Pupils in primary school encounter and start learning about terms such as heat flux, heat and temperature in 5th grade. These terms cannot be seen with the naked eye, and therefore it takes more effort to be able to explain them to the pupils. Especially the terms heat and temperature often cause misconceptions.
In the diploma thesis there is an overview of how often the terms heat and temperature appear in the primary school curriculum, and an overview of the most common false perceptions concerning these two terms. Furthermore, there is an overview of heat and temperature experiments suggested in textbooks and workbooks for the 5th grade subject science and technique.
In theoretical part of diploma thesis, the theoretical starting points for the discussion regarding the terms heat, temperature, heat flux, thermal conductivity and insulation are presented. Electromagnetic radiation and its familiar infrared radiation are described, as well as thermography and its related measuring instruments – infrared thermometer and infrared camera.
School curriculum should adjust to the novelties and include contemporary technology and its benefits in lessons, therefore I decided to present infrared camera as a teaching accessory for the discussion of the topics heat and temperature. Infrared camera demonstrates the activities that are happening when heat and temperature are detected in a comprehensible and visually attractive way. Infrared camera experiment performance and interpretation are a useful starting point for the discussion of the topics such as energy, heat, temperature, heat conductivity and insulation, which are included in the curriculum in higher primary school grades. Instead of usual methods for refreshing and testing knowledge, infrared camera recordings and photographs taken by camera are used for designing a didactic game that follows well-defined educational goals.
Teachers will be able to use the prepared materials immediately in class in two ways – with or without infrared camera. The topics heat, temperature and thermal conductivity will be presented and explained to the pupils gradually and logically by performing a set of experiments.
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