Towards a Research-Informed Teaching Sequence for Energy

Abstract

Developing students’ understanding of energy poses a particular challenge to science educators. There is less agreement than for most other topics about exactly what we want students to learn. The science education literature on energy is characterised by debates and disagreements about which conceptual frameworks and terminology are appropriate for developing understanding of energy ideas. The difficulties in teaching about energy stem from the abstract nature of the scientific idea of energy, and the fact that the word ‘energy’ has passed into everyday discourse with a related but much looser set of associated meanings. To bridge the gap between everyday and scientific discourses about energy, many science teachers and educators have developed and used an intermediate discourse that portrays energy as a quasi-material substance that can flow from place to place, can take different forms, and makes things happen. This has, however, been criticised as inaccurate and misleading. This chapter discusses these issues, and proposes a teaching sequence to help learners to move from everyday understandings of energy towards a more scientific understanding that takes account of the major issues raised in the science education research literature. The most powerful way to test such a sequence, and to enable improvement in the teaching and learning of energy, is to articulate our intended learning outcomes in operational terms, as questions and tasks that we would want students to be able to accomplish as they progress through their science education.