Use a fictional source card, one learner route, the matching A4 aid/text route and the public worked guide. The common timetable is 3 + 4 + 5 + 8 + 3 + 2 = 25 minutes. The 8-minute route is a response choice, not a fixed learning-style assignment. On every day collect: (1) a system/path or model claim, (2) evidence or calculation with correct unit and assumption, (3) a corrected boundary/unknown. Keep access support distinct from physics help. All activity is on paper or a local device; do not invite live heating, handling of hot objects, electrical work or measurement of real learners. These are not QCAA assessment instruments.
Day 1 · Equal temperature is not equal total energy
0–3 puzzle: Show two same-size drawn bowls and read exactly the same. Ask what the picture actually measures. 3–7 source: Reveal the different masses and same material/phase; identify system boundary as each whole sample. 7–12 teach: Use the particle-and-system mat: temperature relates to average particle kinetic-energy state in this model; the larger same-material sample contains more matter, so equal temperature does not establish equal total internal energy. Exact energy needs more information. 12–20 route: A/B/C labels average versus whole-sample statements and edits the label. 20–23 audit: Ask whether “five times the mass” by itself licenses an exact joule figure (no reference state or energy data). 23–25 exit: One equal-temperature inference, one invalid total-energy inference.
Day 2 · Energy through a stationary solid
0–3 puzzle: Point to the fictional solid bridge and ask if a bridge must move for energy to cross it. 3–7 source: Mark warm end, cooler end and contact path; explicitly bar a real touch test. 7–12 teach: Conduction is energy transfer through the material without bulk material motion. Use labelled arrows on the three-path mat; do not infer a rate from a drawing. 12–20 route: Learners trace a contact route and rewrite the public line using “can transfer”. 20–23 audit: Have a peer explain why an air gap would change the stated path. 23–25 exit: Name material, pathway and unknown rate.
Day 3 · The air moves; heat is transferred
0–3 puzzle: Read “warmth itself rises” and identify the noun being treated like a substance. 3–7 source: Reveal the stipulated moving-air arrow and 23 °C/27 °C labels; distinguish drawing from measurement. 7–12 teach: Explain convection as energy transfer by bulk fluid motion, contrasted with the solid bridge on Day 2. On the three-path mat, label air movement separately from energy transfer. 12–20 route: A/B/C corrects the caption and says what two temperatures alone cannot prove. 20–23 audit: Ask if upward movement was measured here (no). 23–25 exit: Complete “In this model, ___ moves; ___ is transferred.”
Day 4 · An evacuated gap is not an energy wall
0–3 puzzle: Present the empty-gap sign, invite a no-equipment prediction. 3–7 source: Identify emitting panel, evacuated gap and receiving surface as a fictional system, not real apparatus. 7–12 teach: Thermal radiation crosses the gap as electromagnetic radiation; conduction and convection cannot use the empty gap because they require matter there. Use three-paths, then ask what fraction is absorbed (not given). 12–20 route: Learners build a labelled path or explain it aloud, with a correction to no way. 20–23 audit: Reject “radiation needs air” and “all emitted energy arrives”. 23–25 exit: Name the possible pathway and one unknown.
Day 5 · Three paths can coexist
0–3 puzzle: Read the lunch-crate poster and ask which word makes an unsupported safety promise. 3–7 source: Separate solid wall, enclosed air and facing surfaces; no real lunch temperature is known. 7–12 teach: Put conduction, convection and radiation on three distinct arrows on three-paths; neither the drawing nor a mechanism alone determines magnitude. 12–20 route: A/B/C makes a three-path map and a cautious replacement sentence. 20–23 audit: Partner checks that “within the air” is not mistakenly called conduction through an evacuated space. 23–25 exit: Name the three possible paths and the missing food-safety evidence. Offer fresh Check A in a later school-selected slot only if new to the learner.
Day 6 · Offset temperatures; preserve differences
0–3 puzzle: Write 22 °C → −5 °C beside the public 300 K difference; ask what happened to the offset. 3–7 source: Identify two invented archive readings; no real time-series inference. 7–12 teach: On the temperature-and-uncertainty mat, apply syllabus convention T(K)=T(°C)+273 to each value: 295 K and 268 K. Subtract the converted values: −27 K change, or a 27 K decrease; a 1 °C interval is a 1 K interval. State that +273 is the syllabus's rounded offset. 12–20 route: Learners produce a labelled two-column correction. 20–23 audit: Check that Kelvin temperatures are not written with a degree sign and that an interval is not given another +273. 23–25 exit: Give both absolute values and decrease.
Day 7 · A digit is not an accuracy certificate
0–3 puzzle: Show 18.0 and 27.0 without the device note; ask what the displayed decimal alone proves. 3–7 source: Reveal the stipulated ±0.1 °C uncertainty per reading and no calibration evidence. 7–12 teach: On temperature-record, subtract 27.0−18.0=9.0 °C; add stated absolute bounds conservatively to ±0.2 °C for this difference. Percentage uncertainty 0.2/9.0×100≈2.2%. Distinguish resolution/display, uncertainty and accuracy. 12–20 route: A/B/C shows the bounded result and edits the note. 20–23 audit: Ask whether repeated identical readings would prove no bias (no). 23–25 exit: Report ΔT=(9.0±0.2) °C, approximately 2.2% uncertainty, and one calibration unknown.
Day 8 · Mass is in the heat model
0–3 puzzle: Read the theatre budget line; students predict whether doubling mass changes model Q. 3–7 source: Mark invented c, same phase, same ΔT and no modelled heat loss. 7–12 teach: On the heat-budget mat, calculate Q=mcΔT: 0.50 kg×2,000 J kg⁻¹ K⁻¹×4 K=4,000 J; double mass gives 8,000 J. Cancel units explicitly. 12–20 route: A/B/C compares the two cases, then revises the line with model assumptions. The offline heat-budget lab is optional after a prediction and has a paper route. 20–23 audit: Check that changing mass alone does not become a real heater rating. 23–25 exit: State the two energies and one omitted real-world loss.
Day 9 · Specific heat capacity changes the answer
0–3 puzzle: Compare the fictional tile labels before revealing c; ask if equal input alone fixes ΔT. 3–7 source: Reveal same 0.50 kg, 3,000 J input and different stipulated c values. 7–12 teach: Rearrange ΔT=Q/(mc) on heat-budget. Aster: 3,000/(0.50×1,000)=6 K; Beryl: 3,000/(0.50×2,000)=3 K. These constants are invented, with no phase change or loss. 12–20 route: Learners compare the result and edit “whatever they are made of”. 20–23 audit: Have a partner name the fixed variables and the one changed variable. 23–25 exit: Which model c leads to a smaller temperature rise, and why?
Day 10 · A model line has a domain
0–3 puzzle: Read the transit-museum caption and circle every and exactly. 3–7 source: Establish that four points are calculated, not measured; no uncertainty bars or phase-change data. 7–12 teach: From the heat-budget graph row, ΔQ/ΔT=1,000 J/K, then c=(1,000 J/K)/(0.25 kg)=4,000 J kg⁻¹ K⁻¹. A straight model line is proportional under constant c, single phase and no loss, not universal evidence. 12–20 route: A/B/C labels slope, c and model domain in a corrected caption. 20–23 audit: Ask whether this is an experiment with accuracy evidence (no). 23–25 exit: Report slope with unit, c with unit and one excluded situation. Offer separate fresh Check B later if its case is new.
Evidence log: day | system/path/model | source value/assumption | calculation/unit or explanation | bounded correction | access route | content help | next move. Store real learner work only in a school-approved system. This QCAA crosswalk is narrow; school sequencing and instruments remain school decisions.
Original resource rights: © NeuroForgeIO Pty Ltd 2026, SubjectNest, CC BY 4.0. Credit author, source, licence and changes.