Integrating experiments into the teaching of energy

Bécu‐Robinault, Karine; Tiberghien, Andrée

doi:10.1080/0950069980200107

Cited by 23 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Although energy transfer is thought to provide a better scientific account needed in energy conservation (Chisholm, 1992; Kaper & Goedhart, 2002), energy transformation is also adopted for secondary school science (Becu‐Robinault & Tiberghien, 1998; Papadouris, Constantinou, & Kyratsi, 2008). Energy transformation is “a precondition for the concept of conservation of energy was to make precise the various forms and manifestations of energy, to analyze their interconvertibility, and to establish quantitative measure of energy” (Cohen, 1974, p. xiii).…”

Section: Energy Understandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing learning progression of energy concepts across middle school grades: The knowledge integration perspective

2009

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ABSTRACT:We use a construct-based assessment approach to measure learning progression of energy concepts across physical, life, and earth science contexts in middle school grades. We model the knowledge integration construct in six levels in terms of the numbers of ideas and links used in student-generated explanations. For this study, we selected 10 items addressing energy source, transformation, and conservation from published standardized tests and administered them to a status quo sample of 2688 middle school students taught by 29 teachers in 12 schools across 5 states. Results based on a Rasch partial credit model analysis indicate that conservation items are associated with the highest knowledge integration levels, followed by transformation and source items. Comparisons across three middle school grades and across physical, life, and earth science contexts reveal that the mean knowledge integration level of eighth-grade students is signiÞcantly higher than that of sixth-or seventh-grade students, and that the mean knowledge integration level of students who took a physical science course is signiÞcantly higher than that of students who took a life or earth science course. We discuss implications for research on learning progressions.

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Section: Energy Understandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing learning progression of energy concepts across middle school grades: The knowledge integration perspective

2009

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“…In general, science education research has shown that there are serious difficulties in understanding energy and its related concepts amongst students of all ages (Becu-Robinault & Tiberghien, 1998;Liu et al, 2002;Saglam-Arslan, 2010). These difficulties arise from the fact that energy as a science concept and energy in everyday life usage have two different meanings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diagnosing Students’ Understanding of Energy and Its Related Concepts in Biological Context

Chabalengula

Sanders

Mumba

2011

Int J of Sci and Math Educ

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This study diagnosed the understanding about energy and biologicalcontext energy concepts held by 90 first-year South African university biology students. In particular, students' explanations of energy in a biological context, how energy is involved in different biological situations and whether energy is present and what types of energy are involved in diagrams depicting biological phenomena were investigated. The pencil-and-paper diagnostic test, specifically designed for this study, was used to elicit students' understanding using test items involving biological phenomena. The results showed that many students had problems in understanding energy and energy-related concepts in the following areas: First, the majority of the students provided definitions of energy rather than the explanations they were asked to provide, and the definition could have been rote-learned. Second, although nearly all students knew the energy conservation principle (energy cannot be created or destroyed), many of them were unable to apply this concept to biological contexts. Third, many students erroneously claimed that the energy for metabolism and life processes is made available during photosynthesis in plants, during digestion in animals or that this energy comes directly from the sun. Fourth, about two thirds of the students erroneously indicated that there is no energy involved/present in inanimate objects such as a statue. The implications for the teaching and learning of energy and its related concepts and recommendations for further research are discussed.

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“…As first emphasized by Vygotsky ( [1934]), in the case of “scientific concepts,” which are socio‐cultural constructs transmitted by adults, students start by facing general, abstract “verbal definitions” (and/or mathematical definitions in physics); to make sense of these definitions, they have to build connections with various specific, concrete situations that will impregnate them empirically (Bächtold, ). Yet, energy is a “transphenomenological concept, dealing simultaneously with several phenomenological domains,” as highlighted by Bécu‐Robinault and Tiberghien (, p. 101). Therefore, we assume that presenting one or two phenomena to students for each of the specific concepts associated to energy is not sufficient to ensure their appropriation and differentiation.…”

Section: Building a Teaching Strategy For Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching energy in high school by making use of history and philosophy of science

Bächtold

Munier

2018

J Res Sci Teach

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How to improve students' understanding of energy transformation and conservation remains one of the main challenges of energy teaching. To address this challenge, we developed a new teaching strategy suited to high school based on history and philosophy of science (HPS). It involves five key ingredients: study and reproduction of Joule's paddle-wheel experiment, introduction of Rankine's definition, study of a historical text of Joule, use of an "ID card of energy," and early introduction and multiple application of the principle of energy conservation. This strategy was built and implemented in the frame of a collaborative and iterative work involving researchers and teachers. We examined the effects of this HPS-based teaching strategy on students' understanding of energy. We used a quantitative method based on pre-and posttests (N = 95/87) completed by a qualitative analysis using both video recordings of classroom activities and videos produced by students during one of the teaching sequences. The outcomes show that the teaching strategy had an overall positive impact on students' learning of energy: in particular, Joule's paddle-wheel experiment seems to favor their understanding of the notion of energy transformation, while the early introduction and multiple application of the conservation principle appears as a relevant option to facilitate its mastering. This study illustrates how HPS might actually be introduced in classrooms and brings to light its usefulness for building new science teaching strategies.

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Integrating experiments into the teaching of energy

Cited by 23 publications

References 13 publications

Assessing learning progression of energy concepts across middle school grades: The knowledge integration perspective

Assessing learning progression of energy concepts across middle school grades: The knowledge integration perspective

Diagnosing Students’ Understanding of Energy and Its Related Concepts in Biological Context

Teaching energy in high school by making use of history and philosophy of science

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