MSP:MiddleSchoolPortal/Energy Transfers and Transformations:
Sparking Student Interest From Middle School Portal Energy
Transfers & Transformations: Sparking Student Interest -
Introduction As we each move through our day, we are constantly
witnessing and experiencing changes in energy. Most of us just
don’t notice. It starts when the alarm clock goes off and
continues as we power up with breakfast, do our morning workout,
and drive to school. Even the leaves on plants are quietly
converting solar energy into chemical energy! It is easy to get
hung up with the concept of energy. Even Nobel laureate Richard
Feynman (1995, pgs. 71-72) found it an abstract topic. It is
important to realize that in physics today, we have no knowledge
of what energy is. We do not have a picture that energy comes in
little blobs of a definite amount. It is not that way. However,
there are formulas for calculating some numerical quantity and
when we add it together it gives "28"—always the same number. It
is an abstract thing in tha