This past week in science, the 8th grade class learned about Heat, Temperature and Thermal Energy transfer in systems. To help demonstrate our understanding of these concepts, students participated in building their own solar ovens in lab! The lab was a 2 day process; the first day was strictly planning and designing our ovens. Then the second day we got to bring our designs outside and test how well our ovens would perform by attempting to cook s’mores! The ovens were built from the following materials: a pizza box, aluminum foil, black duct tape, plastic wrap, wooden stakes and an aluminum pie pan. The pizza box as a whole, served as the body of the oven. Students cut a flap out of the top of the box which was lined with aluminum foil; this part of the oven was used to reflect the electromagnetic energy from the sun down into the oven. Next, the bottom of the pizza box was also lined with aluminum foil as well as black tape which helped absorb the heat from the energy transformation and transfer (electromagnetic energy transformed into thermal energy). The plastic wrap over the top of the little window of the box was placed there to help insulate the heat and thermal energy that was accumulating from the energy transformation. In addition, the tin pie pans were used to help capture anymore electromagnetic energy that may be shining directly down into the oven, rather than at the flap of the box. Lastly, all of this thermal energy is then transferred into the marshmallow and chocolate on the graham cracker, thus, cooking the s’mores! In the end, all of the students ovens were a great success and we were able to celebrate with a tasty treat at the end!!