About this resource
Soldiers add a splash of water to a thin pouch, slide in a sealed meal, and wait. About 12 minutes later the food is steaming hot — with no fire, no stove, and no batteries. Where does the heat come from — and how did engineers make it hot enough, fast enough, but not too hot? Some chemical processes release thermal energy and others absorb it — and engineers design, test, and improve devices that use them. In this one-week, 6-level Exothermic & Endothermic Design unit for middle school science (NGSS MS-PS1-6), students investigate a real mystery, then use their evidence to crack the case.
Hot Meal, No Flame is part of Science Unlocked, a series of mystery-driven lesson sets. Every set opens with a real, surprising phenomenon, builds the science one level at a time, and ends with students solving the mystery in a claim-evidence-reasoning (CER) write-up.
Topics: thermal energy, chemical reactions, heat energy, claim evidence reasoning (CER), science phenomenon, review games.
What's included
- Teacher Deck (97 slides, PowerPoint). Answers are highlighted on the slides. Speaker notes tell you what to say and do, what to watch for, and how to support students or push GT students further. Prep slides and answer keys are hidden, so they skip during a slideshow.
- Interactive Student Deck (60 slides, PowerPoint + PDF). Students type in boxes, drag cards and check marks, and rate their confidence. Assign one copy per student in Google Classroom or your LMS.
- Google Slides versions of both decks. Click a button in the Google Slides Links PDF to make your own copy in Google Drive.
- Teacher Guide (28-page PDF). The standard, a week at a glance, a materials list, misconceptions to watch for, a run-of-show for every level, answer keys and sources.
- Student Printable (19-page PDF + a low-ink greyscale copy). The same tasks on paper in 12 pt type, for students without devices, sub days, or anyone who learns better with a pencil. Slide numbers match the Student Deck.
- Self-grading digital activity. SCORM 2004 and SCORM 1.2 packages for an LMS that accepts SCORM uploads, a web package, and a single HTML file that opens in any browser. Notes, sorts, matches, tables and multiple-choice items grade themselves, and students get a copy-and-paste backup of their work. A 2-page teacher quick start is included.
- Two whole-class review games that open in any browser: a Jeopardy-style game (6 categories, 30 clues) and Trashketball, where teams answer on whiteboards and then shoot for points.
- Kahoot! and Blooket import files. 56 review questions, one file per level plus an all-levels file, with a printable answer key.
- Start Here guide, HTML & SCORM how-to guide and Terms of Use, so you know which file to open first.
The 6 levels (about one 45–50 minute class each)
- Hot Meal, No Flame. System & surroundings, exothermic vs. endothermic. Key activities: MRE heater mystery, 12-card release/absorb sort.
- Hot or Cold? Type of substance leads to temperature change (PS1.B). Key activities: Temperature Tryouts lab (4 kitchen chemicals), ACS graph.
- Amount, Time, Temperature. Amount & time data, the ice-melt test, criteria & constraints. Key activities: Heater graph, Army design brief, plan Version 1.
- Build & Test Version 1. Construct, test a calcium chloride heater. Key activities: Flameless Heater Lab V1, class results board.
- Modify & Retest. Change ONE thing, Version 2, iterate (ETS1.B, ETS1.C). Key activities: Fix-it sort, V2 retest, Design Defense CER.
- Crack the Case. Stretch HS-PS1-4: bond energy model, final case. Key activities: Energy diagram, Stretch CER, Crack the Case CER.
Built for real classrooms
- Every level follows the same routine: "I can" targets with a confidence check, a warm-up, copy-it notes with a word bank, hands-on practice, a checkpoint students must pass to unlock the next step, and an exit ticket. A 10-item Mini Quiz wraps up the week.
- Level 1 opens with a Power-Up on the earlier-grade ideas this standard builds on (4-PS3-2, 4-PS3-4, 5-PS1-4, 3-5-ETS1-1, 3-5-ETS1-3).
- The last level includes a high school Stretch (HS-PS1-4) that every student tries and advanced students can take further.
- Hands-on lab (Temperature Tryouts). Student materials list: Small clear plastic cup, thermometer; Graduated cylinder (10 mL), room-temperature water; ½ level tsp (about 2 g) each: salt substitute, Pickle Crisp, washing soda, baking soda; 4 labeled dishes, spoon, paper towels, data table (next slide). Safety notes are on the slides and in the Teacher Guide.
- Support is built in: word banks, sentence starters and support notes on the slides, plus GT extensions.
Standards
- NGSS MS-PS1-6: Undertake a design project to construct, test, and modify a device that either releases or absorbs thermal energy.* (Kentucky 7-PS1-6 uses the same wording.)
- SEP: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions · DCI: ETS1.B, ETS1.C, PS1.B · CCC: Energy and Matter
- Stretch: HS-PS1-4
- CCSS connections: RST.6-8.3, WHST.6-8.7
Try the digital activity first
- Not sure the self-grading activity will work in your LMS? Download the FREE HTML & SCORM Sample and test it with your students before you buy.
Save with a bundle
- Thermal Energy (5 sets)
- Middle School Physical Science + Engineering (23 sets)
- Science Unlocked Mega Bundle (all 89 sets)
Teach next
- Cooking With Sunlight (MS-PS3-3)
- The Pizza Burn (MS-PS3-4)
- Just Cold Enough (MS-ETS1-1)
- Five Layers of Cool (MS-ETS1-4)
More from Mystery Lab Learning
- See every Science Unlocked set, and follow to hear when new ones are added, at Mystery Lab Learning.
Good to know
- The illustrations in this resource were created with AI image tools, and AI tools helped draft the lesson text. Every slide, answer key and lab step was then fact-checked against the sources listed in the Teacher Guide and proofread.
- Kahoot!, Blooket, Jeopardy!, Google Slides and PowerPoint are trademarks of their owners. This resource is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.
- License: one teacher, for use with their own students. Please buy an additional license for each colleague who uses it.
