Heating Earth's Surfaces: Albedo

Positives

• The lab begins with thinking questions to get students to consider surface temperatures they may have encountered in their own lives.
• The procedure steps are simple and easy to follow.
• The hypothesis section is scaffolded for students.

Additional Prerequisites

• Teachers would need to review and acquire the materials ahead of time.
• There is a caution that the bulb may be very hot, so it is recommended to review safety ahead of time.

Differentiation

• Teachers can strategically group students and assign roles ahead of time.
• Students can conference with other groups to discuss the analysis questions.
• Teachers can foster a class discussion after the lab to share findings and analyze patterns in the data.
• Other resources related to these topics include this similar lab about albedo and this experiment that connects the albedo effect to climate change.