• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Energy stores and transfers). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which energy store is most important here: a flying aeroplane (airplane)? (kinetic (movement) / chemical / thermal (heat) / elastic potential (stretch or squash)) → kinetic (movement)Prompt: Is it moving, raised up, stretched, hot, or able to release energy by reacting?
2. A ball is dropped. Which energy store decreases as it falls? (kinetic / nuclear / gravitational potential / elastic) → gravitational potentialPrompt: It is getting lower.
3. Which of these mainly has a elastic potential (stretch or squash) energy store? (a child at the top of a slide / a piece of coal / a drawn bow / a sandwich) → a drawn bowPrompt: Think about what each object is doing.

• Wind up a toy or stretch an elastic band and ask where the energy goes.
• Share the objective: Conduction, convection and radiation. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Which kind of energy transfer is this: a metal spoon in hot soup getting hot?
• Step 1: Conduction passes energy through a solid as particles vibrate and pass it on.
• Step 2: So the answer is: conduction
• Answer: conduction
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Which kind of energy transfer is this: water circulating in a heated pan? (conduction / convection / radiation) → convectionPrompt: Is the energy moving through a solid, carried by a moving fluid, or travelling as waves?
2. Why does a thermos flask (vacuum flask) keep drinks hot? (It contains a heater / Plastic makes heat / It traps cold out by magic / The vacuum stops conduction and convection; shiny walls reduce radiation) → The vacuum stops conduction and convection; shiny walls reduce radiationPrompt: Which transfers need particles?

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Why are saucepans often made of metal with plastic handles? (Metal is an insulator / Metal is a good conductor; plastic is a good insulator / It is just for colour / Plastic conducts heat better than metal) → Metal is a good conductor; plastic is a good insulatorPrompt: Which part should get hot, and which should not?
2. Heat transfer: which statement is NOT true? (Coats make heat. / Dark, matt surfaces are good absorbers and emitters of infrared radiation. / Air trapped in materials makes good insulation. / Convection cannot happen in solids.) → Coats make heat.Prompt: Which way does energy flow: hot to cold, or cold to hot?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-7.