Looking Through the Energy Lens: A Proposed Learning Progression for Energy in Grades 3–5

Lacy, Sara J.; Tobin, R. G.; Wiser, Marianne; Crissman, Sally

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-05017-1_14

Cited by 26 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Few studies have addressed the energy understanding of young learners (e.g. Lacy et al, 2014). In an energy learning sequence initially suggested by Driver, Squired, Rushworth, and Wood-Robinson (1994), students are expected to enter formal education with alternative conceptions from everyday experiences, such as a feeling of being 'energetic'.…”

Section: Research On Students' Energy Understandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An understanding of energy forms was well established in all disciplines and can therefore function as a scaffold to more advanced energy aspects (Jin & Anderson, 2012). In contrast, energy conservation was little understood in all disciplinary contexts, suggesting that students at this stage are not yet able to use an integrated energy concept in the sense of a conceptual tool (Lacy et al, 2014). In chemistry, students' understanding of energy transfer was low and didn't progress, while understanding of degradation was surprisingly well established.…”

Section: Energy Understanding Across the Three Disciplines (Objective 2)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Descriptions of how students progress in understanding the energy concept have mostly focussed on individual disciplines (Neumann et al, 2013;Jin & Anderson, 2013;Lacy, Tobin, Wiser, & Crissman, 2014). To our knowledge, there is yet no clear theory about how students would learn to connect a central concept like energy across disciplinary boundaries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How Do Students Understand Energy in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics? Development and Validation of an Assessment Instrument

Opitz

Neumann

Bernholt

et al. 2017

EURASIA J MATH SCI T

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Science standards of different countries introduced disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts-such as energy-to help students develop a more interconnected science understanding. As previous research has mostly addressed energy learning in specific disciplinary contexts, this study targets students' cross-disciplinary understanding of energy. Since no respective test instrument was available, we present the development and validation of an instrument that can be used to compare students' progressing energy understanding across contexts from biology, chemistry, and physics. In a cross-sectional study, we administered the new instrument to N = 752 students at the end of grades 6, 8, and 10. In addition to a detailed discussion of the instrument's reliability and validity, the study findings compare progressing energy understanding in the three disciplinary contexts. With regard to energy as a crosscutting concept, the results are then used to discuss how students' energy understanding may be connected across disciplinary boundaries.

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Section: Research On Students' Energy Understandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Energy Understanding Across the Three Disciplines (Objective 2)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

How Do Students Understand Energy in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics? Development and Validation of an Assessment Instrument

Opitz

Neumann

Bernholt

et al. 2017

EURASIA J MATH SCI T

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show abstract

“…For their elementary grades learning progression (grades 3, 4, and 5), Lacy, Tobin, Wiser, and Crissman (2014) used the knowledge that students come to third grade with as their lower anchor. Although it is true that good instruction must take into account all the ideas that young children bring to school, including their misconceptions, for assessment purposes, we focused our lower anchor on the correct ideas that students are expected to have by the end of elementary school.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a second example, conservation of energy may seem counterintuitive without understanding that energy can be transferred or transformed and that the dissipation of energy to the surrounding environment accompanies all energy transfers and transformations. In fact, the idea of conservation of energy has been specifically identified as one that requires a high level of knowledge integration (Goldring & Osborne, 1994;Lacy et al, 2014;Lee & Liu, 2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating a learning progression for energy ideas from upper elementary through high school

Herrmann‐Abell

DeBoer

2017

J Res Sci Teach

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This study tests a hypothesized learning progression for the concept of energy. It looks at 14 specific ideas under the categories of (i) Energy Forms and Transformations; (ii) Energy Transfer; (iii) Energy Dissipation and Degradation; and (iv) Energy Conservation. It then examines students' growth of understanding within each of these ideas at three levels of increasing conceptual complexity. The basic level of the model focuses on simple energy relationships and easily observable effects of energy processes; the intermediate level focuses on more complex energy concepts and applications; and the advanced level focuses on still more complex energy concepts, often requiring an atomic/molecular model to explain phenomena. The study includes results from 359 distractor-driven, multiple-choice test items administered to over 20,000 students in grades 4 through 12 from across the U.S. Rasch analysis provided linear measures of student performance and item difficulty on the same scale. Results largely supported a model of students' growth of understanding that progresses from an understanding of forms and transformations of energy to energy transfer to conservation while also progressing along a separate dimension of cognitive complexity. An analysis of the current state of students' understanding with respect to the knowledge identified in the learning progression showed that elementary level students perform well in comparison to expectations but that middle and high school students' performance does not meet expectations. # 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 55: 2018

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Telling the energy story: Design and results of a new curriculum for energy in upper elementary school

et al. 2021

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We describe the development, design, implementation, and preliminary classroom results of an innovative curriculum, Focus on Energy, that supports learning about energy in Grades 4-5. The curriculum is grounded in the concepts of science as practice, model-based reasoning, and learning progressions, and builds on students' pre-existing ideas and resources. We illustrate how students gradually develop the ability to track energy forms, transfers, and transformations in increasingly complex scenarios. We present evidence, using a quasi-experimental design, that students who completed the curriculum were significantly more adept at these skills than students in comparable classrooms who experienced their districts' existing energy-related physical science curricula. Important features of the curriculum include: the careful selection of a limited set of concepts chosen to provide a sound foundation for future learning; a consistent conceptual framework (the Energy Tracking Lens) within which the students have agency to build and refine a model of energy; engaging hands-on activities that steadily build in complexity; accessible and versatile semi-quantitative representations that support reasoning and communication; individual, small-group and large-group meaning-making;and training and support for the teachers.

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Looking Through the Energy Lens: A Proposed Learning Progression for Energy in Grades 3–5

Cited by 26 publications

References 14 publications

How Do Students Understand Energy in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics? Development and Validation of an Assessment Instrument

How Do Students Understand Energy in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics? Development and Validation of an Assessment Instrument

Investigating a learning progression for energy ideas from upper elementary through high school

Telling the energy story: Design and results of a new curriculum for energy in upper elementary school

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