Earth Science

Essential Questions:

1.  Does the sun warm all surfaces the same?

2. How can we reduce the impact of the sun on an area?

First, we went outside and felt different surfaces on the playground.  We made a chart describing the temperatures.  

Next we did a little experiment with a heat lamp to learn if the sun heats soil, sand, water, and air the same.  And we wanted to compare the difference between these things in the sun and in the shade.  (Picture of experiment to come).

Our Data:

We noticed that at room temperature (in the shade) all temperatures were similar.  Temperatures under the heat lamp (sun) varied a bit.  Sand was the hottest which lead us to our engineering design project.  

Kids worked in small groups to plan and create a shade for a sandbox.  The goal is to decrease the impact of sun on the sand while still allowing people to play in it.