Lesson video

Hello, everyone, how are you today?

I hope you're feeling really good.

My name is Ms. Afzal, and I'll be your teacher for this lesson.

I'm feeling very good about that myself because we're looking at very interesting topic.

Today, we're looking at insulation.

Insulating our homes in schools, that's the title of our lesson.

It comes from the unit of work Properties, changes and separating materials.

So, I wonder, have you heard of insulation before?

Do you know what it means to insulate something?

Don't worry if you have or you haven't.

We are gonna be getting right into it today.

So, if you're ready, if you have some focus, energy, and enthusiasm we'll begin our lesson now.

The outcome for today's lesson is, I can find out about ways to insulate our homes and schools.

I hope that sounds interesting to you.

We have some keywords in our lesson.

Let's go through them one at a time.

My turn, your turn.

Insulate.

Fuel.

Temperature.

Compare.

Impact.

That was great to hear those words loud and clear.

I'm gonna say them one more time.

Insulate, fuel, temperature, compare, and impact.

So, what do these keywords mean?

Well, insulate.

If a material insulates electricity, heat, or sound, it means it does not allow it to pass through it easily.

Fuel is something that can be used to generate heat or light.

Temperature is a measure of how hot something is.

We compare things by looking at what is the same and what is different, and the impact of something is the effect it has.

So, these are our keywords.

Let's look out for them, let's listen out for them, and let's think carefully about them.

They'll be coming up in our lesson today.

Our lesson is called Insulating our homes and schools, and it has two learning cycles.

First of all, insulating buildings, and then measuring the impact of insulation.

Let's begin by exploring insulating buildings.

The children are watching an online video about animals that live in the Arctic.

The presenter says that animals that live in cold climates often have lots of fat in their bodies.

Why is this?

Pause here and share with someone, what do you think the reason is?

Thanks for sharing.

Here's Lucas, "Fat is a thermal insulator which helps animals keep warm by reducing the heat they lose from their bodies.

" And here, we can see an image of a walrus, an animal which has a lot of fat in its body, which as we've heard from Lucas, acts as an thermal insulator to help it keep warm.

What other characteristics do animals have to help them keep warm?

Well, mammals have hair or fur as well as fat to insulate and keep them warm.

Humans are a type of mammal.

We have hair on our bodies, but not as much as some other animals, so we wear clothed to insulate our bodies.

We also insulate our buildings.

Do you know why?

Pause here and chat with someone.

Why do you think we insulate our buildings?

Thanks for sharing.

In cold countries, warm buildings lose heat to the cooler outside air.

In hot countries, cold buildings may gain heat from the warmer outside temperatures.

Insulating buildings reduces the heat exchange with the air outside.

Why does this matter?

Pause here and share with someone, what do you think?

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

We use fuel to run heaters to keep our buildings warm in winter and to run fans and air conditioning units to keep buildings cool in the summer.

We can see a radiator, fan, and air con.

Insulating buildings reduces the amount of fuel we need to keep them warm in winter and cool in summer.

How can we insulate buildings?

Pause here and share with someone, do you have any ideas?

How could we do this?

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Materials like fiberglass, foam board, and spray foam are commonly used to insulate walls, floors, attics, and roofs in buildings because they reduce heat transfer.

Here's an insulated loft.

Double-glazed windows provide insulation to reduce heat exchange between the inside and outside of buildings.

They have two layers of glass with a gap in between.

The gap is filled with air or other gases to make it difficult for heat to pass through.

Well-insulated buildings reduce the amount of fuel needed to maintain the required temperature.

And there, we can see a double-glazed window that's helping to insulate this home.

Let's have a check for understanding.

How can we reduce the amount of fuel we need to keep buildings warm in winter and cool in summer?

Is it a, open windows, b, reduce insulation, or c, increase insulation?

Pause here while you decide.

Well done if you chose answer c.

Indeed, we can reduce the amount of fuel we need to keep buildings warm in winter and cool in summer by increasing insulation.

Well done if you chose this answer.

Lucas has got a great question for us, "What else can I do to reduce my family's use of fuel to heat our home?

" What do you think?

Pause here and share with someone.

What could Lucas do or could any of us do to reduce our family's use of fuel to heat our homes?

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Lucas thinks that we could turn the heating up.

Aisha says, "We could open a window.

" Would these suggestions work?

Pause here and share with someone, what do you think?

Thanks for sharing.

Lucas and Aisha's ideas wouldn't work.

Turning up the heating would increase fuel use.

Opening windows would make the room cooler, so more fuel would be needed to get it to the temperature we want.

How could we reduce our use of fuel for heating?

Pause here and share with with someone any ideas.

Thanks for sharing.

As well as building insulation, there are other measures that can reduce fuel costs.

One way is to reduce the temperature we expect in our rooms.

If we wear more or warmer layers of clothing, we can adjust to cooler rooms in our homes.

We would then need less fuel to heat the room to reach that lower temperature.

Just put on another lovely jumper.

We could use thick curtains to insulate our windows at night.

We could use draft excluders on outside doors to stop air exchanging under the door.

Heat can escape through all parts of our buildings, the walls, the windows, the roof, and the floor.

Thermal imaging cameras can help us to see where heat is lost from buildings.

Pause here and share with someone, where do you think the heat is being lost from this building?

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

We're gonna get more into this as we have a look at some thermal imaging camera images.

The colors on this thermal image show the temperature.

This is a thermal image of a house.

Red and yellow colors show the warmest areas.

Blue shades show the coolest areas.

I wonder if this matches up to what you said about the house on the last slide where most heat was being lost.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Other than adding insulation, how else can we reduce fuel costs for heating?

Is it a, reduce the temperature we expect of our rooms, b, increase the temperature we expect of our rooms, c, open windows?

Pause here while you decide.

Well done if you selected answer a.

Indeed, other than adding insulation, we can reduce fuel costs for heating by reducing the temperature we expect of our rooms.

And now, it's time for your first task.

I would like you to look at the thermal image of the house, and first of all, identify which areas are hottest and which are coldest.

And then next, if you assume that the house is the same temperature everywhere inside, explain which parts of the house are best and worst insulated.

So, here's the thermal image of the house, and remember, the colors that are more towards red and orange are the hottest, and the colors more towards the blue end of the scale are the coolest.

So, pause here while you have a go at this task of, first of all, identifying which areas are hottest and coldest in this house.

It's good to be back with you.

So, how did you get on with that task, identifying which areas are hottest and which are coldest?

The main wall is an orange yellow color in the image, meaning it is the hottest part of the house.

Some windows and the lower wall are blue, which means they're colder.

The roof is green, meaning it is warm.

And how about this part of the task?

How did you get on explaining which parts of the house are best and worst insulated?

The main wall is the worst insulated part of the house because heat is escaping there.

That is why it appears orange on the thermal image.

The roof is not losing as much heat as the wall, suggesting it has some insulation.

Some of the windows and the lower wall are blue, which means they're cold, so some heat is escaping from the house in these areas.

Was your answer similar?

Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

And now, we're onto our next learning cycle, measuring the impact of insulation.

Here's Aisha, "I'd like to find out where we lose heat in our school, but we don't have a thermal imaging camera.

" How could Aisha investigate heat loss inside her school?

Pause here and share with with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

Temperature data can be collected around our schools and homes to reveal heat losses.

"I could use a thermometer to measure the temperature in three rooms around school.

" Aisha chooses to measure the temperature of the school hall, her classroom, and the main corridor.

These are Aisha's results.

Hall, 20 degrees C.

Classroom, 22 degrees C.

Corridor, 16 degrees C.

Where is most heat being lost in Aisha's school?

Pause here and share with with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

Most heat is lost in the corridor because it has the lowest temperature.

"In the corridor, the door to the playground is often left open.

I think this is why it loses so much heat.

" Aisha uses her data to persuade her head teacher that the door to the playground should be kept closed to save fuel used to heat the building.

And Aisha's head teacher thought this was a great idea, so that's what they did.

Aisha repeats her temperature investigation in the corridor later that day to compare the impact of the closed door.

10:00 AM, door open, 18 degrees C.

2:00 PM, door closed, 21 degrees C.

"I think the open door was a source of heat loss.

" Aisha's investigations have shown that temperature data analysis can result in actions or changes which reduce heat losses.

Let's have a check for understanding.

How could you investigate heat loss around a building?

a, collect weather data.

b, collect pupil's opinions.

c, collect temperature data.

Pause here while you decide how you could investigate heat loss around a building.

Well done if you selected answer c.

Indeed, you can investigate heat loss around a building by collecting temperature data.

Aisha thinks about how she can use temperature data analysis to reduce fuel costs at home.

"When I play with my friends in the street, I often leave the door open so I can hear my mom calling me.

" Aisha could compare fuel costs before and after making changes to find out whether those changes have an impact.

Great idea.

How would you expect the fuel bill to change in Aisha's home after the action?

So before the action with the open door, and then after the action with the closed door.

Pause here and share with with someone, how do you think the fuel will would change after this action of closing the door?

Thanks for sharing.

These are the fuel bills for Aisha's home for last year and this year.

So, before the action, the electricity bill was 110 pounds and 24 pence.

And after the action, it was 90 pounds and 24 pence.

Did closing the door have an impact on the fuel use at Aisha's house?

Pause here and share with someone, what do you think?

Thanks for sharing.

And here's Aisha feeling triumphant, "Yes, it did.

The fuel costs went down after we closed the door at home because my house lost less heat.

This meant that we needed the heating on less to keep my home warm.

" It's a win-win situation.

Let's have a check for understanding.

How could you decide which actions were most effective at reducing heat loss?

a, have a debate.

b, analyze temperature data.

c, measure water temperature.

d, take a vote.

Pause here while you decide.

Well done if you selected answer b.

Indeed, the answer is analyze temperature data.

Let's have another check for understanding.

How could you tell if actions to reduce fuel costs have had an effect?

a, look at fuel costs after the action.

b, compare fuel costs before and after the action.

c, look at fuel costs before the action.

Pause here while you decide.

Well done if you selected answer b.

Indeed, you could compare fuel costs before and after the action, just as Aisha did.

And now, it's time for your next task.

I would like you to use your knowledge and your own research to make a list or poster to inform people about how to save on fuel costs at home or school through insulation and other methods.

You may like to consider how to insulate the building, particularly using environmentally friendly methods, how to limit air moving between the inside and outside of the building through gaps and windows, the temperature of rooms in the building, the times when heating or cooling systems are used in the building, the clothing you wear at different times of the year when in the building.

So, pause here while you have a go at this task of making a list or a poster to inform people about how to save on fuel costs at home or school through insulation and other methods.

Enjoy your task, and I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you.

How did you get on with making your list or poster to inform people about how to save on fuel costs through insulation and other methods?

You may have thought of some of these ideas.

Tips to save on fuel costs.

Use draft excluders to limit air exchange through gaps under doors and around window frames.

If you're designing a building, include insulation panels in walls made of environmentally friendly materials like wood fiber or straw.

Aim for the rooms to be heated between 18 and 21 degrees C.

And tips to save on fuel costs.

Change your clothing according to the weather.

In cold weather, the school should allow us to wear extra non-uniform jumpers and warm hats.

And in hot weather, we should be allowed to take our school jumpers or blazers off and wear short sleeve shirts.

Only have the heating or fans on when people are using or about to use the building.

Some fantastic ideas.

So informative.

In our lesson, Insulating our homes and schools, we've covered the following.

Insulating buildings reduces the amount of fuel we need to keep them warm in winter and cold in summer.

Other measures can reduce fuel costs, such as reducing the temperature we expect in our rooms.

Temperature data can be collected around the school to reveal heat losses.

Temperature data analysis can result in actions for children and adults to take to reduce heat losses.

Fuel cost data comparisons will show whether actions have an impact.

Well done, everyone, for joining in with this lesson.

It was great to explore insulating our homes and schools, finding out what is insulation, what does it mean to insulate, what impact does it have, and what actions can we take to reduce the amount of fuel we're using, reduce our costs, keep us warm, put on those extra layers, nice, cozy jumper or a warm hat.

I've really enjoyed teaching you, and I hope you've enjoyed this lesson too.

I'm looking forward to seeing you another lesson soon.

And until then, stay curious!

.