STEM Challenge: Insulators

Yesterday we did our third engineering challenge of the year. I love these things!!! This one doubled as a science experiment. The question was:

WHICH MATERIAL WILL KEEP A CUP OF WATER THE MOST WARM? 

The students worked in pairs. They could choose any ONE of FOUR materials to test. They attached the material to the outside of the cup any way they wanted as long as the cup could stand up and there was a place for pouring in water.

Materials We Tested
* aluminum
* styrofoam
* cotton (fabric and/or cotton balls)
* plastic (laminating film and/or trash bags)

Creating a test for styrofoam

Attaching fabric to the outside of the cup

Once the cups were built, we poured in hot water and measured the temperature at 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 1 hour, and 2 hours. We also measured the temperature in a plain cup with nothing attached.

Our data showed that cotton and styrofoam held heat in the best, but aluminum did the worst. Hmmm...

Connections to conductors and insulators will come next week.
Love me some inquiry-based science!