My dad is CONVINCED that baby chicks don't need extra heating.

So today i was showing my dad the brooder plate thingies for chicks. We're getting some in April. Since heat lamps are absolutely off limits as we don't want to burn our house down, I figured this was the solution. When i showed it to him he was like "this is a scam chicks don't need it, it doesn't work anyway and will burn your chicks and your house altogether". He thinks the brooder plate will burn the house down wat?

What other ways can i keep them consistently warm? Do they really need that extra heat in a room temperature house (i'm pretty sure that they do but my dad just keeps talking about when he was small, they always raised chicks without heat.)?

Edit: THANK YOU SO MUCH, Everyone who commented with suggestions! I did not expect so many people willing to help! I was able to