Yesterday, I introduced students to the species of penguin we’ll be looking at as well as shared what problems they’re facing. We have one more thing to do before students can start working on their own designs: we need to review how the three different types of heat transfer work. We learned about conduction, convection, and radiation before break.

While conduction and convection will still be present, the main type of heat transfer students will need to design around is radiation. This models the real-world penguins, who are having to choose between sheltering their eggs from the sun, or themselves. Students sketched how radiation warms up a house, and we brainstormed some ways to insulate houses against heat. Tomorrow, students will start testing building materials.