Legett, 2003
An Australian researcher explored energy issues (particularly renewability and sustainability) with non-scientists within the community aged 30-50. They found that participants’ energy concepts were multifaceted, with most having a strong personal component but also social, technical, and cosmic dimensions.
Teaching and Learning Implications
- The researcher suggests starting with efficiency when teaching energy and the environment. You can use students' understanding of "energy flow" to make renewable energy more understandable to students.
Learners’ ideas
- For some participants, the term ‘renewable’ was equivalent to ‘replaceable’.
- All participants described energy as a human-centred activity, rather than a scientific analysis tool. Life and its associated kinetic, thermal and potential energies were core elements in all descriptions.
- Participants described energy as a causal agent and assumed links between energy and force.
- The law of conservation of energy appeared to be totally absent from participants’ concepts of energy.
Study Structure
Aims
The paper explores the public, non-specialist or non-science student understanding of energy.
Evidence collection
Groups of five participants worked individually on interpreting images, creating a collage, and then discussing their thoughts with the rest of the group. The researcher then discusses their observations of the sessions.
Details of the sample
The sample consisted of community participants (local volunteers) in their early 30s to late 50s. Six groups of 5 adults took part in the discussions. All participants were self-classified non-scientists with qualifications ranging from "non-completion of their formal school education to a university arts degree".