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Being constructive: an alternative approach to the

teaching of the energy conceptpart oneRicardo Trumper

a

aSchool of Education of the Kibbutz Movement, University of Haifa, Oranim, Israel

Version of record first published: 23 Feb 2007.

To cite this article:Ricardo Trumper (1990): Being constructive: an alternative approach to the teaching of the energyconceptpart one, International Journal of Science Education, 12:4, 343-354

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0950069900120402

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INT .

j . sc i. EDUC.,1990, VOL. 12, N O. 4, 343-354

I N N O V A T I O N S A N D D E V E LO PM E N T S

Being constructive: an alternative approach

to the teaching of the energy con cept--part one

Ricardo Trum per, Oranim, School of Education of the Kibbutz Movement,

University of Haifa, Israel

Th is article describes a study carried out in Israel which dea ls with the identification of high school pup ils'

beliefs about energy, both before and after formal instruction in physics. In so doing, several of the

alternative frameworks reported in the literature were redefined. Based on the findings obtained, an

elementary course was developed and implemented which teaches the scientific view of energy while

taking into account the prior beliefs adhered to by the pu pils. Th e article also describes experiences in

implementing this course, in using 'comparative events' which helped pupils move from the anthro-

pocentric framework, wherein energy is associated only with human beings, to the more appropriate

scientific view. Subsequ ent articles will deal with the process of conceptual chan ge as pupils move from

two other common alternative frameworks to the scientific view.

Introduction

During the past decade, a great deal of research has been devoted to pupils'

'alternative frameworks' (Driver and Easley 1978)

vis-a-vis

physical phenomena.

Today, it is generally accepted that pupils' pre-instructional knowledge plays a

crucial role in the acquisition of science concepts. N ussba um and N ovick (1982)

define the process as follows:

... students' alternative frameworks, when at variance with scientific conceptions, play

a crucial interfering role in learning science. This conclusion is consistent with the

general notion that the internalization (selective perception and interpretation) of new

information and ideas by a person is a function of his existing conceptual framework.

In other words, any effective instructional s trategy must take into account the

current beliefs adhered to by the pupils. In the realm of energy, a large number of

studies (Bliss and Ogb orn 1985, D uit 1984, Gilbe rt and Po pe 1986, Stead 1980,

Wa tts 1983) have yielded valuable information a bout how children understan d this

very abstract and difficult to grasp concept. W atts (1983) listed 'the m ost popular and

persistent' frameworks about energy held by pupils. Despite the great amount of

information gathered on th is subject during the past few years, very little has been

done in the planning and implemen tation of instructional strategies which deal with

these alternative frameworks.

T he goal of this study w as to identify the ideas about energy held by I sraeli

pupils, both prior to and after formal instruction in physics and to use this

information subsequen tly to develop an introductory course based on a constructi-

vist model of learning. T his m odel views children's minds no t as a

tabularasa,

bu t as

a rich and varied network of ideas derived from day-to-day experiences and non-

scientific language. T his paper describes experiences in identifying pup ils' ideas

about energy and in developing and implementing such a course.

0950-0693/90 3

.

00 1990 Taylor & Francis Ltd.


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3 4 4 INNOV TIONS AN D DEVELOPMENTS

The developm ent of a questionnaire on the energy concept

T he que stionnaire developed for the present stud y was based on the tasks formulated

by D uit (1984). Of the six tasks developed by him for presentation to pupils in West

Germany and the Philippines, the following four were translated into Hebrew.

(Copies of the questionnaire may be obtained from the author on request.)

T ask 1: Pupils were asked to write down their three first associations with the

word energy.

T ask 2: Pupils were asked to define or describe the meaning of the word energy.

Task 3: Pupils were asked to write three examples of the concept of energy.

T ask 4: T his task dealt with the motion of a ball rolling without friction along a

curved path after being released from a point A. Pupils were asked to

predict the height the ball would reach and to explain their pred ictions.

This task showed if the pupils could apply the energy concept and,

especially, the principle of energy conservation.

In addition to these tasks, a fifth one was added:

T ask 5: Pupils were asked to select three out of 15 pictures in which they were

able to identify the energy concept and to explain their choice. They

were also asked to choose one picture in which th e energy concept does

not appear at all and to explain this choice too.

The questionnaire comprising the foregoing tasks was pre-tested with groups of

pupils similar to those used in the main stu dy. I n the light of the answers obtained,

the following modifications were made to the questionnaire:

1. In task 1, pupils were asked to write sentences linking their associations with

the word energy.

2. In task 2, the focus was sharpened by asking pupils to choose one definition of

energy out of five. T he five alternative definitions represented the five

alternative frameworks most commonly used by pupils.

3.

Task 3 was eliminated.

4. A question similar to task 4, was added.

5. T he second part of task 5, in which pupils had to choose a picture in which the

energy concept does not appear at all, was dropped.

T he content validity of the revised questionnaire was judge d by 17 experts in the

field. After making some m inor changes as suggested by th e judg es, th e test was

deemed valid.

T he test-rete st reliability of the final version of the questionnaire was determ ined

by asking pupils in the samp le to respond to the same questionnaire one m onth later.

Responses were checked and the Chi-square coefficient between responses on the

two occasions was calculated. Fo r non e of the questions w as a statistically significant

difference between the pupils' answers on the two occasions measured.

Identification of high-school pupils' ideas about energy

T he first stage in dealing with pup ils' prior know ledge about energy was to identify

these beliefs. T his w as done in order to establish w hether these beliefs were

congruent with the alternative frameworks described in the literature. This part of


4/13

TEACHING THE ENERGY CONCEPTPART ONE

345

the study encompassed 35 Israeli high-school pupils, none of whom had participated

in former stages of the study. They were:

(a ) Sixteen ninth-graders before any physics instruction;

(b )

T en ten th-grad ers after com pleting a one-year programm e for poor

achievers;

(c) N ine eleventh-graders after com pleting a two-year physics programm e

which focused on energy, optics and waves.

Testing was carried out in two stages:

1. The pupils answered the five written questions in the questionnaire about

energy previously described.

2. Pupils in the same grade were interviewed in small groups (four to six

participants). T he interview began with pupils discussing their answers in the

questionnaire. N ext, they were shown 20 pictures (see figure 1 for some

examples) and asked: 'Is there any energy here?' The ensuing discussion

proceeded in the interview-about-instances format described by Osbo rne and

Gilbert (1980).

IS THERE ANY ENERGY HERE?

Melting ice

A man eating A man in the snow

Figure 1


5/13

34 6 INNOVATIONS ANDDEVELOPMENTS

Pupils associations with energy

In th e first task of the questionn aire pup ils were asked to write dow n their f irst thr ee

associations with the wo rd energy and th en to write three sentences , each one linking

the word en ergy with one of the associations . T h e pu pils ' associations were classified

according to D uit 's (1981) categories:

1. Things: human beings, things or objects in nature, appliances , industrial

p lants , equipment in phys ics laborator ies .

2.

Processes:physical or men tal activities .

3 .

Phenomena:

light, heat, electricity.

4 . Physical concepts:

unit s , formulae, term s like work, force, power, velocity.

5.

Words: Additional words not covered in the categories above.

T able 1 shows the extent (percentages) to which t he five different categories occ ur.

W e see, for exam ple, that 27 of the eleven-grade pup ils ' associations relate to

phen om ena. T he increasing num be r of physical concepts (category 4) referred to by

pupils after having studied physics is caused mainly by the large number of energy

types (i .e . , electrical , kinetic, etc. ) used by them.

Pupils

use of the conservation of energy principle

Question 4 shows how pupils relate to a mechanical process in which the

conservation prin ciple is involved; the results summ arized in table 2 show how the y

solve the question and explain their answers . We see that the number of pupils who

answered correctly and made use of the energy concept or of the conservation

principle, increased after learning the subject . However, more than half the pupils

used their out-of-school ideas instead of using the energy concept, despite the fact

they were working on a 'questionnaire about energy' . Another remarkable f inding is

the very small num be r of pupils who used the energy con servation principle in their

answers .

Tab le 1 . D is t r ib u t ion o f p u p i l s ' a s s oc ia t ion s , b y grad es .

Category

Things

Processes

Phenomena

Physical concepts

Words

Tab le 2 . Dis trib ut ion of

Prediction of correct height

U se of energy in explanation

U se of energy conservation

in explanation

Associations ( ) mad e

Grade 9

9

20

7

64

p u p i l s ' a n s w e r s

p e r c e n t a g e s .

Grade 9

19

12

Grade 10

17

9

38

36

t o q u e s t i o n

Grade 10

47

37

26

in

Grade

27

53

20

4,

by

11

grades, in

Grade 11

60

40

20


6/13

TE CHING TH E ENERGY CONCEPTP RT O NE 3 4 7

Pupils alternative frameworks on energy

T he analysis of the pup ils' alternative conceptual frameworks on energy was based

mainly on their descriptions of the different pictures presented to them du ring the

interviews. T heir responses were classified according to the alternative frameworks

defined by Watts (1983):

(1) Anthropocentric: energy is associated with human beings.

(2) D epository: some objects have energy and expend it.

(3) Ingredient: energy is a dormant ingredient within objects, released by a

trigger.

(4) Activity: energy is an obvious activity.

(5) Prod uct: energy is a by-pro duct of a situation.

(6) Functional: energy is seen as a very general kind of fuel associated with

making life comfortable.

(7) Flow-transfer: energy is seen as a type of fluid transferred in some processes.

After making some changes in the definitions of the frameworks, 96 of the pup ils'

responses were found classifiable. Framework (2) became:

(2a) T he original 'depository ' framework w hich is of a passive nature ('there is

energy in the b atte ry. . . ' ) .

(26) T he 'active' deposit. T he energy as 'causing things to happen', as 'being

needed' for some processes to occur ('The electric bulb needs energy in

order to light').

Framework (7) became:

(7a) T he original flow-transfer framework (see above).

(7b)

T he accepted scientific concep t: 'When two systems interact (i.e., when a

process takes place), something, w hich we name energy, is transferred from

one system to the other' (CDC1978, p. 15).

T he definition of one of the frameworks was b roadened:

(5) T he pro duct framework in which energy is a produ ct of some process and not

only a by-product of a situation.

T he results are shown in table 3 which states the extent to which the pupils showed

comb inations of alternative frameworks in their responses. T he conclusions that

may be drawn from this, are:

(a) All pupils used more than one alternative framework in their desc riptions.

(b ) All pupils hold frameworks (1),(2b)and (5).

(c) Framew orks (1), (2a) and

(2b)

appear frequently, but the frequency of their

appearance decreases after studying physics.

(d )

Frameworks (3), (6) and (7a) rarely appear.

(e)

Frameworks (4) and (5) appear increasingly after studying physics.

(/) Framework (7b),the accepted scientific view, rarely appea rs, both before and

after studying physics.

T o con clude, we see that pup ils' responses to the associations task and the question

concerning the conservation principle show some success in learning. However,

since very few pupils adhere to the scientific framework (7b),there seems to be no

significant increase in th e num ber of pupils relating to the energy concept in the way


7/13

34 8 INNOVATIONS AND DEVELOPMENTS

Table 3. Distribution of pupils' alternative frame works, by grades, in

percentages .

Alternative framework

Grade Pupil 1 la 2b 3 4 5 6 la 1b

9 1 20 20 35 10 IS 10

10

11

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

2

2

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

3

3

32

33

34

35

28

8

22

9

7

24

29

22

22

2

28

23

2

28

6

4

7

23

9

5

5

8

2

3

8

23

2

5

6

8

3

5

2

7

23

3

22

2

33

32

9

3

7

42

3

32

22

4

22

8

7

5

3

2

9

22

3

3

2

2

3

2

9

2

25

4

45

5

43

4

9

37

33

3

23

3

32

36

26

5

25

2

2

6

26

5

8

6

3

42

24

2

26

23

32

33

7

4

32

2

2

2

6

3

8

2

6

3

4

36

29

42

46

49

5

22

3

35

49

26

5

2

25

9

24

5

22

7

8

3

8

7

6

6

8

9

8

5

4

3

2

8

7

23

4

2

24

22

23

6

29

4

8

5

9

9

4

7

6

6

4

3

5

4

6

3

3

3

6

4

3

5

3

6

3

4

2

5

3

3

3

5

2

7

7

2

8

6

3

4

3

2

it is taught at school (energy transformations). In fact, pupils continue to adhere to

the same alternative frameworks held before studying physics. These results suggest

that the energy concept cannot be effectively taught without taking pupils'

alternative frameworks into account: these are mainly the anthropocentric frame-

work (1), the 'active' deposit framework (26) and the product framework (5), which

are held by all the pupils in this study.

This paper deals only with a strategy for changing the anthropocentric

framework. In the near future, experiences using an instructional strategy which

deals with the other two frameworks will be discussed (part two, in press); the

strategy enables pupils to build for themselves the appropriate scientific concept.

6

3

2


8/13

TEACHING

THE

ENERGY CONCEPTPA RT

O N E 3 4 9

Mod els of learning

In ord er to deal with these frameworks, a pupil/teacher dialogue process appears to

be necessary. As Champagne

et al.

(1982) claim:

... By participating in the dialogues which occur in Socratic teaching, the student is

forced to deal with counterexamples to proposals and to face contradictions in his or her

ideas.

To overcome the attacks of adversaries in the dialogues, the student must

construct a new framework of ideas that will stand up to criticism.

In many cases, when there is a conflict between new and old concepts, a major

accommodation is necessary. Many researchers have claimed that conceptual change

occurs through cognitive conflict, in what Gilbert and Watts (1983) call a

revolutionary change process.

Alternative framework (1), the anthropocentric framework in which energy is

associated w ith hum an b eings, is not an un acceptable framework conflicting w ith the

accepted scientific concept. Rather, it is limited, as we can see from the following

example in which a tenth-grade p upil described th e picture of 'a man p ushing a box

up a hill*.

It 's like a football player, he moves his body, he's doing some activity, as a result, there is

some energy .. . He moves himself and he moves the box, he climbs up. He uses his

ene rgy ... When we do sports, we use our energy.

In this situation, we see how the pupil focused her attention only on the human

being. This contrasts with her description of the same event in which the man was

replaced by an electric motor:

There is kinetic energy as a result of the motor pulling up the box . .. and also potential

energy when the box is up.

In this case, we can talk abo ut an evolutionary change w hich 'involves the facilitation

of extension in richness and precision of meaning for stud ents' framew orks' (Gilbert

and Watts 1983).

Ausubel (1968) has described a process of 'meaningful learning' w hich results in

the 'subsumption' of new knowledge. In this process, the new knowledge interacts

with existing concepts and is assimilated into them, altering the form of both the

anchoring concept and the new assimilated knowledge (Novak 1978).

Following this approach, Hashweh (1986) proposed a model of conceptual

change (see figure 2). An alternative framework C l is successful in the interaction

with some particular domain of the real world, R l. It fails to describe a second pa rt of

the world, R2. According to this model a pupil holding an alternative framework

faces two different conflicts (c.f. figure 2).

Hashweh states: 'It has traditionally been assumed that Conflict (1) is resolved by

adopting Conception 2, which better explains R2.' However, this does not explain

W orld of Alterna tive Conflict (2) Scientific

ideas frame wo rk (C1)

- -

conception (C2)

Real world R1 R2 R3 R4

Figure 2. Hashw eh's mo del of conceptual chang e.


9/13

350 INNOVATIONS

AND

DEVELOPMENTS

why Conflict (1) existed. In addition, adopting Conception 2 forces the pupil to face

Conflict (2). Hashweh pointed out interesting and common cases in science, in which

Cl is a special case of C2. That is, Cl represents Rl and C2 represents R1+R2.

The anthropocentric framework, in which energy is associated with human

beings, is not a completely wrong framework. Rather, it is derived from limited

experience and may conflict with the scientific framework which is much more

general. Pupils holding the anthropocentric framework may face two major

difficulties during the learning process:

(a) Pupils may not identify the energy concept in situations where they do not

meet human beings or objects they perceive as having human attributes. For

instance, a ninth-grade pupil describing the picture of the melting ice (see

figure

1):

I think that an inert object like ice, that doesn t breathe, has no energy. Only

something near i t... for example, if someone is holding it, there is energy in

him...

b) When pupils meet human beings, their attention may concentrate on them

only, as we saw in the previous description of a man pushing a box up a hill .

In order to facilitate the acquisition of the scientific concept of energy, it was decided

to deal first with the anthropocentric framework. The goal was not to create a state of

conceptual conflict that would lead to a major accommodation; rather, thepupils

were expected to become aware of the limitations of their conceptual framework.

This can be defined in Hashweh s (1986) terms:

The alternative framework:energy is related only with human beings.

Thenew framework:human beings are energy agents (they need energy and

they also provide it) in an ever-continuing process of energy transformations.

The alternative framework can explain situations involving human beings only. The

new framework is more general, it includes the alternative framework, but it can also

explain situations which do not involve human beings. Therefore, it was decided to

develop an instructional strategy based on Socratic-like dialogues introducing

comparative eventsor analogies.

Dealing withtheanthropocentric framew ork

Rumelhart and Norman (1978) present a very comprehensive theory of cognitive

learning which sees the learning process as schematic transformations which occur in

long-term memory. They propose three different kinds of learning:

Accretion:the encoding of new information in terms of existing schemata.

Restructuring:

the process whereby new schemata are created.

Tuning:the slow modification and refinement of a schema which occurs

through experience.

When physics concepts replace alternative frameworks, restructuring has occurred.

Rumelhart and Norman (1981) suggest two basic mechanisms by which restructur-

ing occurs:

Schema induction:learning by contiguity (the temporal or spatial co-occurrence

of events results in the formation of a new schema).

Patterned generation:a new schema is patterned on an old one. Restructuring

results from interactions with new knowledge, analogies, etc.


10/13

TEACHING THE ENERGY CONCEPTPART ONE 35 1

T he instructional s trategy presen ted here should lead pupils to a restru cturin g wh ich

occurs by means of a pattern ed gen eration. T he new framework will be patterned on

the anthropoc entric framework-comm on to all the pupils participating in this s tud y.

T his is what Strike and Posn er (1982) call a small-scale and evolutionary change .

T his change is achieved in two phases:

(a)

First , pupils have to be aware of their own anthropoc entric framework.

(b)

N ext, they have to create a new and more generalized framework, based on

the analysis of comparative events (analogies).

T he first s tep in the instructional s trategy was to make every pupil aware of his or her

own preconcept ions:

(1) One week after the identification interviews, all the pupils (divided in the

original small groups) were presented with a protocol of their own

discussions about energy. Common to each protocol were the pupils '

description of the picture which showed a man pushing a box up a hill .

Excerpts from such a protocol, presented to one of the ninth-grade groups, follow.

A man pushing a box up a hill

Efrat: He uses the energy of his body to push the box.

Boaz: (If the box is empty) he uses little energy.

Anat:

I've heard there is some relation between doing some physical activ ity. .. so,

calories, for example, are burnt... and it activates the body.

Dorit:

I know this theory abou t burnin g calories or burning some materials in our

bo dy .. . It shows a direct relation between energy and b ur nin g. . . Burning

some materials creates energy.

A man in the snow (see figure 1)

Anat: T here is energy in the man's bo d y. .. He is freezing.

Dror:

First of all, his heart has to beat faster to heat the b o dy .. . so his body uses

energy.

Dorot:

T he man is moving his muscles and uses energy to keep a constant body

temperature.

Liat:

T he man needs energy to heat his body; that means, energy comes from within.

Efrat: When the man has to heat his body, he is using the energy he has in it.

After eliciting the pupils preconceptions , they were presented with the firs t

comparative event:

(2) Pupils viewed a pictu re of an electric mo tor pulling a box up a hill and we re

asked to describe it in terms of energy.

T wo of the pupils in the n in th-grade grou p ma de a d irect compar ison between the

two events:

Boaz: Electrical energy was transformed to 'force' in order to raise the box.

Efrat: T he electric mo tor uses its electrical energy in order to pull it.

T wo oth er pupils added to their previous description som e details which they did no t

include when they described the picture of a man pushing a box up a hill :

Dorit: T he electric mo tor uses its electrical energy in order to turn something else

which pulls the rope attached to the box. Besides that, there is some energy

coming up from the friction between the box and the su rfac e.. . heating both of

them.


11/13

3 5 2 INNOV TIONS NDDEVELOPMENTS

Anaf.

There

is

some electrical energy,

it

makes

the

motor work

and the

motor pushes

the box. Th ere

is

also

the

energy produced

by

gravitation w hich acts against

the

motor.

I n

the

third s tep

of the

instructional s trategy,

the

pup ils were presented with

a

second comparative event:

(3 )

The

electric motor

was

'replaced '

by a

steam engine

and

again

the

pupils

were asked

to

describe

the

picture

in

t e r m s

of

energy .

At this s tage, three pupils began

to

talk,

for the

first t im e, about so me thing like

energy transformations,

a

concept they have never learned before:

Anaf.

In

every motor, there

is

some raw material.

I

don't know, electricity

is not a raw

material,

but

there

is

some material being us ed .. .

Boaz:

The

material there

is

c o a l . . .

Dorit:

I

want

to say

something.

In

order

to

produce electricity,

you

burn coal

or

something like that;

in

order

to

produce energy

in

your body,

you

burn some

materials

in it; in

order

to

heat water

and

produce steam

to

make

the

engine

work,

you

have

to

burn something

to get

that he at. . . Maybe

the

heat comes

directly from

the sun, or

from coal burning

or

electricity.

T he fo llowing

two

steps belo ng

to the

'general izat ion ' phase

in

w hich

the

pupils were

expected

to

create

the new

framework

by

themselves :

(4 )

The

pupils were asked

to

look

for

some proper t ies concerning energy

c o m m o n

to the man, the

electr ic m otor

and the

steam engine .

N o w ,

the

pup ils talk m ore clearly abo ut

the

process oc curring

in the

pictures .

The

accepted scientific framework (76) appears

for the

first tim e

for a

picture including

a

human be ing :

Boaz:

They

are all

energy pro duc ers . . .

Dorit

:

I

don't agree with

you

because th ey

do not

produce energy. They

use

energy

a l s o . . .

Boaz:

But

they produce also

Dorit:

I

think, energy

is not

something being produced,

but

something being

transformed.

If you go

backwards,

for

example, steam

is

produced

by

heat

energy that was produced

by

burning

a

match, this was done

by a

man using

his

energy and

the

man

got

energy from foo d. . . You

can

never

get o the

beginning

of energy

and you can

never

get to its end,

that

is,

some processes lead

to

other

and

so on .. .

Boaz: You're right. T hey do n't produce, they transform

it

into another form

of

energy . . .

Dorit:

I

think energy

is

something that never disappears,

it s

something being

transformed, something changing

it s

appearance.

Dror:

I

also think that energy

is

something being transformed. Here

we can see

electrical energy being transformed into movement energy.

(5 )

The

pupils , while talking

in

t e r m s

of

energy, tr ied

to

identify so me spec ial

proper t ies which d is t inguish

the man

from

the

motor s , w hen

all are

performing

the

same action:

Anat:

The man

produces energy

and

also transforms

the

energy

he

gets into other

forms

of

energy.

Dorit:

His

body uses

the

energy

he

gets

in

order

to

make some proc esses. . .

A

leaf a cts

also like tha t, from

the

very beginning

it

'knows'

it has to use the

energy

of the

sun

and to

transform

it .. . The

man also uses

the

energy

he

gets

in

very different

processes.


12/13

TE CHING TH E ENERGY CONCEPTP RT O NE 3 5 3

It can be seen here that the pupils began to talk about the m an being an energy 'ag ent'

in an ever continuing process of energy transformation, the new rameworkthey were

expected to create.

Very similar discussions were held in all the groups participating in the case

study. I n some of the groups, a third

comparativeevent

was presented. In one group,

pupils were presented with the picture of 'snow falling on a house with a burning

stove' and compared it with the picture 'a man in snow'. I n another gro up, they were

presented w ith the picture of 'a car being filled w ith petrol and travelling away', and

compared it with the picture 'a man eating' (see figure 1).

Some of the pupils in the tenth-grad e discussion groups discovered early on by

themselves, the purpose of the instruction which they stated very clearly.

Sagiv:

(comparing the man with a machine) There is no difference... W hen a car is

travelling, it burns energy; when there is no more petrol, it stops. A man, when

he runs, burns 'liq uids '.. . N ow, if he doesn't drink something, he runs, dries up

and collapses.

We saw, in all discussions held during this study, that when pupils discuss

comparative events,

most of them becom e aware that hum ans are energy 'ag ents'

involved in a process of energy transform ations, like many o ther ine rt objects. Only

three of the pupils failed to abandon the anthro pocen tric framework and w ere only

able to change it for an anthrop om orphic framework in some of their d escriptions.

Conclusionsimplications for teaching

An increasing num ber of science teachers find recent work on ch ildren's alternative

frameworks interesting. However, they are less clear about how to utilize such

findings in their teaching. For most teachers, it may be rather difficult to begin

teaching the energy concept with a series of individual interviews. Questionnaires

like the one used in this study , which cover the full range of alternative frameworks

reported in the literature, could be very helpful.

While it is impossible to deal with every idiosyncratic framework, there is enough

common ground to enable a teacher to implement a constructivist approach to

teaching energy. T he m ain purpose of the instructional strategy developed in this

study was to deal with th e limitations of one of the most pervasive frameworks, the

anthropocen tric framework about energy. By exposing pupils to comparative events,

they were led from their alternative framework (energy related only with human

beings) to a new framework (human beings as energy agents). We saw that the

instructional strategy was successful for m ost of the pup ils. Pupils who m ore rapidly

reach the right conclusions are those who adhered to some aspects of the accepted

scientific concept, when describing machines at work.

T he instructional strategy presented in this paper leads to an evolutionary

change, what Strike and Posner (1982) call 'small-scale' change or 'assimilation'.

Like the anthropocentric framework, alternative framework

(2b),

energy as 'being

needed' for some processes to occur, and (5), energy as being the 'product' of a

process, are also limited, representing only some parts of the real world. T hese two

alternative concepts, which are shared by all the students, can be used as 'building

blocks' in the teaching of the accepted scientific concept.


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3 5 4 TE CHING TH E ENERGY CONCEPTP RT ON E

Acknowledgements

I

wish to thank John K. Gilbert and Joan Bliss for the permission to use their

pictures in this study. I also wish to thank Re inders D uit for generously su pplying

his questionnaire and categories.

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C o r r e s p o n d e n c e

Ricardo Trumper, Oranim, School of Education of the Kibbutz Movement, University of

Haifa, Haifa, Israel.

Documents

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