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Webquest · High School Physical Science · SPS7

Energy Webquest

Transformations, Heat Transfer, Specific Heat and Heating Curves

Work through the stops in order. Each button opens in a new tab: finish that stop, answer on your webquest sheet, then come back to this page for the next one.

Start with Stop 1 ↓For teachers ↓
Students

How it works

1. Get your sheet

Your teacher gives you the webquest sheet (paper or digital). Every answer goes on it.

2. Open each stop in order

Each stop opens in a new tab. Use the sliders and buttons on that page — your answers come from what you see.

3. Come back here

Close the tab, tick Done, and open the next stop. Finished early with a partner? Play the bonus.

The webquest

Stops

  1. Stop 1 · about 12 min · your sheet: page 2, questions 1–6

    Energy Unit Intro

    Read the beach mystery, pick a big question, play two activities.

    Open Stop 1 The beach mysteryBig questionsExplore activities
  2. Stop 2 · about 8 min · your sheet: page 3, questions 7–14

    Simple Science Videos: Energy

    Watch three one-minute videos and fill in the tables.

    Open Stop 2
  3. Stop 3 · about 10 min · your sheet: page 4, question 15

    Vocabulary

    Flip the Word Wall cards and define 14 words in your own words.

    Open Stop 3 Word Wall (unit intro)Energy vocabulary
  4. Stop 4 · about 12 min · your sheet: page 5, questions 16–22

    Energy Part A: Forms, Transformations, KE and PE

    Launch the coaster, use the KE and PE calculators, build energy chains.

    Open Stop 4
  5. Stop 5 · about 14 min · your sheet: page 6, questions 23–30

    Energy Part B: Heat Transfer and Particle Motion

    Compare a bathtub to a boiling cup, run the three heat sims, race the ice cubes, touch the bars.

    Open Stop 5
  6. Stop 6 · about 14 min · your sheet: page 7, questions 31–39

    Energy Part C: Specific Heat, the q Equation and Heating Curves

    Race four materials, read the beach, use the q equation machine, heat ice to steam.

    Open Stop 6 Part 3: Specific heatPart 4: Heating and cooling curves
  7. Stop 7 · about 12 min · your sheet: page 8, questions 40–44

    Virtual Lab Bench: Ramp & Roll and Mix It!

    Roll a ball down a ramp, then mix hot and cold water.

    Open Stop 7 Ramp & Roll: Energy LabMix It! Heat Transfer Lab
  8. Wrap-up · your sheet: page 8, questions 45–46

    Wrap-up: Solve the beach mystery

    Go back to the beach at the top of the unit intro and explain the 31-degree gap with what you learned about specific heat.

    Open the beach mystery
  9. Bonus · for partners who are both finished

    Bonus: 1v1 HS Energy

    1. Only when you and a partner have both finished every stop.
    2. One computer, two players: Red uses the W A S D keys and Blue uses the arrow keys. It needs a keyboard, so it will not work on a phone.
    3. Press Enter the Arena, pick a game, and play to 3 wins.
    Open the 1v1 game
Teachers

For teachers

Post this link for your students

https://www.tobinscience.com/webquest-hs-energy.html

Students move through six free tobinscience.com resources in order: the Energy unit intro, three one-minute Simple Science videos, the unit vocabulary, the full Energy section (Parts 1–4: a roller-coaster energy simulation, KE and PE calculators, an energy-chain builder, a bathtub-versus-cup thermal energy explorer, conduction, convection and radiation simulations, the ice-cube race, a why-metal-feels-cold model, the specific heat table, a heat race, the beach simulation, a q equation machine, a mystery-metal data lab and a heating curve you can click), two Virtual Lab Bench labs, and a 1v1 review game for early finishers. Every answer comes from what the page shows, matching SPS7a–d.

SPS7 · Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to explain transformations and flow of energy within a system.
Time: about 80–85 minutes (two 45-minute periods, or one block)

What students need

  • One Chromebook or computer per student (the 1v1 bonus needs a keyboard and two students on one computer)
  • Headphones are optional (the three videos are about one minute each)
  • No student accounts or sign-ins; nothing to install

Every stop at a glance

Good to know

  • The chain builder, name-the-method, the mystery-metal data lab, the mystery curves and the Lab Bench mystery ball are randomized, so those scores and values vary. The simulation readouts in the data tables (coaster energies, calculator values, thermal energy readouts, rod timings, race order, beach temperatures, q values, curve segments, Lab Bench mixes) are fixed, so those match the key.
  • Stop 1 activities award joule points that are saved only on that device; students write their score on the sheet.
  • The Lab Bench rounds g to 10 m/s² (so PE = m × 10 × h there), while the energy page uses 9.8 m/s². The sheet says so at Stop 7.
  • The 1v1 bonus is for pairs who have both finished. It is head-to-head review of the whole energy unit.
  • The energy page also has a plan-and-carry-out heat investigation (in Part 2), worked examples, real-life cards, a myth-or-fact set and a 10-question practice bank that the webquest does not visit. They make a good warm-up the next day.
  • Short on time? Stops 1–3 make a good first day and Stops 4–7 a second day.
  • The printable student webquest and its answer key come with the Word / PDF webquest download. This page holds no answers, so it is safe to post.