Introduction

The Energy Story

The Energy Problem

The Energy Solution

Web Links

Teacher Guide

About the Author

In The Beginning
The content material on the types of energy and energy changes started as an attempt to: 1) familiarize students with the concepts of energy; 2) as an introduction to calculating the values of kinetic, gravitational, and spring energy using the basic equations; and, 3) as a lead in to the calculations for conservation of energy problems.

Someone mentioned during an educational workshop how students could "fake" understanding by memorizing answers to the most likely questions. For example, young children could answer the question 2 + 2 = ? by saying 4, but if given pieces of candy could not demonstrate real understanding. After trying some different assessments, it became apparent that this same problem was occuring with this unit on energy. Students didn't really understand these types of energies and the changes that were occurring in simple everyday events, let alone the changes that were occuring in a nuclear power plant.

The unit on types of energy was expanded to make sure that students really had a firm grasp of the basic concepts of each type of energy and their changes. Without this understanding, students would surely have problems making informed decisions on the many energy issues confronting our society.

Grade Level / Leveling on Ability
This unit was designed for use with a lower level algebra based physics class taught in 12 th grade. Our school has 4 levels of physics: academic, accelerated, honors, and AP (low to high ability). This unit is used with the accelerated classes. Certainly, the material could also be used in any 9th through 12th grade physical science, chemistry, or physics class, by adding or substracting curriculum material or varying the time spent.

Summary List / Sequencing
The content material and associated exercises are designed to be used in a linear fashion, from The Energy Story to the Energy Problem to the Energy Solution. Obviously, instructors might want to pick and choose parts of the content to fit into their required or desired curriculum. Below is an expanded outline with a brief description of the content material. Links are provided to each page. An asterick (*) is shown next to exercises that might be useful on their own.

National Science Standards

Many parts of this site can support different areas of the U.S. National Science Education Standards. You can find which standards are supported by each section of this site from the table below. All of the standards are for grades 9-12.

The Energy Story	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Energy is Born	.	*	.	*	.	*	.	.	*
Energy Types	.	*	*	*	*	*	.	*	*
Energy Changes	.	.	.	*	*	*	.	*	*
Energy Generation	.	.	*	.	*	*	.	*	.
The Energy Problem	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Conservation of Energy	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	*	.
Aging of Energy	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.
Finite Resources	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.
The Oil "Crisis"	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Energy Pollution	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Discussion Topics	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.
The Energy Solution	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Conserving Electricity	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Appliance Efficiency	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.
Heating Conservation
Renewable Energy	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	*

The Energy Story	.	.	.	.	.	.
Energy is Born	.	.	.	.	.	.
Energy Types	.	.	.	.	.	.
Energy Changes	.	.	.	.	.	.
Energy Generation	.	.	*	*	.	.
The Energy Problem	.	.	.	.	.	.
Conservation of Energy	.	.	*	.	.	.
Aging of Energy	.	.	*	*	.	.
Finite Resources	.	*	*	*	.	.
The Oil "Crisis"	.	.	*	*	.	.
Energy Pollution	.	.	.	*	*	.
Discussion Topics	.	.	*	*	*	*
The Energy Solution	.	.	.	.	.	.
Conserving Electricity	.	.	*	.	.	*
Appliance Efficiency	.	.	.	.	.	*
Heating Conservation			*	*		*
Renewable Energy	.	.	*	.	.	*