{"id":229,"date":"2008-09-10T08:10:46","date_gmt":"2008-09-10T13:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/229"},"modified":"2008-09-10T08:10:46","modified_gmt":"2008-09-10T13:10:46","slug":"teaching-physical-science-with-childrens-literature-hot-as-an-ice-cube","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2008\/09\/10\/teaching-physical-science-with-childrens-literature-hot-as-an-ice-cube\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Physical Science with Children’s Literature: Hot As An Ice Cube"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\"hot.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ever wonder how temperature can turn hot chocolate into chocolate milk and then again into a chocolate Popsicle? \u00a0 How about why a squishy beach ball can expand to it’s full size on a hot, summer day? \u00a0Philip Balestrino helps explain these basic concepts in a very simple and fun way in the text\u00a0Hot as an Ice Cube<\/a>. Although this text was written in 1971, it still succeeds in introducing a rudimentary understanding of how heat affects temperature as well as how temperature affects molecules. \u00a0The book follows a young boy and his pet dog to different locations, such as the boy’s kitchen and the beach, and shows how “everything in the world has heat in it.” The boy uses simple explanations that kids can easily relate to. \u00a0For instance, when explaining what has heat he says:<\/p>\n

\u00a0“The coffee my brother drinks for breakfast has a lot of heat in it. \u00a0Sometimes it is hot enough to burn \u00a0 \u00a0you. \u00a0My sister’s bottle of milk has heat in it too. \u00a0It is warm, but not as hot as my big brother’s coffee. \u00a0There is the same amount of milk in my glass and in the baby’s bottle, but her milk has more heat in it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After explaining what heat is, the little boy explains what happens when you heat something and why the temperature increases. \u00a0The book then goes into an explanation about molecules. \u00a0He uses examples that kids would find interesting, such as “there are more molecules in one grain of sand than there are grains of sand on the whole beach” and “the molecules of a sizzling hot dog move faster than they do when the hot dog has just come from the freezer.”\u00a0The language is very simple and easy for students to read on their own. \u00a0In addition, Balestrino offers a few experiments that students can replicate to gain a better understanding of heat. \u00a0One of which is dropping some ice cubes into a glass of \u00a0warm lemonade and seeing what happens. \u00a0The book also shows how the properties of temperature can affect the world around us by explaining that sidewalks have spaces between the squares so that the sidewalks don’t crack when they expand in the heat.<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections\u00a0<\/strong>
\nThis book, although very simple, provides an easy way to introduce ideas of heat, temperature, and molecules to young students. \u00a0Although not extremely scientific, it offers basic understandings of these three concepts and applies them to the world around us. \u00a0In Virginia, this text would be a great introduction to Science Standards of Learning \u00a0about processes involved with changes in matter from one state to another (2.3) and concepts about molecules and the effect of heat on the states of matter (5.4).<\/p>\n

Additional Resources <\/strong><\/p>\n