Three spoons stand in a mug of hot water with a bead of butter on each handle in this 3-page 4th grade worksheet about heat. A table shows the butter melting after 2 minutes on the metal spoon, after 12 on the plastic spoon and not at all after 15 on the wooden spoon. Students name the best conductor and insulator and explain why the butter melted. Page 2 applies the idea to pot handles, frying pans and oven mitts. It supports NGSS 4-PS3-2.
4-PS3-2
“Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.”
The melting times are evidence that heat moves up each spoon at a different speed, and question 3 asks students to explain how the heat moved.
A drawing of a mug with three spoons labeled metal, plastic and wood, a short setup paragraph and a three-row results table. Students answer three questions: the best heat conductor, the best heat insulator and why the butter melted.
A photo of a frying pan with a wooden handle and a pair of oven mitts goes with three questions. Students say why pot handles are often plastic or wood, why a frying pan is metal and why we use oven mitts.
Model answers, including the metal spoon as the best heat conductor and the wooden spoon as the best heat insulator, with the melting times as evidence.
Try it first
Stand a metal spoon and a wooden spoon in warm water for a minute and let students feel both handles. Then read the table together.
Data before answers
Ask students to read the three times aloud before they write question 1. The numbers are the evidence for every answer that follows.
Kitchen at home
Page 2 works as homework. Students look for plastic, wood or metal in their own kitchen and say what each part is for.
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