FLOWS OF ENERGY AND MATTER CYCLES IN THE ECOSYSTEMS: A
CONCEPTUAL TOOL TO DEAL WITH ISSUES OF GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY
Laura Colucci-Gray(*) (l.t.gray@abdn.ac.uk), Elena Camino(**) (elena.camino@unito.it),
Daniela Marchetti(**) (daniela.marchetti@unito.it), Marta Angelotti(**)
(marta.angelotti@unito.it)
(*)
School of Education, Aberdeen University, UK
(**)
Department of Animal and Human Biology, Turin University, ITALY.
(*) (**)
Interdisciplinary Research Institute on Sustainability (www.IRIS.unito.it)
Keywords: complexity, energy, matter, sustainability, interdisciplinarity
Abstract
Energy flows and matter transformations are key features of interaction between human
societies and nature’s services. However, understanding of the topic of energy at all school
levels remains problematic. This paper reports some data from an interactive course addressed
to post-graduate students from various scientific backgrounds enrolled in a teacher education
program. The course was offered, with ongoing adjustments, for ten years, to 161 students in
all. Interdisciplinary and participatory activities were used to stimulate students to think
across levels and across boundaries and to develop awareness of energy and matter
transformations occurring in local and global contexts. Data were collected throughout the
course from classroom observations and students’ own products. Analysis illustrates a
continuous process of meaning-making, supporting a shift from looking at energy as an
abstract and disciplinary concept, mainly defined in the realm of classical Physics, to using
energy flows intertwined with matter transformations as a tool for exploring everyday
processes occurring in the socio-ecological systems in which we are included. The
participatory approach is presented as a context for expressing misconceptions alongside the
acquisition of interdisciplinary thinking. Implications for authentic science education for
sustainability are explored.
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1. Introduction
Energy flows and matter cycles are central to all living systems’ functions. However, human
driven, large scale energy flows in the last century have increasingly interfered with existing
patterns of energy and matter circulation. Modifications of global stocks and flows of carbon,
nitrogen, phosphorus are well documented (Rockström et al., 2009), as well as alteration of
trophic levels (Naylor et al., 2000) and waste accumulation as a consequence of using non
renewable fossil sources to produce artificial materials – often not compatible or interfering
with natural material cycles.
The use of high density fossil energy sources for matter transformation impacts on natures’
patterns and dynamics in profound, irreversible and often unforeseen ways. As reported by
Dincer (2002), to understand energy-related process an interdisciplinary approach is needed,
that spans over multiple spatial and temporal levels: such awareness is crucial not only for
scientists and policy-makers, but for citizens too, who are involved - both as individuals and
members of a global community – in feeding and/or governing energy flows and matter
transformations.
2. Transformations of energy and matter in the socio-ecosystems
In physical terms, the Earth is defined as a closed system in steady-state. Interaction between
solar radiation and biological systems produces biomass, sustains water and biogeochemical
cycles, contributes to keep the temperature within a range which is compatible to life. As
such, the Earth’s total energy budget is limited, both in terms of quantity of available energy
and ‘rhythm’ of supply (Makarieva et al., 2008). Between 1970’s and 1990’s, there has been
growing attention towards calculating the intensity and the paths of energy flows in the
ecosystems (Odum, 1997). The concept of eMergy was introduced in order to quantify the
variety of energy inputs and matter transformations required to produce a product or service
by taking units of solar energy as a common measure. So eMergy can be used to evaluate and
quantify the dependency from ecosystems’ services, as it provides information about the past
geological and ecological history of a process or phenomenon. Another way of looking at
energy in the ecosystems is that of looking towards the future, and testing the potential for
changes or transformations to occur. Exergy is a measure of energy quality, meant as its
‘usefulness’, or potential to cause change. As reported by Shukuya and Hammache (2002),
when we refer to ‘energy consumption’, ‘energy saving’, ‘energy conservation’ we implicitly
refer to availability of forms of concentrated energy, measured by units of ‘energy density’
(MJ/Kg) or ‘power density’ (W/m2 of surface area). Fossil fuels for example are substances
with high ‘exergy’: their combustion can supply energy at a fast rate, and with a reduced
weight-to-power ratio, as compared to biomass and to renewable energy sources (Smil, 2010);
moreover the energy released by fossil fuels may be converted by thermoelectric plants into
other forms of useful, clean, controllable energy flow (Dincer, 2002). While living energy
sources (biomass, forests) are active and integral part of energy flows and matter cycles in the
present days, oil and mineral fossil deposits can be restored only at a geological time scale, so
their exergy is progressively and irreversibly ‘consumed’ at a human time scale. So when
considering current energy uses made globally by human populations, we are effectively
looking at processes of transformation occurring at different scales, from past to present,
micro and macro, local and global and involving both qualitative and quantitative aspects.
In a perspective of transition to sustainability, a prominent line of thought emphasises
‘exergy’ efficiency (Dincer and Rose, 2008) as a means for minimising dispersal of energy in
the form of heat, thus responding well to both economic and environmental concerns.
However, other scholars have argued for the need to make energy consumption compatible
with environmental stability and basic ecosystems’ functions (MEA, 2005) and reduce the
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rate of matter transformation carried out thanks to such ‘useful’ power (Makarieva et al.,
2008). Taking into account the limited availability of energy and matter and the limited
resilience of ecosystems, Smil (2006) underlines the requirement for fairer distribution of
power and opportunities among human populations, within the larger non-human populations
of phytomass, microbes and heterotrophs that sustain human life.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century a purposeful society could guarantee a
decent level of physical well-being and longevity, varied nutrition, basic educational
opportunities and respect for individual freedom with annual TPES of 50-70 GJ per
capita (1) (Smil, 2008, p. 387)
(1)
TPES (Total Primary Energy Supply): in 2003 the absolute range was from 1 GJ pro-capite for the
poorest African countries to the 450 GJ pro-capite of Canada.
3. Methodological responses to complexity in energy and matter issues
According to Smil (2006), energy is an intellectual construct. To address the complexity that
is involved in such a concept, and to take into account the multiplicity of implications and
interpretations of energy flows and matter transformations in socio-environmental contexts
that are historically and naturally evolving, it may be useful to refer to Funtowicz et al. (2000)
who framed current debates on socio- environmental issues within a scenario of Post-Normal
science. In such conditions, knowledge is uncertain and values are in conflict. Decisionmaking processes are no longer concerned with a demonstration but with the process and
outcomes of a dialogue involving an extended peer community (De Marchi et al., 2000),
where “every person has something to learn from everyone else” (Ravetz, 2006: 9).
Adopting the epistemological framework of Post-Normal science, Giampietro et al. (2006)
point out that every time we choose to assess a particular energy flow, we are also selecting a
space-time scale at which we will describe the process of energy conversion, its context
(environment) and its material components. Moreover, our choices of aims and methods are
affected by the historical and social conditions in which we operate. So, in a perspective of
Post-Normal science, the analysis of energy flows and matter transformations is no longer
pertaining to single scientific disciplines, but concerns a complex intertwining of facts, values
and interpretations depending on the variables and boundaries of the system chosen for
analysis.
3.1 Public participation and implications for ‘authentic’ science education
Recognising the interconnections between facts and values in dealing with topics of energy
and matter has two important implications for science education. First, there is recognition of
the arbitrary nature of our choices in relation to selecting content and variables or providing
abstract and ‘certain’ knowledge. So, it is important that young people are encouraged to
develop meta-reflective competences. As citizens charged with the task of expressing
opinions and making concrete choices, they will need to be able to recognise the multiplicity
of visions and interpretations, not necessarily mutually exclusive, but all partial and limited,
when dealing with complex problems. Secondly, the loss of certainty provided by traditional
science requires young people to think creatively and to acquire both rights and
responsibilities for participation in decision-making processes of personal and collective
relevance. Schools and universities have the duty to develop young people’s dialogical,
epistemic and relational competences to take part in the dialogue between science and society
(Kasemir et al., 2003). This is the framework of our empirical work focussed on
understanding energy flows and matter transformations on our Planet and promoting active
participation in decision-making processes on such topics.
3
3.2. Research on students’ and teachers’ conceptions of energy flows and matter
transformations
Over the past 20 years, there has been an extensive ongoing research into students and
teachers’ conceptions of energy and matter, with some recurrent issues. In the first instance,
ideas of ‘consumption’ of energy dominate, while ideas of conservation are difficult to grasp
(Pinto et al., 2005). As an abstract concept, energy is often referred to as a ‘thing’ linked to
human uses. Chemical transformations of matter involving microscopic particles are difficult
to conceptualise and to link with energy transformations (Liu and Lesniak, 2006). In biology,
processes of photosynthesis, respiration and decay are considered separately from matter
cycling (Leach et al., 1996; Lin & Hu, 2003; Brown and Schwartz, 2009). Conceptual
obstacles also exist in relation to the notion of ‘ecosystem’, which is usually understood as a
geographical unit rather than a space of intersection of flows of energy and matter cycles
across dynamic boundaries (Peterfalvi et al., 1987; Carlsson, 2002). Existing research
underlines the presence of misconceptions, confusion between everyday life events and
scientific terms (Kaper & Goedhart, 2002) and persistence of simplified approaches, with
little effort to apply concepts created in a specific disciplinary field (classical mechanics:
Bécu-Robinault and Tiberghien, 1998) to events and process occurring in natural systems.
Dincer and Rosen (2007) for example report that an understanding of exergy is almost nonexistent in lay members of the public and there is often conflation between the meanings of
the two terms: exergy and energy. More generally, there is an inability to relate scientific
concepts to real situations, at both local and global scales (Domenech et al., 2007).
More recently, studies on cognitive development linked misconceptions with broader
processes of ontological configuration and shifting (Chi, 2005). A number of suggestions are
being put forward for enacting active learning pedagogies aimed at facilitating
contextualisation, such as drawing relationships within a food web (Sandoval, 2003);
developing research-based learning progressions (Anderson, 2010); promoting crossfertilization between disciplines, such physics and philosophy (Coelho, 2009); encouraging
dialogue between different worldviews and cross-cultural representations (Van Eijck & Roth,
2007). Some Authors (e.g. Dahlin et al., 2009; Gyberg & Lee, 2010) underline that the
disciplinary and traditional background of most teachers prevents students from grasping the
interdisciplinary and complex features of the concept of energy. In the context of philosophy
of education, Osberg and Biesta (2008) argue that legitimating a plurality of epistemologies is
a means for connecting the individual with the collective levels, and for addressing broader
aspects of socio-cultural development. Taking into account the variety of inputs, ranging from
epistemological, cognitive to methodological and relational aspects, issues of energy flows
and matter transformations offer the opportunity to science education research and practice to
combine a focus on single conceptions with attention towards interpersonal relationships and
language uses. The classroom context allows participants to engage in dialogue aimed at
developing awareness: of the limits of our own perspectives and of the limits of the Earth.
4. Our research
The interactive course on ‘energy flows and matter transformations’ was the context of an
emancipatory, action-research process aimed at engaging people with discussion of open
problems which are personally and socially relevant (Kemmis & Wilkinson, 2002). The
course (25 hours) was offered every year over a decade, involving graduate students from a
variety of science backgrounds, enrolled in a two-year teacher training degree for secondary
school. All activities were designed to elicit students’ personal reflection about their own
conceptions, to stimulate their participation in discussion and to promote the practice of
listening to each other, sharing knowledge and comparing views. Personal reflection and
4
dialogue with peers was enriched by inputs from the teacher in the course of conversations,
presentation of students’ data, and integration of information from various sources.
All activities were steps in a process of co-construction of interdisciplinary knowledge and
building of understanding of complex processes. Beginning with the first project, carried on
in 1999/2000, and integrating the results and the experiences of the course with current socioenvironmental events and scientific publications on the topic - the activities were
progressively organised into a sequence, comprising a variety of learning moments: from the
gathering of initial perceptions to group activities, individual exercises, integration of
disciplinary inputs and so on.
Due to space limitations, we present here the results of two activities: a) a semi-open ended
questionnaire looking at direct and indirect connections with the sun; and b) an open question:
“if energy is conserved, why do we talk about an energy crisis?” directed towards the
implications of energy uses. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected throughout the
course (observers’ notes, discussion recordings, participants’ comments and final
assignments). Quantitative analysis of global data from students enrolled in the course over
the years gives an indication of common themes and trends; qualitative analysis of students’
products from the most recent course (2008/09) illustrates specific thought processes.
The analysis is aimed at illustrating the epistemological and methodological landscape of
students’ thinking processes.
4. Results
4.1. If and how do we depend on the sun?
In order to make the most of participants’ variety of disciplinary backgrounds, we designed
activities that could be approached by every student by drawing on their own, personal
competences. In particular here, the focus was on the acquisition of awareness of different
disciplinary perspectives, which are often used unconsciously and shape the way in which
knowledge is organised (Chi, 2005). The activity consisted of a list of questions about
processes which were potentially related with the sun: the participants had to choose among
three answers (not dependent on the sun; directly dependent; indirectly dependent). This
activity was proposed over several years, each time with small modifications in the way it was
conducted (individual work followed by plenary discussion; pairs’ discussion; collective
reflection), but keeping the questions unchanged. In presenting the activity it was always
specified that we were not concerned with assessing the ‘correct’ answer but with sharing
points of view and enriching personal conceptions on the topic of energy flows and matter
transformations. Finally, it was also an opportunity to experiment with a tool that could be
adapted for classroom use. During the task, some items were not answered; for other items,
two answers were sometimes given. Figure A provides results collected from five courses
during which this activity was proposed (total number of students: 66).
Insert Figure 1 here
For some phenomena there was a high level of agreement: for example, ocean evaporation
was recognised by everybody as a process directly connected to the sun. Similarly,
phenomena involving the Earth sciences (e.g. continental drift; earthquakes) were considered
as non-dependent on the sun. On other phenomena there was always some disagreement. For
example, when discussing lightning, or the movement of a steam engine, it emerged from
students themselves that such disagreement was depending on whether they had considered
shorter or longer sections of the sequence of transformations connecting each phenomenon
with the sun:
5

lightning: solar energy causes atmospheric circulation, and it is indirectly responsible
for clouds’ movements and accumulation of electric charges within them;
 Steam engine: solar energy stored over geological times is released by means of fossil
fuels combustion and it is used for moving the train.
In the first instance, solar dependency is recognised by extending the spatial scale (from the
single cloud to general atmospheric circulation); for the second example, it is the time scale
that is extended, going back into the past. In both cases, different answers depend on different
ways of setting boundaries.
Reconceptualization of boundaries is evident in those cases where only a minority of
participants had expressed contrasting opinions: while almost everybody (56 versus 9) agreed
on the dependency of the human brain from the sun (indirectly, mainly through feeding
processes), only 43 students versus 23 asserted that computer’s memorisation of information
is not dependent on the sun: the designer’s creativity and the use of fossil energy in
manufacturing the machine were not taken into consideration. Also for these items there is no
one, single right answer: it is a matter of finding agreement as to where the boundaries of the
system should be traced. Minority cases proved particularly interesting for putting into light
the existence of less conventional ways of thinking, stimulating reflection on one’s own way
of thinking and raising awareness of disciplinary or trans-disciplinary approaches to problem
solving. At times, questions emerged which nobody was able to answer (including teachers
and facilitators), translating into practice the idea of ‘educating community’ where everybody
has something to offer and much to learn.
The case of helium dirigible elicited lively discussions among participants: they asked
questions about the gas composition and properties of the atmosphere, the role of gravity and
so on.
The role of the sun on the compass movement and the dependency/ independency of nuclear
power stations on the sun were similarly investigated. Also in these cases the different time
and space scales considered affected people’s different choices.
In the second part of the activity students were asked to detail the sequence of energy
transformations of two items of choice (a1), and to create cases of their own (a2).
(a1) hundreds of examples were collected. Some were sequences (e.g. sun – ocean
evaporation – rain – soil erosion); others detailed physical processes (water is heated by the
sun with generation of convective motions of cold and warm water producing currents). In
other cases, we found descriptions of chemical transformations (photosynthesis with organic
matter assemblage [Electromagnetic energy  Chemical energy] – birds feed on organic
matter which is used as fuel for growth and production of ATP by means of respiration 
ATP allows muscular contraction for flying. Sharing such examples amongst everybody
allowed for productive dialogue between people from different disciplines, with acquisition of
linguistic as well as disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge.
(a2) The task of creating new examples was explicitly aimed at stimulating beginning
teachers towards making personal and creative use of given materials. Table 1 contains some
of the examples provided (and which can be used for further discussions…):
Insert Table 1 here
Overall, this preliminary activity helped participants to cooperatively build a picture of the
variety and interconnectedness of energy flows underpinning processes and phenomena on
the Planet, the multiplicity of matter transformations, the involvement of biotic as well as
abiotic elements, and the different spatial and temporal scales involved in the description and
measurement of such processes.
6
At the level of interpersonal relationships, the non judgemental atmosphere and the pleasure
and surprise derived from sharing each other’s work contributed to a relaxed but focussed
atmosphere: participation from all was encouraged and each person brought a perspective
which could be appreciated by others. Besides, the possibility to discuss the implications of
the answers to the proposed questions and to gather new suggestions contributed to make
apparent the dynamic and flexible nature of this tool and to develop participants’ confidence
in their ability to create educational approaches for their pupils.
4.2. If energy is conserved, why do we talk about an ‘energy crisis?
This activity was usually proposed during the third lesson, as a free writing exercise. The
topic was energy uses and the demands for energy we make, both as single individuals and
members of societal groups. Analysis of participants’ comments was returned during one of
the subsequent lessons, to extend reflection on personal lifestyles and ecosystem functioning.
Global analysis of students’ answers (N=106) gives an indication of the most common ways
of interpreting the term ‘energy crisis’. For example:
“The ‘energy crisis’ we have may depend on the fact that energy sources (oil - but
also water) are diminishing. Over time, excessive use of so-called energy resources
has caused depletion. This imbalance between growing demand and resource
availability has generated a situation of ‘crisis’.”
Energy is conserved but it may be available in forms which are not usable by humans.
In addition, ‘energy crisis’ is manifested when renewable sources are not used.
There is a energy crisis because energy sources such as oil are diminishing.
Unfortunately renewable sources are not sufficiently exploited yet, for example solar
panels for capturing solar energy, which are still very few.
These examples reflect common ways of thinking about the need for finding new sources to
maintain current rates of production and consumption. While there are populations with
cultures, lifestyles and power consumptions that are far below that of developed countries in
the Western world, framing energy crisis in terms of ‘scarcity’ appears to exclude reflection
on the legitimacy - and impacts - of current demands and consumptions. So ‘crisis’ is
understood as the impossibility of continuing current activities and maintaining high
consumption lifestyles. Humanity is equated to affluent societies in the Western world.
Comments about personal behaviours and energy uses appear to be less frequent (and
somehow problematic in relation to the awareness of power density of energy sources):
(…) If mankind used renewable sources they would overcome such crisis. Something
to consider is also the excessive demand. Some activities could be considered pure
luxury in human life.
This frame was used as the starting point for initiating a collective discussion on the role of
boundaries in framing/interpreting the question. While there is clarity about the need to
exploit matter (fossil fuels) in order to obtain energy, no one underlines the main qualities of
fossil fuels – that is power density and the weight to power ratio; moreover, the destiny of
matter constituting fuel when energy is transformed in a less ‘useful’ form, goes out of sight.
Typical examples of energy and matter use tend to refer to direct applications (transport,
lightning, heating and so on), with less emphasis on the use of energy to transform other
matter (i.e. with production of consumable goods) and ecosystems too. So within this frame,
energy is sought out from a linear process involving energy as an independent variable,
7
overshadowing the notion of the interconnectedness of energy and matter in most
transformations (Littledyke et al., 2000). As problems tend to be perceived in linear terms
with an emphasis towards researching solutions derived from a logic of cause-effect on a
short time – scale, reflections and dialogue had the role of stimulating the development of a
more complex scenario: energy flows and matter transformations occur within the planetary
system, are inextricably interconnected and involve abiotic as well as biotic components
(from bacteria to biomes).
5. Discussion and Conclusions
Due to space limitations we were only able to describe two of the activities proposed during
our interactive course. As we shortly illustrated, participants were actively involved,
alternating reflective, individual contributions with participation in plenary discussions.
Students’ final assignment was another opportunity for meta-reflection.
Comparing individuals’ contributions allowed for developing awareness of different points of
view, languages, explanations, that each participant had acquired from University studies.
Moreover, different choices of scale and system’s boundaries were identified as elements of
divergence and contradiction in students’ explanations. For example, processes involving the
microscopic scale were difficult to explain and to relate to macroscopic aspects. Some
explanations were finalistic, others followed a linear logic of cause and effect.
Such reflexive approach helped student teachers to connect science topics – and more
specifically energy flows and matter transformations – to real situations, through the
identification of context boundaries and personal involvement in decisional processes
concerning such flows and transformations. Thanks to the activities proposed during the
course, most participants were able – at the end of this learning experience – to make use of
energy flows and matter transformations as an effective conceptual tool to deal with the
complexity of our interactions with natural systems, where biotic and abiotic components are
deeply intermingled. Students’ competences included the ability to investigate socioenvironmental issues with an interdisciplinary approach, and with awareness of the need for
dialogue among people with different views and experiences; the perspective of Biology both
enriches and was enriched by other visions.
From an epistemological point of view, the learning process so described constituted a
moment of collective and ‘authentic’ participation in science-society interactions. Different
kinds of knowledge and approaches were shared with a view of connecting different aspects
within a holistic, sustainability view.
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Table 1: examples proposed by the students
phenomenon
NO sun
Plants’ geotropism
Yes, directly
from the sun
Yes, indirectly
from the sun
x
Hair growth
x
Flood
x
Formation of salt
x
Combustion of a candle
x
Landslide
x
10
Figure 1 – Global results from the activity ‘dependency on the sun’.
Earthquake
co ntinental drfit
vo lcano es
nuclear po wer statio n
o rientatio n o f the co mpass
memo risatio n o f info rmatio n in a co mputer
flight o f a helium dirigible
mo vement o f a steam engine
mo vement o f a petro l car
Lightning
waterfall
NO sole
sea waves
SI sole dir
memo risatio n o f info rmatio n in the human brain
Si sole indir
birds' flight
mo vement o f a running animal
rain
wind po wer mill
A valanche
Sea P lankto n mo vements
so il ero sio n
plant gro wth
marine currents
warming up o f the so il o n a sunny day
Ocean evapo ratio n
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
11