The use of History and
Philosophy of Science as a core
for a socioconstructivist
teaching approach of the
concept of energy in Primary
Education
Panagiotis Kokkotas*, Katerina Rizaki*, Nikos Valanides**
* Pedagogical Department of Primary Education, National and
Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
** Department of Education, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
Our proposal
a) Our study should be thought as a
socioconstructivist proposal for the teaching
the concept of energy in Primary Education
b) contains important and crucial aspects of
History and Philosophy of Natural Sciences.
These aspects are mainly related with the
progress of the concept of energy in Natural
Sciences
Our objectives are:
1. to introduce the concept of energy using the macroscopic
framework of thermodynamics (the first and second
thermodynamic laws)
2. to take into consideration learners’ alternative ideas or
frameworks relating to energy
3. to take advantage of the causal character of energy as it is
revealed from its historiographical analysis
4. to take advantage of the unifying character of energy as it is
revealed from its historiographical analysis
5. to use energy chains as visual representations for the deep
understanding of the concept of energy
6. to use visual grammar of Kress & van Leeuwen (1996) to
design energy chains and
7. to propose a new methodology for teaching the concept of
energy in primary education.
Introducing the concept of energy within the macroscopic
thermodynamic framework
We tend to support that the macroscopic thermodynamic framework
constitutes the most appropriate framework for the instructional
transformation of the concept of energy in relation to mechanics.
This approach is based on
1. the ideas of Prigogine and Stengers (1979) who consider
thermodynamics as the most appropriate framework for explaining
natural phenomena in comparison with mechanics
2. Arons’ argumentation (Arons,1999) supporting the idea that the
theorem of work and kinetic energy has limited applications in the
framework of mechanics and it does not represent a real energy
equation aligned with thermodynamics
3. the views of Lehrman (1973) for a modern definition of energy
compatible with or aligned to the first and second laws of
thermodynamics.
These ideas stress that an instructional
transformation of the first and second
law of thermodynamics should be
based on the basic properties of
energy
(energy can be stored, conserved,
transformed, degraded, and
transported).
These properties should constitute
the frame of reference for student’s construction
and comprehension of the concept of energy during
its instructional transformation
Learners’ alternative ideas or frameworks
Any socioconstructivist instructional intervention attempts to invest on
learners’ existing alternative ideas or frameworks.
The existing literature supports that many of these alternative conceptions
relating to energy are directly connected with the respective scientific
framework that they refer to (Watts, 1983;Trumper, 1990; Nicholls & Ogborn,
1993; Solomon, 1983; Gilbert & Pope, 1982; Trumper, 1993; Bliss & Ogborn,
1985).
Learners express reasoning patterns connected to energy that are however
intuitively aligned with the accepted scientific framework either at monophenomenological situations, such as electrical or thermal phenomena or at
multi-phenomenological situations when they activate linear causal
reasoning (Koliopoulos & Ravanis, 2001).
Besides, other studies examined students’ difficulties when they use the
concept of energy to interpret different phenomena ((Driver & Warrington
(1985);Solomon (1983)) while students’ qualitative reasoning is defective
even when they have adequate expertise (Golding & Osborne, 1994).
Other studies established students’ difficulties when they use the concept of
energy as a conserved quantity ((Duit,1981); (Driver & Warrington, 1985)).
The causal nature of energy
The relation of energy to causality is revealed from its historiographical analysis
as indicated in the scientific work of several founders and pioneers of the
causal nature of energy (Mayer, cited by Cavena, 1993; Helmholtz cited by
Bevilacqua, 1993).
In a socioconstructivist teaching approach, the causal nature of energy will be
indicated using the following strategies:
1. the concept of energy will be used as a basic concept for interpreting
phenomena
2. the model of “energy chains” will be the basis for designing the program that
incorporates causality (Lemeignan & Weil-Barais, 1993; Tiberghien &
Megalakaki, 1995) and
3. a deliberate attempt will target the identification of learners’ pre-causal
reasoning relating to energy. In particular, learners’ ideas will be identified by
asking them to interpret phenomena or systems where different actions are
present that cause explicit results, so that learners can identify a cause.
The main objective is to identify learners’ pre-causal reasoning patterns and how
to scaffold their development for interpreting phenomena using the concept of
energy.
The unifying nature of energy
The unifying nature of energy is revealed through its historiographical
analysis.
According to Kuhn (1959), naturophilosophy can easily be considered
as an appropriate basis for formulating the principle of conservation
of energy. From our perspective this can justify the philosophical
basis of it, because there was a constant search for a unifying
concept for interpreting all natural phenomena. Closely related to
philosophy of the principle of the concept of energy was also the
tendency certain pioneers of the principle had to identify an
indestructible force built in every natural phenomenon (Kuhn, 1959).
These views provide adequate support for the philosophical and
unifying nature of the concept of energy and give enough support to
our proposal.
The unifying nature of energy is indicated in our proposal by using
the same explanatory principle in interpreting phenomena relating
to electric or heat phenomena and mechanics.
The proposed educational module can explain different phenomena,
such as the emission of light by an electric bulb in a closed electric
circuit, the heating of an amount of water from a camping gas or the
sun heat, the movement of a body due to another moving body, the
movement of a body by a coiled spring. Thus, different natural
systems can be dealt with in a unifying manner by referring to
energy as an entity that can be stored in a system, transformed and
transported among different systems.
We also put emphasis on young students’ ability to recognize
where energy is stored, and an obvious transformer, or receiver of
energy, or a storage agent. Those are selected from their familiar
physical or structured environment
Energy chains as a visual representation contribute
to better comprehend the abstract concept of
energy
Appropriate visual representations are considered as important
instructional tools that can extensively facilitate the comprehension
and internal representation of abstract ideas, such as energy (Buckley,
2000; Patrick et al., 2005; Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996).
Ametller and Pinto (2002) support that external visual representations are
useful tools for effectively teaching science, especially for students
with limited mathematical background, such as those at the primary or
lower secondary school.
Visual representations can integrate multiple relations and are thus
preferable because they have certain advantages when compared with
only textual information (Patrick et al., 2005).
Lemeignan and Weil –Barais (1993) suggested, for example, the use of
symbolic visual representations, such as the “energy chains,” for
scaffolding students thinking and helping them to adequately
comprehend ideas related to energy.
Energy chains
The design of energy chains as visual
representations should be necessarily aligned
with the basic rules of visual grammar (Kress &
van Leeuwen, 1996) and
should also take into consideration research
evidence indicating students’ difficulties in
decoding information embedded in visual
representations (Pinto, 2002; Ametler & Pinto,
2002).
Introducing a stable methodology in our proposal
The instructional materials consist of working sheets characterized
by the same structure. Students are initially invited to design and
conduct appropriate experiments in order to investigate and later
explain the functioning of respective physical systems.
During this process, students attempt to identify the functioning of
these systems and to prepare the hypothetical introduction of the
basic properties through which energy is manifested and
understood.
This school knowledge is then visually represented using the idea of
“energy chains”.
The methodology of the suggested proposal is very similar
to the methodology used by Helmoholtz in the work
Erhaltung (cited by Bevilanqua, 1993).
Helmholtz not only wanted to express a principle, but also to
establish the framework and rules following those principles
which could be formulated and used.
This is what makes Helmholtz’s approach a major step in the
emergence of theoretical physics and shows that his version
of the principle was the application of a sophisticated
methodology.
The use of different physical laws ought to satisfy
experimental results and the principle of energy
conservation
Based on Helmoholtz’s ideas, the properties of energy introduced
hypothetically and could explain natural systems.
First of all, students try to recognize the functioning of physical
systems and to prepare the introduction of the basic properties of
energy. These properties are the scientific knowledge that
should constitute the frame of reference for students’
construction and comprehension of the concept of energy during
its instructional transformation (the first and second
thermodynamic laws).
Students construct the energy chains with the rules of visual
grammar.
The energy chains as a visual message differ from a verbal
message because express meanings, which could not be
expressed verbally.
As an example we refer to the structure of a worksheet
which concerns the lighting of an electric bulb which is
part of an electric circuit.
At the beginning we present to the students materials
and ask them to choose the most proper of them in
order to construct an electric circuit in which electric
bulb will light.
When students succeed in their effort to make the bulb
shine, we ask them to explain how it happened. In this
stage we elicit alternative ideas of our students. These
ideas have to do with conceptions closely related with
the phenomenological field of electricity and they
express pre energy causal reasoning when we examine
their views in the context of unifying of electric-thermal
and mechanical phenomena.
After that in the elaboration of the worksheet we try to
examine the role of objects of the electric circuit. This
process constitutes a preparatory stage of the
hypothetical introduction of the concept of energy and
in no circumstances it experimentally proves the
concept of energy
The concept of energy is hypothetically introduced on
the basis of its properties:
Firstly the deposit is introduced,
Secondly the transportation and the transformation.
Next to this in the context of the study of thermal
phenomena we introduce the properties of
conservation and degradation.
In the constructed curriculum the elaboration of the concept of
energy is continued with the energy chains. In this stage we link
experimental elaboration of phenomena with the scientific
information about energy and the design of energy chains.
Students start with the design of the realistic representation which
acts as a “facilitator” of the design of energy chains.
The objects-systems referred as deposits, receivers and
transformers of energy. Deposits are the bodies which give energy,
receivers are those bodies which take energy and also give, and
transformers are the bodies which transform energy which receive
with a square we represent the deposits and the receivers of energy
and with a triangle the transformers. Each of these schemes has a
meaning which is socioculturally shaped.
When students finished the design of simple
forms of energy chains, they add elements which
concern the ways of transfer of energy and the
forms of deposited energy.
For example they could write in the square
chemical energy if the deposit is a battery, as in an
electric circuit. Indicatively, we refer to some ways
of transfer energy such as electricity for the
electric work, the motion as mechanical work
(which refers to mechanical phenomena).
The representation of the way of transfer in an
energy chain is symbolized with an arrow on
which we write the way of transfer.
We also try a semi-quantitative approach which can
be achieved with the following ways
1. Implied conservation in the context of energy
chains
2. With the help of an analogical model as well as of
role play. The process of exchange is a good
example
3. With discussions which have to do with the
reduction of the quantity of energy. For example the
increase of the temperature of a quantity of water
which is heated with the burning of natural gas
which reduces its quantity.
In addition we extend the use of the concept of energy in
the field of technology and the environment.
Thus, not only we introduce the technological aspects of
energy but we also emphasize the distinction between
technological forms and theoretical forms of energy.
We will also emphasize the renewable and non renewable
sources of energy that are related to technology.
Obviously, the implications of technological forms of
energy on our global environment can be easily revealed
and comprehended.