Energy Materials

At the 2003 summer AAPT meeting I offered a half-day workshop on a model based approach to energy instruction. Here are the materials I distributed or referred to as part of that workshop:

My presentation slides. They begin with an introduction by what is meant by "models" and "modeling" and then outline a model-based approach to energy instruction.

A handout to accompany my presentation. Some of the background is given for the shifts of language advocated in the model-based approach. "Energy storage mechanisms" are preferred to using the locution of "kinds of energy" and the role of work is greatly de-emphasized while the more universal role of the first law of thermodynamics is emphasized.

Energy labs. The mathematical expressions we use for calculating the energy stored within a system can all be developed from experiment. This sequence of labs uses a loop of spring spring steel and a series of activities originally shared with me by Rex and Debbie Rice.

Energy curriculum materials in Adobe pdf format and Microsoft Word format. These materials are mirrored from the Modeling website at Arizona State University.

Energy curriculm materials as I use them with my students (html format). This also includes an instructional sequence and example problems.

What is Energy? Dimensions of Energy is much too technical to be of any use to your students, but you might enjoy it. It summarizes the fundamental notions of energy in two pages. Written by Gregg Swackhamer, et. al. at Arizona State University.

Two papers by Gregg Swackhamer: The first, Making Work Work, provides an argument for de-emphasizing the role of work in energy instruction. The second paper, Resources for Understanding Energy, looks closely at the way in which many curricular approaches dance around the energy concept to keep students from thinking that energy is a material substance. Gregg makes the point that the substance metaphor is essential for understanding energy.