MS-PS1-6
The standard
Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy by chemical processes.
Next Generation Science Standards
What this standard means
Students need to design a small device that uses a chemical process to heat or cool something. They should choose materials, set criteria, measure temperature change over time, and revise the design based on data.
Mastery looks like a clear design plan, controlled testing, accurate temperature data, and a sensible redesign. Students often struggle to keep variables fair, confuse heat with temperature, or make changes without using evidence from their test results.
Ways to teach it
- Have teams build a cup-based hot or cold pack using calcium chloride or ammonium chloride, water, thermometers, lids, and insulation materials.
- Ask students to write which design change improved energy transfer most, using one data table and one temperature-time graph as evidence.
- Give students two trial data sets and ask which device better meets the criteria for amount, time, and temperature change.
- Compare classroom cold packs to sports injury packs, then identify the chemicals, packaging choices, and safety limits that make them useful.
Plan a lesson for MS-PS1-6
Generate a complete lesson plan aligned to this standard, with objectives, activities, and materials. Free, no account needed.
Related standards
- MS-PS3-3
Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.
- 4-PS3-4
Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.
- HS-PS3-3
Design, build, and refine a device that works within given constraints to convert one form of energy into another form of energy.
- HS-PS1-4
Develop a model to illustrate that the release or absorption of energy from a chemical reaction system depends upon the changes in total bond energy.