4 - PS3.A (B) - Energy Movement - FINAL (WND 1/21/2014)

Module: Energy Movement

DCI: PS3.A (B) Definitions of Energy – Energy can be moved from place to place by moving objects, or through sound, light, or electric currents.

PE: 4-PS3-2 Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

PE: 4-PS3-3 Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.

 [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include quantitative measurements of energy.]

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the change in the energy due to the change in speed, not on the forces, as objects interact.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include quantitative measurements of energy.]

The ideas we see in this standard are: 

- energy can be moved from place to place by moving objects

- energy can be moved from place to place through sound

- energy can be moved from place to place through light

- energy can be moved from place to place through electric currents

The first PE says to make observations to provide evidence.  Picturing a diagram - perhaps a pot of boiling water over a stove, a second diagram of a pot of water not on a stove, not boiling - this provides evidence that energy is being transferred through heat... We can do several like that - where the two objects interacting are transferring energy in some way and ask students to explain. 

The second PE is a little more difficult.  When two objects collide, how does the energy change? This is similar to an earlier batch we did where students had to predict how the motion of one object would change when it collided with a second object.  We can recycle some of those diagrams. 

Possible Question Starters:

"Students built a electrical circuit like the one shown in the diagram.   

How can the students show that energy can move through this circuit?"

correct answer - close the switch

incorrect answer - replace the lightbulb, use a smaller battery, lengthen the wires

"Two balls are pushed towards each other and they collide. 

How might the energy of ball "A" change as it collides with ball "B"?"

correct answer - Ball A will transfer some of its energy to ball B

incorrect answer - Ball A will lose all of its energy as heat