Materials
- Pizza Boxes
- Construction paper- Black
- Construction paper- Other Colors
- Aluminum Foil
- Graham Crackers
- Marshmallows (Large)
- Glue/ Tape
- Wax Paper
- Scissors
- craft sticks
- A sunny day!
When preparing this activity, the teacher should make sure that all pizza boxes are the same size (I prefer the medium boxes- they are big enough for the kids to work with, but small enough to see decent results) and from the same restaurant. For a class of 30, only about eight boxes are needed, so you might consider asking a pizza place to donate them to your classroom.
Students will work together to design the best (fastest working) solar oven from the materials available. First, they will cut a flap into the top of the box. Students will select a material to tape/glue to the inside of this flap. They will also select materials to tape/glue to the inside (bottom) of the box. Once this is done, students will make assemble a s'more (in this case a marshmallow on top of a graham cracker) and place it inside the now-lined pizza box. Students will close the lid, but use some craft sticks to prop open the flap to the required angle.
When it is time to test, students can place their solar ovens in the sun. At the same time, assemble a s'more (graham cracker with a marshmallow on top) and place it on a paper plate in the sun to use as a control group. After an amount of time, check the ovens and see the results.
For higher ability groups, students can place a thermometer inside each pizza box (and one with the control s'more) to log the temperatures at set intervals until the s'more(s) have melted to see which solar oven is the most efficient.
So, what did we learn?
National Science Standards: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry, understanding about scientific inquiry, properties of objects and materials, transfer of energy, abilities of technological design, understanding science and technology, science as a human endeavor.
NCTM Standards: Understand measurable attributes of objects and the units, systems, and processes of measurement, apply appropriate techniques, tools, and formulas to determine measurements, Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize, and display relevant data to answer them, develop and evaluate inferences and predictions that are based on data, build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving, Solve problems that arise in mathematics and other contexts, Apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems, and monitor and reflect on the process of mathematical problem solving
Other STEM skills: Communication, critical thinking, problem solving, observation, collaboration, data recording, data analysis, teamwork, practice identifying dependent and independent variables, and controls/constants.
