(3-4) H2

Science Curriculum Preview Committee Clarification of Learning Results

Revised 06/29/04

3-4

H2: Explain ways different forms of energy can be produced.

Curriculum Organizing Questions

What are some of the forms that energy can take?

What are some of the ways heat can be produced?

What are forms of energy that we can get from an electrical circuit?

How can we produce sound?

What are some of the ways that people produce electricity?

Elaboration
Teachers are STRONGLY encouraged to read the research cited under instructional implications before teaching this indicator.

Teachers can build on the intuitive notions of students without requiring them to memorize technical definitions... By experimenting with light, heat, electricity, magnetism, and sound, students begin to understand the phenomena can be observed, measured, and controlled in various ways. NSES p. 126.

Energy is a major exception to the principle that students should understand ideas before being given labels for them. Children benefit from talking about energy before they are able to define it.Benchmarks p. 81.

Specific Ideas

Things that give off light often also give off heat.Benchmarks 4E1.

Heat is produced by mechanical and electrical machines, burning, mixing one substance with another, and any time one thing rubs against something else.Benchmarks 4E1.

Electricity in circuits can produce light, heat, sound, or magnetic effects.NSES B3c.

Sound is produced when something vibrates. The pitch of sound can be changed by changing the rate of vibration.NSES B2c.

Moving air and water can produce energy. Benchmarks 8C1.

Energy can be produced by burning fossil fuels.Benchmarks p. 193.

Developmental & Instructional Implications
Until students have reached a certain point in their understanding they gain little by using the scientific meaning of "energy." Energy transformations should wait until middle school.

Heat energy is a difficult idea for students, who thoroughly confound it with the idea of temperature. Benchmarks p. 81.

Children may not recognize temperature as a physical parameter that can describe the condition of a material. There may be misconceptions about the idea of temperature and how to measure it. For an extensive discussion of misconceptions about temperature and heat. See Driver et al pages 138-142

Sounds are not always intuitively associated with the characteristics of their source by younger students, but that association can be developed by investigating a variety of concrete phenomena toward the end of the K-4 level. NSES p. 126.

In most children's minds, electricity begins at a source and goes to a target. Repeated activities will help students develop an idea of a circuit and begin to grasp the effect of more than one battery. NSES p. 126.

Page 117-126 in Driver at al provides a detailed description of children's ideas about electricity.

Pages 133-137 on Driver et al provides a detailed description of children's ideas about sound.

Examples

Back to Big Ideas Grid H Back to Standard H Back to Index

Curriculum Organizing Questions	What are some of the forms that energy can take? What are some of the ways heat can be produced? What are forms of energy that we can get from an electrical circuit? How can we produce sound? What are some of the ways that people produce electricity?
Elaboration	Teachers are STRONGLY encouraged to read the research cited under instructional implications before teaching this indicator. Teachers can build on the intuitive notions of students without requiring them to memorize technical definitions... By experimenting with light, heat, electricity, magnetism, and sound, students begin to understand the phenomena can be observed, measured, and controlled in various ways. NSES p. 126. Energy is a major exception to the principle that students should understand ideas before being given labels for them. Children benefit from talking about energy before they are able to define it.Benchmarks p. 81.
Specific Ideas	Things that give off light often also give off heat.Benchmarks 4E1. Heat is produced by mechanical and electrical machines, burning, mixing one substance with another, and any time one thing rubs against something else.Benchmarks 4E1. Electricity in circuits can produce light, heat, sound, or magnetic effects.NSES B3c. Sound is produced when something vibrates. The pitch of sound can be changed by changing the rate of vibration.NSES B2c. Moving air and water can produce energy. Benchmarks 8C1. Energy can be produced by burning fossil fuels.Benchmarks p. 193.
Developmental & Instructional Implications	Until students have reached a certain point in their understanding they gain little by using the scientific meaning of "energy." Energy transformations should wait until middle school. Heat energy is a difficult idea for students, who thoroughly confound it with the idea of temperature. Benchmarks p. 81. Children may not recognize temperature as a physical parameter that can describe the condition of a material. There may be misconceptions about the idea of temperature and how to measure it. For an extensive discussion of misconceptions about temperature and heat. See Driver et al pages 138-142 Sounds are not always intuitively associated with the characteristics of their source by younger students, but that association can be developed by investigating a variety of concrete phenomena toward the end of the K-4 level. NSES p. 126. In most children's minds, electricity begins at a source and goes to a target. Repeated activities will help students develop an idea of a circuit and begin to grasp the effect of more than one battery. NSES p. 126. Page 117-126 in Driver at al provides a detailed description of children's ideas about electricity. Pages 133-137 on Driver et al provides a detailed description of children's ideas about sound.
Examples