How To Define Energy

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Objective
Students will use graphic organizers to demonstrate an understanding of how to define
energy.
Big Idea
Energy is the "currency" of work., but a single model for energy does not (yet) exist.

Overview
This lesson addresses the HSA-REI.A.1, HSF-BF.A.1a, and HS-PS3-1
standards as a way to effectively compose a logical understanding of energy
transfer mechanisms in the context of a college level physics text. Students
research concepts related to energy transfer using the NGSS Practices of
Developing and Using Models (SP2) and Using Mathematical and
Computational Thinking (SP5). Students begin by creating a mind map that
illustrates the connections between physics concepts and energy. Students
use the class digital text and a set of graphic organizers to ask questions and
answer those questions in the context of the textbook. During the closure
activity at the end of this lesson, I ask students to construct a definition to
demonstrate an understanding of the concept of "Energy".
I assess student understanding throughout the lesson using informal check-
ins, and will assess each student's work at the end of the school day. I want
students to learn to integrate information from various points of this course
into a coherent summary on the nature of Energy Transfer Mechanisms. In
this lesson, students have to leverage skills like note taking to construct an
explanation of energy changes within a system. One goal of this lesson is to
help students learn that synthesizing information from more than one credible
source is an effective way to communicate scientific information about the
concept of "Energy".
Bell-ringer
10 MINUTES
This portion of the lesson begins with a routine where students write the
objective and additional piece of information in their notebooks as soon as
they enter the classroom. I project a slide with the date, the objective and an
additional prompt on the interactive whiteboard with a red label that says
"COPY THIS" in the top left-hand corner. Sometimes the additional prompt is
a BIG IDEA for the lesson, or the Quote of the Day or a Quick Fact from
current events that is related to the lesson. The red label helps my students
easily interact with the information as soon as they enter the room and avoids
losing transition time as students enter the classroom.
Today's additional piece of information is a Big Idea which states that energy
is the currency of work. The objective of the bell-ringer is to give students a
clear understanding of the focus of today's lesson. I choose to focus on the
question "How can Energy be Defined?" because I want students to learn that
partial models are still useful for studying and practicing physics.

Bell-ringer Activity : What is Energy?

Bell-Ringer Activity Overview

Identifying Connections between Energy and Physics
15 MINUTES
Asking Open Ended Questions
At this point in the semester, students have created mind maps to help make
their knowledge of a particular topic visible. In this section of the lesson, I give
students a focus question, ask them to construct a mind map and then
conduct a whole class share out about the connections between energy and
physics.
I project the focus question "Can energy be defined?" on the interactive
whiteboard at the front of the room and tell students that we will attempt to
construct a definition for energy during today's lesson. I ask students to
spend ten minutes creating a mindmap that demonstrates the connection
between physic and energy. Students spend ten minutes creating a mind
map in their notebooks that illustrate the connections between physics and
energy. Click here to see an example of student work. After ten minutes pass,
I ask volunteers from around the room to share their responses with the class
and I write their responses on the interactive whiteboard as a class summary
mind map. Some student responses include, "Energy is the ability to do work",
"You need energy to move objects.", and "Energy is in everything." In the next
section of the lesson, students construct an explanation of energy using
information from class notes and our digital textbook.
Student Work: Energy and Physics Mind Map
COLLAPSE
Summarizing and Notetaking in Context
35 MINUTES
In this section of the lesson, I ask students to construct an explanation of
energy using this template and our digital textbook. I distribute a set of graphic
organizers that I introduce in an earlier lesson for students to take notes on
from our openStax digital textbook on the concept of energy. Students spend
the next 20 minutes taking notes by:
 Writing headings as questions
 Describing concepts, graphs, charts and tables that are related to
understanding the concept of "Energy"
 Showing the connection between basic physic concepts like position,
mass, and velocity to different Energy Transfer Mechanisms
As students are taking notes, I walk around checking in with them. The
purpose of this assignment is to have students use information from multiple
sources and perspectives, much like scientists construct explanations of
complex topics. Students spend 10 minutes discussing their notes with their
elbow partners and then making additional notes. Click here for one example
of student work. During the last five minutes of this session, I collect the
sheets to grade and return to students. Some of the sources include the
summaries from this previous lesson, notes, and our openStax digital
textbook. This task helps students illustrate the depth of their current
understanding of mechanical energy.

Three Column Note Making Activity

Three Column Notes

COLLAPSE
Closure
10 MINUTES
This closure activity this section asks students to create a Frayer Model to
answer the question "What is Energy?" Student responses include: "A
measure of work", "The ability to do work", "Interactions between matter and
fields". I like this activity because students produce a working definition of an
important but not well understood physical quantity. I like teaching students
that not every concept is well-defined in physics. This helps drive home the
idea that physics models get better over time. Click here to see an example of
student work.
To wrap up this section of the lesson, I ask students to look at the Minds on
Physics modules that I post on the class Edmodo wall for homework I also ask
students to share their medal success codes with me by midnight on
Thursday morning to meet the HW deadline. Each module has a progress bar
and a success bar. As students answer questions correctly their progress bar
goes up. If students begin to answer questions incorrectly their health bar
decreases. If a student's health bar reaches zero before completing the
module they will have to attempt the module again. The content remains
constant, but the questions change either in order or phrasing each time a
student attempts a module. Once student progress reaches 100% on a
module students receive a medal success code.
If a student demonstrates mastery with little to no evidence of stumbling he or
she receives a gold medal success code. If a student reaches mastery but
stumbles in one or two instances, her or she receives a silver medal success
code. Students who receive a silver medal success code are given the
opportunity to continue practicing and another attempt to attain a gold medal
success code. Students record these alphanumeric codes on a record sheet
which correspond to either gold or silver medals on a Minds on Physics
module.

Exit Slip-What is Energy?

Student Work: Constructing a Definition for Energy