The Energy project was a four-year, $1.5 million project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). This project built upon prior research into how students learn the energy concept. Within the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), this project aims to create a more integrated understanding of energy for middle school students by introducing a systems perspective.
The five key areas related to understanding energy are:
- Energy forms
- Transformation
- Transfer
- Dissipation
- Conservation
The project team developed new teaching approaches and tools that accurately assess student understanding of energy concepts, and that support students in a grounded understanding of all energy concepts. Energy is a critical component across science disciplines and a key element in developing a sophisticated understanding of scientific literacy.
This project was a collaboration between CREATE for STEM Institute at Michigan State University, the Leibniz-Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN) in Germany, and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
