Understanding the concept of energy through definitions, drawings, and metaphors

Abstract

Energy is a concept frequently encountered both in daily life and in various disciplines. Despite such a wide range of scope, conceptualizing it might be challenging at times. This study aims to investigate high school students’ views on the concept of energy through a set of various paper-and-pencil tests. For this purpose, 654 high school students from the ninth, 10th, and 11th grades were asked to explain the concept of energy using definitions, drawings, and metaphors. According to the results, the students had similar misconceptions about their definitions, drawings, and metaphors. However, situations from everyday life were depicted, particularly in drawings and metaphors. Misconceptions decreased considerably in the upper classes, and answers were presented that were close to scientific knowledge, suggesting that, over time, students’ abstract thinking skills improve, the knowledge gained at school contributes to explaining the situations in daily life scientifically, and scientific facts are conceptualized.