Energy Is Elementary

Chris Ohana

Wars are fought over it. The price of it can stir fear, even despair, among us. Energy. Energy drives our universe. Our use of certain types of energy sources may even be destroying our planet. So it must assume a prominent place in our curriculum, right?

Maybe not. The NSES suggest that students at the K–4 level should understand isolated characteristics of energy—that light travels in a straight line, heat can be generated through rubbing, and that electrical circuits need a complete loop. I wonder, to be honest, if this particular focus on things like “complete circuits” isn’t a legacy of some favorite activities rather than big ideas about energy.

It is easy to see why we don’t teach much about energy in elementary years. Energy is a difficult topic to conceptualize. It isn’t like matter—you can’t sink your teeth into it. Students can’t hold it and see it. But I would argue that students can contemplate and generalize about energy. What first grader hasn’t heard, “My, you certainly have a lot of energy today” from some frustrated, amused, maybe envious adult? And the first grader knows what it means. Can we help students begin to generalize about energy, that it makes things work, moves things, and can change forms? I believe we can and that the articles in this issue can help us get there.

• What could be a better hook than studying energy through toys? “Spring Into Energy” (p. 21) takes advantage of the natural interest in toys to help students understand how they move.
• “A Solar Energy Cycle” (p. 26) shares lessons that not only develop student understanding of the transformation of light to heat but also dispel the conception that many students have that the heat of the Sun warms the Earth.
• “Secret Message Science Goggles” (p. 30) expands on this concept through the study of color and light. Students, who already studied light and color in rainbows and that light can change into heat and be measured, make goggles with different filters and apply their growing understanding of light and color to deciphering secret messages.
• Students experience sound constantly. They seem to be born with ear buds these days. Yet they often don’t understand some of the basic science behind technology they use daily. “Coffee Can Speakers” (p. 36) takes students through the development of speakers and through this technology helps students understand more about sound.

It doesn’t help that many adults do not understand energy. We may think that energy is too difficult, complex, and even dangerous. And it certainly can be all of those. But it is also comprehensible, and in Science 101 (p. 62), Bill Robertson offers a primer on energy. The more we ourselves understand what energy is, the better we can design appropriate learning environments so that the concept of energy is transferred to our students.

Chris Ohana

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