LfU
Copy your response from Week 8 Discussion: LfU Forum into your e-folios:
“Using additional literature from the field of science education, what are several conceptual challenges students might have today with understanding Earth Science that LfU might support?
Google Earth Activities for Learning Energy Theories”
After looking into the LfU framework and exploring some GISs, I found a good paper for sharing, “Designing Google Earth Activities for Learning Earth and Environmental Science” (Bodzin et al., 2014). Bodzin et al. introduce an activity powered by Google Earth to guide students through fundamental energy concepts, virtual measuring tools, and quantitative geospatial analysis. This constructive activity can potentially confront some common misconceptions in energy that Science in a nutshell website (Links to an external site.) (2013) has identified below:
“Energy is truly lost in many energy transformations.
There is no relationship between matter and energy.
If energy is conserved, why are we running out of it?
Energy can be changed completely from one form to another (no energy losses).
Things “use up” energy.
Energy is confined to some particular origin, such as what we get from food or what the electric company sells.
An object at rest has no energy.
The only type of potential energy is gravitational.
Gravitational potential energy depends only on the height of an object.
Doubling the speed of a moving object doubles the kinetic energy.
Energy is a “thing.” This is a fuzzy notion, probably because of the way we talk about newton-meters or joules. It is difficult to imagine an “amount” of an abstraction.
The terms “energy” and “force” are interchangeable.
From the non-scientific point of view, “work” is synonymous with “labor.” It is hard to convince someone that more “work” is probably being done playing football for one hour than studying an hour for a quiz.”
I choose to share this activity because it engages students to investigate significant real-world issues such as renewable clean energy in collaborative and inquiry-based learning environments. I believe this meaningful project that combines both content learning and process learning will enable students to remain long-lasting memories of the energy theories as it perfectly fits the LfU model from Edelson(2001).
References:
Bodzin, A. M., Anastasio, D., & Kulo, V. (2014). Designing Google Earth Activities for Learning Earth and Environmental Science. In J. MaKinster, N. Trautmann, & M. Barnett (Eds.), Teaching Science and Investigating Environmental Issues with Geospatial Technology: Designing Effective Professional Development for Teachers (pp. 213–232). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3931-6_13 (Links to an external site.)
Edelson, D.C. (2001). Learning-for-use: A framework for the design of technology-supported inquiry activities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching,38(3), 355-385.
Misconceptions about Energy—Science in a nutshell. (2013). Retrieved March 14, 2021, from https://sites.google.com/site/scienceinanutshell/misconceptions-about-energ