Heat Flow and Diagrams Lab
These thermal imager graphics are a good example of how some information is easier to show visually than to describe in words or numbers.Copyright 2010 Bertaklerta, Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heat_diffusion.png
Students' eyes are opened to the value of creative, expressive and succinct visual presentation of data, findings and concepts. Student pairs design, redesign and perform simple experiments to test the differences in thermal conductivity (heat flow) through different media (foil and thin steel). Then students create visual diagrams of their findings that can be understood by anyone with little background on the subject, applying their newly learned art vocabulary and concepts to clearly communicate their results. The principles of visual design include contrast, alignment, repetition and proximity; the elements of visual design include an awareness of the use of lines, color, texture, shape, size, value and space. If students already have data available from other experiments, have them jump right into the diagram creation and critique portions of the activity.
One important skill for scientists and engineers is to be able to clearly explain and demonstrate their findings. Everything from promotions, to funding, to submitting publications requires easy-to-follow explanations. While equations and writing are two main techniques, use of the visual arts can often be more effective at describing phenomena. Diagrams, 3D modeling, short animations, schematics and graphs can all be effective ways to explain a lot of data quickly and clearly.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Design and perform an experiment.
- Evaluate the accuracy of their data and determine how to improve it.
- Construct a visual model to represent their data.
- Control experiment variables in order to determine correlation.
- Apply the engineering design process.