Name of teaching material
Easy experiment to show hot air rises (hot-air balloon) self-made product
Japanese Page URL
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| Target | Junior high school and high school students |
|---|---|
| Disability category | visual impairment |
| Teaching units / Applicable scenes | science |
| Specific purposes | The experiment helps students understand that hot air rises via tactile observation of the states and behaviors of a plastic bag in which warmed air is collected. |
| Considerations for disability characteristics |
In junior high school science, students learn how clouds and fronts develop as part of lessons on weather and its changes. Cloud development involves warm air masses ascending. As a fundamental stage of understanding the structure of a front, it is essential that students comprehend how warm and cold air masses behave by actually observing them. The Easy experiment to show hot air rises (hot-air balloon) was devised so that students acquire the aimed knowledge via experience. The entire experimental unit has dimensions that can be observed by touching and consists of a structure that can be recognized by feeling with both hands. The experimental unit is based on the teaching materials developed by the former National Space Development Agency of Japan (current Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) developed for a social educational activity (space education program), to which the author worked as a staff member, and was arranged for teaching science to students with visual impairment. |
| Expected effects and results | The experiment is expected to facilitate students acquire concrete images on the phenomenon that warmed air rises because it expands via experimental learning. |
| How to use |
① Set four (armless) stands on a table so that the tips of the stands form a square having sides of about 30cm when seen from the top. ② Set a plastic bag upside down so as to cover the stands almost to the bottom. The spaces between the stands should be adjusted so that the bag fits loosely but not too loosely on the stands. Put the stands nearer to each other when the bag fits tight, and vice versa when the bag is too loose. (A bag should not be too loose to prevent it from catching fire from an alcohol burner in a next step.) ③ Ask students to lightly press the outside surface of the bag and feel that the bag sink in and does not resist the push. ④ Ask students to touch the lower part of the bag with one palm and the upper part with the other and check that there is no temperature difference. ⑤ Ask students to observe the top corners of the bag by touching. The corners at this condition are not “standing” but “hanging”. ⑥ Raise the bag for about 30cm, and set an alcohol burner right under the bag. ⑦ The teacher is to light the alcohol burner. ⑧ Lower the bag, which was raised in ⑥, to almost the bottom of the stands. ⑨ Ask students to lightly press the outside surface of the bag as in ③. Students are to check that the bag, unlike in ③, does not sink in but resists the push. Ask students to think why it happens. ⑩ Ask students to touch the lower part of the bag with one palm and the upper part with the other as in ④ and feel that the upper part is warmer than the lower part. Ask students to think why it happens. ⑪ Ask students to observe the top corners of the bag by touching as in ⑤ and check that the corners are standing. Ask students to think why it happens. ⑫ After ⑪, ask students to wait with the back of their hands still touching (but not pressing) the surface of the bag. Ask students to observe that the bag gradually ascends, hits the ceiling, crushes against the ceiling while making noise and falls on top of the students. Students are also to check that the fallen bag is crushed and is still slightly warm. Finally, the students are to think why the bag fell. The teacher is to be very careful to never allow the bag to fall on the alcohol burner and be sure to turn off the burner. ⑬ After the experiment, ask students to summarize the methods, results and discussion of the experiment. |
| Related teaching materials and information |
If available, use 4 (armless) stands, alcohol burner (use of 2 burners is recommended when the room temperature is low such as in winter), matches, can containing little water for the used matches, wet dusters, etc. found in your school laboratory. Plastic bags are available at supermarkets, etc. Select bags of thinner plastic (0.015mm or 0.012mm in thickness). Huge hot-air balloons can be made using plastic sheets (0.015mm or 0.012mm in thickness). Make a bag of about 180cm×360cm, and send hot air into it using a hair dryer, etc. The bag becomes a huge hot-air ballon that ascends to the ceiling of a gymnasium. Heat sealers are convenient for bonding the sheets. Plastic sheets are available at DIY stores, etc. Meanwhile, to check that cooled air masses descends, ask students to stand in front of a refrigerator with one palm pausing toward the lower part and the other toward the upper part and feel at which palm they feel cold air when the door is open. It can also be achieved by placing ice packs on a tripod and putting one hand under them and the other hand over them. Japanese Association of Science Education for the Blind, https://www.jaseb.net/ SHIBATA Naoto, Easy experiment to show hot air rises (hot-air balloon) (in Japanese), （JASEB NEWS LETTER）, No. 38, 2019, pp. 31-36. |
| Useful for other students |
- Informant SHIBATA Naoto, Special Needs Education School for the Visually, Impaired, University of Tsukuba
- Keywords warmed air mass, rise, experiment, teaching material, hot-air balloon
- Created 2025-02-05 15:46:36
- Updated 2025-02-05 15:46:36