Thermal City • Investigate Urban Heat

In this Earth Doctors mission, you'll learn how to host a workshop  exploring the Urban Heat Island Effect through a hands-on experiment combining a 3D city model, real materials, and a thermal camera.

Students begin by learning about the electromagnetic spectrum and discovering that there's a world of infrared energy around us that our eyes can't see—but a thermal camera can.

Then it's time to investigate.

Using a 3D model, students compare common urban materials and surfaces such as asphalt, reflective materials, grass, water, buildings and cars. They use a thermal camera to observe temperature differences, collect data, and rank which materials make a city hotter or cooler.

The class then explores the bigger question: How could we redesign our cities to keep people cooler as temperatures rise?

‍

‍

Students will:

• Learn how the Urban Heat Island Effect works
• Explore the electromagnetic spectrum and infrared radiation
• Use a thermal camera to reveal invisible differences in temperature
• Test and compare common urban materials
• Measure, assess and rank surfaces including asphalt, reflective tape, grass, water and cars
• Investigate why some materials heat up more than others
• Use their findings to think about how we could design cooler, more climate-resilient cities

Comes with:

• Educational Urban Heat Island slideshow
• Instructions for building and running the 3D model experiment
• Thermal camera investigation
• 4 downloadable worksheets for measuring, comparing and ranking materials

Earth Doctors workshops are designed for teachers, parents and environmental educators looking to bring more hands-on, action-oriented environmental learning into classrooms and community groups.