Energy and its carriers: a critical analysis

Warren, John

doi:10.1088/0031-9120/18/5/306

Cited by 34 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…Central questions posed concerned students' understanding of conservation, transfer, transformation, and dissipation or degradation of energy (Duit 1984), the role and relation of the first and second law of thermodynamics and whether they should be the focus in primary and secondary education. For example, what advantages and disadvantages are there in conceptualising energy-an abstract, mathematical entity that has the property that it remains unchanged throughout physical processes-as if it were a substance-like entity (Warren 1983)? In empirical studies, Solomon (1982) and Duit (1983) revealed serious problems in students' understanding of the first law of thermodynamics, the conservation of energy, as students tended to wonder: if energy is conserved, how could there be an ongoing energy crisis? As a consequence of these problems, Solomon and Duit proposed that the second law of thermodynamics, with the idea of energy degradation and spontaneous heat transfer from objects of higher temperature to objects of lower temperature, may be easier for students to grasp than the first law of thermodynamics.…”

Section: Energy In Science Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tension Between Visions of Science Education

Haglund

Hultén

2017

Sci & Educ

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The aim of this study is to contribute to an understanding of how curricular change is accomplished in practice, including the positions and conflicts of key stakeholders and participants, and their actions in the process. As a case, we study the treatment of energy in Swedish secondary curricula in the period 1962-2011 and, in particular, how the notion of energy quality was introduced in the curricula in an energy course at upper secondary school in 1983 and in physics at lower secondary school in 1994. In the analysis, we use Roberts' two competing visions of science education, Vision I in which school science subjects largely mirror their corresponding academic disciplines and Vision II that incorporates societal matters of science. In addition, a newly suggested Vision III represents a critical perspective on science education. Our analysis shows how Vision II and III aspects of science education have gained importance in curricula since the 1980s, but in competition with Vision I considerations. Energy quality played a central role in providing Vision II and III arguments in the curricular debate on energy teaching. Subsequent educational research has found that Swedish teachers and students struggle with how to relate to energy quality in physics teaching, which we explain as partly due to the tension between the competing visions.

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Section: Energy In Science Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, exergy is treated in engineering thermodynamics as a substance-like entity that can be stored and flow, a kind of treatment that has been found problematic in the teaching of energy (Warren 1983). In turn, energy quality as a notion has emotional, anthropocentric connotations.…”

Section: Energy In Science Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tension Between Visions of Science Education

Haglund

Hultén

2017

Sci & Educ

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“…(Harris, 1969) Definitions related to Operational Conception (Iona, 1975) and reference frame (Iona, 1999). Students may commonly conceptualize energy as a kind of substance (Warren, 1983). This can be attributed to the imprecise definition, "Energy is the ability to perform work" , which does not specify the ontological status of energy.…”

Section: The Problems Of Precisionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, it is not a surprise that students conceive energy as a form of substance (Warren, 1983). If students are provided with an 'abstract definition' : "Energy is not concrete; it is not a material substance; it is given meaning through the calculation of numbers" (Arons, 1999), they may have sophisticated conception of energy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Definitions Contribute to Alternative Conceptions?: A Meta-Study Approach

Wong¹,

Yap²

2012

Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education

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“…Unfortunately, it is clear that there is not agreement over the meaning for many different terms, from classical ones-temperature (Baierlein, 1990) and energy (Schmid, 1982;Warren, 1982Warren, , 1983Kemp, 1984;McIldowie, 1995), to modern ones-relativistic mass (Bickerstaff & Patsakos, 1995). Because physicists have such a propensity for not agreeing on the meaning of the terms (precise though their individual definitions may be), even if such a collection of precisely defined terms were generated by someone, it seems that we are still guaranteed confusion.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%