Bringing climate physics to middle and high school classrooms

This fall, APS will equip hundreds of middle and high school teachers with ready-to-use activities that help students explore the physics of the climate. The latest PhysicsQuest kit — developed by members and tested by teachers — brings topics like heat transfer and carbon sequestration to life and comes with an assortment of teaching materials, from an infrared thermometer to volcanic rocks.

“I've done PhysicsQuest from the very beginning,” says Sandy Gady, a middle school teacher at a low-resource school outside Seattle. “It's the best thing I've ever seen.” The kits help students make new connections, she says, and give them the tools and confidence to explore the world in ways they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.

Most middle school science teachers and about 60% of high school physics teachers in the U.S. don’t have physics degrees, says Nicole Schrode, the APS program manager for public engagement. The PhysicsQuest program is designed to support those educators by providing new, thematic, interactive lessons and materials each year. The kits are free and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

With this year’s kit, students use hand boilers and other tools to explore how solar energy heats Earth’s surfaces. In another “hands-on” experiment, they measure the temperature of their palms beneath films of different thicknesses to explore why planets have different temperatures. Students also recreate Eunice Newton Foote’s groundbreaking 1856 experiment, which suggested that an atmosphere with more carbon dioxide would lead to a warmer earth. Next year’s kit will build on these concepts by focusing on climate solutions.

APS created the first PhysicsQuest in 2005, in celebration of the World Year of Physics. While the early kits had simple experiments, Gady says, “they have really evolved.” There is always at least one experiment that stretches her students’ thinking. And she likes that PhysicsQuest tackles tough subjects like climate change and quantum science and technology.

Thomas Binninger, a Los Angeles middle school teacher, feels similarly. PhysicsQuest introduces students to science that goes beyond the standard curriculum and connects to current research, which he and his students find challenging and exciting. In a school focused on raising reading and math scores, he says, PhysicsQuest brings a sense of wonder into the classroom. “In science you have to be curious, and you have to wonder,” he says. “It can’t always be all about the scores.”

Students in Nataliya Fletcher’s high school science classes at a Florida collegiate academy also enjoy the kits. The experiments are a nice change of pace from lectures and problem-solving, she says, and they help students better retain information. “Students are actively doing science rather than just learning about it,” she says. “When students can see a concept in action and relate it to their own experiences, the learning becomes much more meaningful and memorable.”

Developing activities that resonate with students in grades 6–12 is a collaborative, yearlong process. After a topic is selected, Schrode invites subject-matter experts — members of relevant APS units — to submit outlines of possible activities. Then a group of veteran PhysicsQuest teachers reviews them and provides feedback.

“Physicists know the physics better than a teacher, but teachers understand educational implementation and pedagogy and how these lessons will read in a classroom better,” Schrode says.

Binninger, Fletcher, and Gady were three of the pilot teachers for the 2026 kit. They worked with APS staff and physicists to select and streamline the activities. Many physicists have good ideas, “but to actually put them into practice is a whole other concept,” Binninger says. For example, physicists may overestimate the level of background knowledge students have or the availability of classroom equipment. Pilot teachers can identify such challenges and offer possible solutions early.

Many people, even parents, don’t understand the full reality of today’s classrooms, says Gady. “In one of my classes, I had 14 different languages.” Helping all students learn takes flexibility and openness, which she found in the physicist developers. The process was collaborative planning “at its very best,” she says. The teachers also helped identify safety concerns, adjust lesson sequencing, and brainstorm ways to present topics that resonate with students.

Based on their input, Schrode — a former high school physics teacher herself — then guides physicists in turning their outlines into PhysicsQuest lesson plans. She also works with a science supply store to source materials so that, come spring, pilot teachers can test lessons in their classrooms.

In one climate activity, created by researchers at Brown University, students put volcanic rocks and water in two sealed plastic bottles, one containing regular air and one carbon dioxide. As the basalt reacts with carbon dioxide, decreasing pressure causes the bottle to crumple inward. When Gady’s students saw this during the pilot session last spring, they immediately wanted to test her rock collection. Then they went searching for more rocks outside, which they brought in and experimented with. To their delight, some of the rocks reacted with carbon dioxide.

These kinds of activities make her students feel smart, Gady says. “That's really important, because nobody's ever told them they were smart.”

After teachers test the activities and submit suggestions, the APS team refines the lessons, prepares supporting online resources, and finalizes the materials list. Registration opens each August, and 750-1,000 kits are shipped to teachers in the fall. Teachers who miss out on the physical kits can always find the lessons and supporting resources on the APS website, including those from past kits. The Physics of Climate kits are available online.

Gady encourages all teachers to give PhysicsQuest a try. “Even if you only do one of the activities, it makes a difference in these kids' lives,” she says.