Geography K–10 · Years 5–6

Surface temperature survey of the schoolyard with an infrared thermometer

Geography (HASS F–6 sub-strand); NSW Geography K–10 (2015) Stage 3 focus area: Factors that Shape Places

PracticalLow risk

The idea

Surface cover chosen by people (asphalt, concrete, grass, shade trees) sets how hot a surface becomes in the sun, which is the mechanism behind urban heat.

Safety card

Low riskAn adult supervises

Hazards

laser pointer in some infrared thermometers
sun exposure
hot surfaces

Controls

never point the thermometer at a person; laser off if switchable
check the day's ultraviolet level before going out (the Bureau of Meteorology sun protection times, or the SunSmart app) and apply the school's sun protection policy whenever the UV index is 3 or above, which Cancer Council SunSmart sets as the threshold: broad-brimmed hats, sun-protective clothing with a collar and sleeves, sunscreen on exposed skin applied 20 minutes before going out and again after two hours, and sunglasses
keep each site visit short, wait in shade between sites, and hold the total time outdoors under 30 minutes on each of the two days; every learner carries water
do not touch surfaces that read above 50 °C

Note

No chemicals or heat are used, and sun exposure is the main hazard: the survey is run under the school's sun protection policy, which applies whenever the UV index is 3 or above. The activity is run under the school risk-assessment procedure; RiskAssess (riskassess.com.au) holds templates for school practicals and fieldwork. The NSW Department of Education Chemical Safety in Schools package is not triggered.

What you need

1 hand-held infrared thermometer per group; record the accuracy stated in its manual (for example ±2 °C) before the survey
Site sheet with six surfaces: asphalt in sun, concrete in sun, bare soil in sun, grass in sun, grass in tree shade, asphalt in building shade
Air thermometer in shade for the air temperature at the same time
A cloudless or lightly clouded day, readings between 1 pm and 3 pm, which is the peak ultraviolet window, so the sun protection controls in the safety block are part of the method and not optional

How to do it

Record the shaded air temperature and the time.
At each surface hold the thermometer about 30 cm above the surface pointing straight down and take five readings, moving 20 cm between readings. Record all five.
Calculate the median of the five for each surface.
Repeat the six surfaces on a second day and compare medians.
Rank the surfaces from hottest to coolest and mark the ranking on a map of the yard.
Propose one change for the hottest surface (shade trees, a shade sail or grass) and use the difference between its median and the median of the matching shaded surface to state how much cooler it could be.

What you should see

Sunlit asphalt is expected to read hottest and shaded grass coolest, with the difference between them larger than the thermometer's stated accuracy (so it is a real difference, not noise). Sunlit surfaces read above the shaded air temperature; shaded surfaces read close to it. The learner reports medians in °C and the hottest-minus-coolest gap. If asphalt does not read hotter than grass, the surface was wet, shaded or the reading was taken too early in the day.

What changes

What you change: surface type and shade
What you measure: surface temperature (°C, median of 5)
What you keep the same: time of day
height of the thermometer above the surface
same instrument
same weather day

Common misconceptions

Each of these ideas is wrong, and the activity is a chance to test it.

Air temperature and surface temperature are the same thing.
Shade cools the air by the same amount everywhere.

Curriculum references

The NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes this activity supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.

Geography K–10 Syllabus (2015), NESA; current and taught in 2026, replaced from 2027. The outcome codes are not printed on the NESA landing page for this syllabus, which only links the document, so the url given is the syllabus document itself (geography-k-10-syllabus-2015.docx); the code and its outcome text were read in that document on 23 September 2026.GE3-2 GE3-4
Human Society and its Environment K–6 Syllabus (2024), NESA; implementation from 2027, not yet taught; code read on this page on 22 September 2026. The syllabus outcomes page used in this file for HSE-GEO-01, HS1-GEO-01 and HS2-GEO-01 renders Early Stage 1, Stage 1 and Stage 2 outcomes only and carries no Stage 3 block (checked 23 September 2026), which is why the Stage 3 code is cited from its focus-area content page instead.HS3-GEO-01
Australian Curriculum v9AC9HS5K04AC9HS5S03AC9HS5S06

Sources

The pages the author read to write this activity.

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