At what stage should energy be taught?

Warren, John

doi:10.1088/0031-9120/21/3/307

Cited by 34 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…The findings presented here corroborate Warren's (1986) assertion that an understanding of the scientific energy concept requires abstract reasoning, but does not suggest that we embrace his conclusion that the energy concept should not be taught before abstract reasoning is attained. Rather, it suggests that the energy concept is constructed through a hierarchical sequence of increasingly adequate conceptions, beginning with observations about the behavior of moving objects in the everyday world.…”

Section: Developing Conceptions Of Energy 28contrasting

confidence: 70%

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Final Report on Activities Supported by Department of Energy Grant No. DE-FG02-02ER63397, 2002-August 31, 2005

Marquez¹,

Stillings²

2005

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Executive SummaryHampshire College's Center for Science Education focuses on teacher professional development, curriculum development, and student enrichment programs. The Center also maintains significant research programs on student learning and instructional effectiveness. The Center's work is devoted to promoting learning that persists over time and transfers to new situations in and out of school. Our projects develop the implications of the increasing agreement among teachers and researchers that effective learning involves active concept mastery and consistent practice with inquiry and critical thinking.Funds from this Department of Energy grant supported four projects that involved outreach for grades 9-12 in under-served school districts:• Camp Science Investigators (CSI). CSI is a combined professional development institute for science teachers and academic enrichment program for adolescents. Grant funds supported, and allowed us to refine, this ongoing program of the Center during the years [2003][2004][2005]. CSI has affected over 1,000 students per year in under-funded, under-served school districts in five areas of the U.S. •The Collaboration for Excellence in Science Education (CESE). CESE is a partnership with the Springfield, Massachusetts school system to develop physical science curriculum, to foster the professional development of science teachers, and to perform research on student learning in the physical sciences. Grant funds partially supported the planning and establishment of CESE in 2002-03 and its professional development and research programs in 2003-05. During the grant period 10 teachers and over 1,000 students were exposed to the CESE program and curriculum. In addition to its direct service benefits, CESE is structured to generate research data on developmental pathways in science learning. During the grant period, a substantial data set on people's conceptions of energy was generated and analyzed in terms of neo-Piagetian developmental theory. The analysis revealed a developmental sequence that has implications for K-12 physical science instruction and that shows interesting similarities to development in other conceptual domains, such as morality. Papers on the research results appear in three appendices to this report. CESE is an ongoing partnership that will continue beyond the grant.• Technology partnership. The grant supported a partnership in which the School of Cognitive Science at Hampshire shared its expertise and resources in digital technologies with schools and teachers in the cities of Springfield and Holyoke, MA. In a demonstration project Cognitive Science faculty and staff worked with students and teachers in Holyoke to produce video documentaries on scientific/medical topics of community importance. In a one-time curriculum consultation Cognitive Science faculty worked with high school technology teachers and the district coordinator to revise their computer science courses to accord with changing state and national standards.• Hampshire College science faculty ...

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Section: Developing Conceptions Of Energy 28contrasting

confidence: 70%

“…Given these difficulties, Warren (1986) has gone so far as to argue that the energy concept should not be taught at all until high school, when students are able to reason abstractly. Trumper's (1993) observation that adequate energy conceptions were associated with formal operations seems to support this view.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Final Report on Activities Supported by Department of Energy Grant No. DE-FG02-02ER63397, 2002-August 31, 2005

Marquez¹,

Stillings²

2005

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“…This concern has been well articulated in several analyses [24,[41][42][43]. Feynman states that energy is ''not a description of a mechanism, or anything concrete'' [22].…”

Section: B Concerns About a Substance Ontology For Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Representing energy. I. Representing a substance ontology for energy

Scherr

McKagan

et al. 2012

Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.

116

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The nature of energy is not typically an explicit topic of physics instruction. Nonetheless, verbal and graphical representations of energy articulate models in which energy is conceptualized as a quasimaterial substance, a stimulus, or a vertical location. We argue that a substance ontology for energy is particularly productive in developing understanding of energy transfers and transformations. We analyze classic representations of energy-bar charts, pie charts, and others-to determine the energy ontologies that are implicit in those representations, and thus their affordances for energy learning. We find that while existing representations partially support a substance ontology for energy and thus the learning goal of energy conservation, they have limited utility for tracking the flow of energy among objects.

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“…What are seen by Duit as minor limitations to be addressed pedagogically as unproductive aspects of an analogy are, to Warren [1982Warren [ , 1986, an unacceptable corruption of the inherently abstract, mathematical nature of the scientific concept of energy. This substance-like understanding of energy is strikingly at odds with the abstract, mathematical concept as described by Feynman, leading Warren [1982 to suggest that the concept should not be taught at the elementary level.…”

Section: Science Education Research On Learning and Teaching The Concmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptual Metaphor Meets Conceptual Change

2009

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This paper argues that the metaphorical representation of concepts and the appropriation of language-based construals can be hypothesized as additional sources of conceptual change alongside those previously proposed. Analyses of construals implicit in the lay and scientific use of the noun energy from the perspective of the theory of conceptual metaphor are summarized. The experientially grounded metaphorical construals identified in both uses help conceptualize the shift from the concrete, naïve to the abstract, scientific understanding of energy. The case of the concept of energy motivates the more general hypothesis that an important part of learning a highly abstract (even mathematical) concept is the appropriation of experientially grounded metaphorical construals implicit in scientific discourse. Pedagogical implications of this proposal are discussed.

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At what stage should energy be taught?

Cited by 34 publications

References 0 publications

Final Report on Activities Supported by Department of Energy Grant No. DE-FG02-02ER63397, 2002-August 31, 2005

Final Report on Activities Supported by Department of Energy Grant No. DE-FG02-02ER63397, 2002-August 31, 2005

Representing energy. I. Representing a substance ontology for energy

Conceptual Metaphor Meets Conceptual Change

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