A Novel Approach to Energy Instruction in Middle and High Schoo

Leading team

Prof. David Fortus

Project members

Summary

The project’s goal is to develop and test a novel approach to energy instruction that does away with the notions of energy forms and energy transformations. The new model will be based on a systems approach, in which energy is regarded as a unitary entity that can only be transferred between systems. This requires the introduction of fields, as “systems” to which energy may be transferred. This approach has been tested in an Israeli middle school as well as several schools in the US, with great success.

Nordine, J. C., et al. (2011). Transforming energy instruction in middle school to support integrated understanding and future learning. Science Education 95(4): 670-699.
Fortus, D., Sutherland Adams, L., Krajcik, J. & Reiser, B. (2015). Assessing the role of curriculum coherence in student learning about energy. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52(10), pp. 1408-1425.
Fortus, D., Kubsch, M., Bielik, T., Krajcik, J.S., Lehavi, Y., Neumann, K., Nordine, J., Opitz, S., & Touitou, I. (2019). Systems, Transfer, and Fields: Evaluating a new Approach to Energy Instruction. Journal of Research in Science Teaching.
Kubsch, M., Nordine, J., Neumann, K., Fortus, D., & Krajcik, J.S. (2019). Probing the Relation between Students’ Integrated Knowledge and Knowledge-in-Use about Energy using Network Analysis. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 15(8), em1728.
Nordine, J., Fortus, D., Krajcik, J., Lehavi, Y., Neumann, K., & Kubsch, M. (2019). Modelling Energy Transfers between Systems to Support Energy Knowledge in Use. Studies in Science Education 54(2), 177-206.

A Novel Approach to Energy Instruction in Middle and High Schoo