Energy Mapping
of Our Environment*
Student Alternative Conceptions (Misconceptions) Addressed by the Lesson:
1. Energy is a concrete substance.
2. Energy relates only to living things
and moving things.
3. Energy relates to stationary objects
only when energy storage is evident.
Key Concept: Although energy exists in two types, it is recognizable to us in a
variety of forms (electrical, mechanical, light, heat, nuclear, and chemical)
Skills: Observing, inferring
Time: 30 minutes
Grade Level: Grade 4-9 students
Lesson Goal: The goal of this activity is to increase teachers’
awareness of the many forms of energy that are all around us.
Background for Teachers
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CONTENT FOCUS
Energy exists in two types, kinetic and
potential. Potential energy depends
upon the position or state of something.
Kinetic energy is the energy of motion.
Although there are only two types of energy, it
exists in a number of forms. These
include electrical energy, light energy, heat energy, mechanical energy,
nuclear and chemical energy.
The modern scientific concept of energy
can be understood as “when two systems interact (i.e., a process or event takes
place) something, energy, is transferred from one system to the other”
(Feynman, Leighton & Sands, 1963).
This certain quantity, which we have called energy, does not change in
the many events that nature undergoes.
Thus, energy is an abstract idea because it is a mathematical
principle. The principle states that
there is a numerical quantity that does not change when something happens. Energy is not a description of a mechanism,
or anything concrete. Energy is just an
accounting method that we use to calculate some number and when we finish
watching nature in all its changes (i.e. transformation, transport, and
depredation) and calculate the number again it is the same.
ADVANCE PREPARATION:
You
will need to collect samples of magazine pictures that show such settings as
kitchen, living rooms (with people), playgrounds, restaurants, cities, the
countryside, etc. Each pair of teachers
will need one picture
TIPS
The
students will need time to discuss the pictures to see which forms of energy
are evident in them. There may be some disagreement: let the students resolve it.
*Adapted
from Operation Chemistry materials published by the American Chemical Society
Materials
*Pictures from magazines (see Advance Preparation for suggestions)
*Drawing Paper
*Pens or markers
LESSON SEQUENCE
Exploration -
Begin Lesson
1. Give each pair of students one of the
magazine pictures and ask each team to identify as many forms of energy as they
can in each picture. Encourage them to
be inventive and to discuss the task.
2. They may want to make a list of the
forms of energy that they find illustrated in the picture to help them with the
next part of the task.
3. On the drawing paper, ask each team of
students to make an “energy map”. The
map shows the location of each form of energy in their picture. The map should be carefully labeled so that
others can read and understand it easily.
Invention -
Continue Lesson
1. Ask the students to exchange their maps
with another group when they are finished for critique and comments. One of the main purposes of this activity is
to have the students encourage this kind of dialogue.
2. Post the energy maps and the
accompanying pictures so that the entire group can have a look at them. Again, encourage discussion of the forms of
energy on the maps and in the pictures.
3. Save these energy maps, as the students
may want to use them with their own students.
Also, these form part of the baseline of the students’ understanding of
forms of energy. Return to them later
when the series of energy activities in this module have been completed as a
check for change in understanding.
4. Provide a closure for the lesson by
describing the processes of energy transformation and energy conservation.
1.
The students may want to draw their own pictures to
illustrate what they know about the forms of energy. They could also do this as
an “out-of-class” assignment by taking photographs illustrating examples of the
various forms of energy and making a collage or poster from them.
2.
As this is an interactive and open-ended activity,
giving a list of “set-questions” could be counter-productive. However, some of
the questions that you might pose as you visit each pair might be:
Have
you thought about the energy transformations taking place in living things?
This
could include the transformation of the chemical energy in food to mechanical
and electrical energy in the body. There is also mechanical energy involved in
the digestive process (chewing and mixing) that contributes to the
transformation of food into useable energy for the body.
Have
you thought about the energy stored in dry cells? How can it be converted to
other forms of energy?
Some
of the pictures in this activity may depict dry cells being used for
flashlights and in radios. Ask the students to think about the chemical energy
in a dry cell being converted to light energy or heat energy. This could be a
lead-in to the idea of a circuit to be complete before it works.
3. Summarize the lesson activity sequence to help students
recall the sequence of events in the lesson.