Energy

What were some new learnings, something that you may have already known, or some questions you still have?  I learned more about electromagnetic radiation. I also learned how we can confuse students by saying there are different forms of energy because it implies that the nature of the energy in each of these manifestations is distinct when in fact they all are ultimately, at the atomic scale, some mixture of kinetic energy, stored energy, and radiation. It is likewise misleading to call sound or light a form of energy; they are phenomena that, among their other properties, transfer energy from place to place and between objects. I need to think more about how I can better address these misunderstandings.

What preconceptions do you anticipate your students will have about topics found in this standard? One preconception I anticipate is that energy is only found in living things. A second preconception is that “things use up energy.”

What are some ways you plan on addressing these preconceptions? To address the first preconceptions I need to establish that the composition of an object or its placement determines what kind of energy it has. The second preconception could be addressed by an experiment on the conservation of energy.