Students' Energy Concepts at the Transition Between Primary and Secondary School.
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| Title: | Students' Energy Concepts at the Transition Between Primary and Secondary School. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Opitz, Sebastian1 opitz@ipn.uni-kiel.de, Harms, Ute1, Neumann, Knut1, Kowalzik, Kristin1, Frank, Arne1 |
| Source: | Research in Science Education. Oct2015, Vol. 45 Issue 5, p691-715. 25p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Secondary school students, *School children, *Science education, *Research on students, Scientific literacy |
| Abstract: | Energy is considered both a core idea and a crosscutting concept in science education. A thorough understanding of the energy concept is thought to help students learn about other (related) concepts within and across science subjects, thereby fostering scientific literacy. This study investigates students' progression in understanding the energy concept in biological contexts at the transition from primary to lower secondary school by employing a quantitative, cross-sectional study in grades 3-6 ( N = 540) using complex multiple-choice items. Based on a model developed in a previous study, energy concepts were assessed along four aspects of energy: (1) forms and sources of energy, (2) transfer and transformation, (3) degradation and dissipation, and (4) energy conservation. Two parallel test forms (A and B) indicated energy concept scores to increase significantly by a factor of 2.3 (A)/1.7 (B) from grade 3 to grade 6. Students were observed to progress in their understanding of all four aspects of the concept and scored highest on items for energy forms. The lowest scores and the smallest gain across grades were found for energy conservation. Based on our results, we argue that despite numerous learning opportunities, students lack a more integrated understanding of energy at this stage, underlining the requirement of a more explicit approach to teaching energy to young learners. Likewise, more interdisciplinary links for energy learning between relevant contexts in each science discipline may enable older students to more efficiently use energy as a tool and crosscutting concept with which to analyze complex content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Research in Science Education is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
| FullText | Links: – Type: pdflink Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 112403945 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Students' Energy Concepts at the Transition Between Primary and Secondary School. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Opitz%2C+Sebastian%22">Opitz, Sebastian</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> opitz@ipn.uni-kiel.de</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Harms%2C+Ute%22">Harms, Ute</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Neumann%2C+Knut%22">Neumann, Knut</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Kowalzik%2C+Kristin%22">Kowalzik, Kristin</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Frank%2C+Arne%22">Frank, Arne</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Research+in+Science+Education%22">Research in Science Education</searchLink>. Oct2015, Vol. 45 Issue 5, p691-715. 25p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Secondary+school+students%22">Secondary school students</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22School+children%22">School children</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Science+education%22">Science education</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Research+on+students%22">Research on students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Scientific+literacy%22">Scientific literacy</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Energy is considered both a core idea and a crosscutting concept in science education. A thorough understanding of the energy concept is thought to help students learn about other (related) concepts within and across science subjects, thereby fostering scientific literacy. This study investigates students' progression in understanding the energy concept in biological contexts at the transition from primary to lower secondary school by employing a quantitative, cross-sectional study in grades 3-6 ( N = 540) using complex multiple-choice items. Based on a model developed in a previous study, energy concepts were assessed along four aspects of energy: (1) forms and sources of energy, (2) transfer and transformation, (3) degradation and dissipation, and (4) energy conservation. Two parallel test forms (A and B) indicated energy concept scores to increase significantly by a factor of 2.3 (A)/1.7 (B) from grade 3 to grade 6. Students were observed to progress in their understanding of all four aspects of the concept and scored highest on items for energy forms. The lowest scores and the smallest gain across grades were found for energy conservation. Based on our results, we argue that despite numerous learning opportunities, students lack a more integrated understanding of energy at this stage, underlining the requirement of a more explicit approach to teaching energy to young learners. Likewise, more interdisciplinary links for energy learning between relevant contexts in each science discipline may enable older students to more efficiently use energy as a tool and crosscutting concept with which to analyze complex content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Research in Science Education is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1007/s11165-014-9444-8 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 25 StartPage: 691 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Secondary school students Type: general – SubjectFull: School children Type: general – SubjectFull: Science education Type: general – SubjectFull: Research on students Type: general – SubjectFull: Scientific literacy Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Students' Energy Concepts at the Transition Between Primary and Secondary School. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Opitz, Sebastian – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Harms, Ute – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Neumann, Knut – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Kowalzik, Kristin – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Frank, Arne IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 10 Text: Oct2015 Type: published Y: 2015 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 0157244X Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 45 – Type: issue Value: 5 Titles: – TitleFull: Research in Science Education Type: main |
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