What materials are conductors of heat? What materials are insulators of heat? What materials are the best conductors of heat?
The basic set up: hot water in the large cup, room temperature water in the smaller cup.
The conductors are hardware store finds: sections of six gage solid copper electrical wire, a zinc wall board fastener, bolts, and other odd bits of materials.
[a] What metals conducted heat? Which conducted the most heat? Which conducted heat the fastest? How could we best represent the data?
What were some of the problems? What were some of the sources of error?
As a class you will hammer out what to report and how best to report it. You should have at least one table [d] [t] and one or more charts [g]. Your choice on chart type. The instructor may ask questions for clarification on your table and chart designs. There is no one right answer. You are a community of scientists who will reach a consensus on the best way to report your findings.
Instructional note: Have the students work in teams of two on gathering data. Then group pairs of teams to form four to six person groups to work on a charting strategy. Give these larger discussion groups 15 minutes to come up with a chart or graph concept. Have a spokesperson present the concept to the rest of the class.