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Heat changes everything

Teacher guide Heat changes everything

TLF ID M025073

In this learning sequence, students explore a simple particle model for matter, heat energy and thermal expansion. They apply their learning to the context of expansion and contraction of rail lines and investigate ways that this is mitigated in real situations involving rail lines. They subsequently explain this to young users of public transport through the design of a poster or information sheet, or through a social messaging campaign designed for digital platforms used by young people.

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Educational details

Educational value
  • This is a highly useful resource for years 7 and 8 Science curriculum. It is particularly relevant for the science understanding content descriptions about: properties of materials relating to the motion and arrangement of particles; and energy transformations and transfers causing change in systems. Students engage in role play, investigations and experiments exploring how heat and particles in rail lines interact to cause expansion and contraction, and how this impacts on rail safety.
  • The resource is also useful for the content descriptions in the Science Inquiry Skills strand. In particular, the rail line activity and the guided research about rail maintenance engage students in identifying problems, making predictions and recording their findings. The final safety activity challenges students to communicate their learnings to a broader audience.
  • The learning experiences within the resource are designed sequentially to enable students to build on and demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of particles and energy, while also learning about how to stay safe when near trains and rail ways, particularly during hot weather.
  • This resource is also extremely valuable for supporting the Victorian Curriculum for years 7 and 8 Science, particularly content descriptions within the Science Understanding physical and chemical science strands; as it directly links to relevant Victorian curriculum content descriptions.
Year level

7; 8

Topics Safety Potential energy States of matter Properties of matter Public transport Trains Kinetic energy Heat Mechanical energy Molecular motion
Learning area
  • Science

Other details

Contributors
  • Contributor
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • Description: Data manager
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Copyright Holder
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
  • Publisher
  • Name: Public Transport Victoria
  • Organization: Public Transport Victoria
  • Description: Publisher
  • URL: https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Unknown
Learning Resource Type
  • Online
Rights
  • © 2019 Education Services Australia Ltd, unless otherwise indicated. Resource developed by Education Services Australia for Public Transport Victoria.