Steppe Science: Staying Warm on the Kazakh Steppe
Science and English together, for English learners (CEFR A2–B1). How does a felt yurt keep a family warm when it's −30 °C outside? Students test insulators around jars of warm water, graph the results and design a winter wall, using the real science of the Kazakh kiiz üy.
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1 lessons in this unit
Materials for the whole unit · one list, lesson by lesson
Lesson 1: How does a felt yurt keep a family warm at −30 °C?
- Identical small glass jars or mugs with lids, about 250 mL2 per team
- Thermometers (digital kitchen thermometers or lab alcohol thermometers)2 per team
- Wool felt, or an old wool scarf or sock (the 'yurt' material)1 piece per team
- Test materials: cotton cloth, aluminium foil, newspaper, bubble wrap1 piece of one material per team
- Rubber bands or tape4 per team
- Hot tap water, no hotter than about 50 °CAbout 500 mL per team
- Measuring jug1 per team
- Clock or timer1 per team
About $10 for a class of 30 if you have thermometers; about $40 if you need to buy them
For centuries, families on the Kazakh steppe have lived through winters of −30 °C and colder in the kiiz üy, a round house of wooden lattice wrapped in thick sheep’s-wool felt. In this unit students find out why felt works so well, by wrapping jars of warm water in different materials and measuring how fast each one cools.
They come away able to explain that heat always moves from warm to cold, that insulators slow it down by trapping still air, and that more layers slow it down more. Then they use their own data to design a winter wall.
Every lesson teaches English alongside the science: key words in English, Russian and Kazakh, sentence frames for predicting and comparing, a speaking role-play, and readings at two levels.