PERC 2015 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | K-12 teacher understanding of energy conservation: Conceptual metaphor, dissipation, and degradation |
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| Abstract: | In K-12 educational settings, conservation of energy is typically presented in two ways: the conservation of energy principle (energy is neither created nor destroyed) and the sociopolitical need to conserve energy (we guard against energy being used up). These two meanings of conservation typically remain disconnected from each other and can appear contradictory, even after instruction. In an effort to support teachers in building robust understandings of energy from their existing knowledge, I designed a study to investigate the productive ideas in K-12 teachers' conversations about energy. A micro-analysis of discourse, gestures, and artifacts of professional development courses revealed teachers' productive ideas about three aspects of energy: conceptual metaphor, dissipation and degradation. Energy conservation can be better taught and learned in K-12 Education by connecting teachers' productive ideas to canonical physics. |
| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster Presentation |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Abigail Daane Seattle Pacific University 3307 3rd Ave West Seattle, WA 98119 Phone: 5104075239 |
| Co-Author(s) and Co-Presenter(s) |
Stamatis Vokos - Seattle Pacific University Rachel E. Scherr - Seattle Pacific University |
