1 medium tote, +2 small totes.
• Kit can be broken up into four modules (request as many modules as you need):
  • Home Heat Storyline kit (conduction, convection, & combustion investigation materials, multiple IR thermometers for student home investigations)
  • Model homes & material testing equipment
  • Home Heat Transfer Engineering Challenge
  • Modeling Climate Science

NGSS Standards Addressed

MS-ESS3-5 Earth & Human Activity: Ask questions to clarify evidence of the factors that have caused the rise in global temperature over the past century.

MS-PS3-3 Energy: Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.

MS-PS3-4 Energy: Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample.

MS-ETS1-1 Engineering Design: Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

MS-ETS1-2 Engineering Design: Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

MS-ETS1-4 Engineering Design: Develop a model to generate data for iterative testing and modification of a proposed object, tool, or process such that an optimal design can be achieved.