Telling the energy story

Design and results of a new curriculum for energy in upper elementary school

Bibliographic Data

ID21392672
AuthorsSara J Lacy (0000-0002-2303-4882, TERC Cambridge Massachusetts USA), R G Tobin (0000-0001-6055-6025, Tufts University), Sally Crissman (TERC Cambridge Massachusetts USA), Lezlie Salvatore DeWater (Seattle Pacific University), Lezlie DeWater (Physics Department Seattle Pacific University Seattle Washington USA), Kara E Gray (0000-0002-4730-7515, Physics Department Seattle Pacific University Seattle Washington USA), Nick M Haddad (0000-0002-1591-9322, Technical Education Research Centers), Nick Haddad (TERC Cambridge Massachusetts USA), James K L Hammerman (TERC Cambridge Massachusetts USA), James Hammerman (0000-0002-3023-1390, Technical Education Research Centers), Lane Seeley (0000-0002-3044-6359, Physics Department Seattle Pacific University Seattle Washington USA)
Year2022
Volume106
Issue1
Pages27-56
Publication date2022-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueScience Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0036-8326 • E-ISSN: 1098-237X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/sce.21684
OpenAlexW3199719893
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited53

We describe the development, design, implementation, and preliminary classroom results of an innovative curriculum, Focus on Energy , that supports learning about energy in Grades 4–5. The curriculum is grounded in the concepts of science as practice, model‐based reasoning, and learning progressions, and builds on students' pre‐existing ideas and resources. We illustrate how students gradually develop the ability to track energy forms, transfers, and transformations in increasingly complex scenarios. We present evidence, using a quasi‐experimental design, that students who completed the curriculum were significantly more adept at these skills than students in comparable classrooms who experienced their districts' existing energy‐related physical science curricula. Important features of the curriculum include: the careful selection of a limited set of concepts chosen to provide a sound foundation for future learning; a consistent conceptual framework (the Energy Tracking Lens) within which the students have agency to build and refine a model of energy; engaging hands‐on activities that steadily build in complexity; accessible and versatile semi‐quantitative representations that support reasoning and communication; individual, small‐group and large‐group meaning‐making; and training and support for the teachers

Agency (philosophy) · Curriculum · Energy (signal processing) · Focus group · Mathematics education · Meaning (existential) · Pedagogy · Science education · Set (abstract data type) · Sociology · Tracking (education) · Computer Science · Educational Strategies and Epistemologies · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Mathematics · Psychology · Science Education and Pedagogy