The shape of the lesson
By the end of the lesson, learners can
- Watch the stores fill and empty: Choose a process and follow the energy as it moves between stores.
- Stores versus transfers: A store is where energy is held; a transfer is how it moves.
- Stores: kinetic, gravitational, elastic, chemical, nuclear, internal/thermal, electrostatic.
- Transfers: mechanically, electrically, by heating, by waves.
- Conservation: total energy is constant; "lost" energy went to the thermal store.
One picture every idea returns to
Energy is held in stores (kinetic, gravitational potential, elastic, chemical, nuclear, internal/thermal, electrostatic) and moved between them by transfers (mechanical work, electrical, heating, and waves). The total energy is always conserved.
Forty-five minutes, phase by phase
| Time | Phase | What happens in the room | Grouping |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 5 min | Hook: predict | Open with the question in the title, Energy is never lost, only moved.. Burn fuel, charge a phone, lift a weight: in every case energy simply shifts from one store to another. | Whole class, then pairs |
| 5 to 17 min | Teach and check: Watch the stores fill and empty | Choose a process and follow the energy as it moves between stores. Project tab 1 of the lab (Energy stores and transfers) and let a student drive it while the class predicts. | Whole class, then pairs |
| 17 to 30 min | Teach and check: Stores versus transfers | A store is where energy is held; a transfer is how it moves. | Anticipation / Reaction Guide |
| 30 to 36 min | Check | The four Stage 1 questions from the student lesson, answered on mini whiteboards or by show of fingers. Re-teach the one most get wrong. | Individual, then whole class |
| 36 to 43 min | Plenary | The exam-style questions from Stage 2, one at a time: thirty seconds alone, then a random call. The feedback lines in the key give the examiner's wording. | Individual, random call |
| 43 to 45 min | Exit and homework | Set the worksheet below (6 questions, 13 marks). Learners self-assess against the objectives before they leave. | Individual |
Protect the parts that carry the learning
The sequence carries about fifty minutes of material, so the lab is driven by one student while the class predicts rather than explored freely. Times are a guide.
Protected: the check at 30 minutes. It is the only individual read on whether the key idea landed, and it is not cut.
Cut first if the build overruns: the last check in Stores versus transfers, never the check or the plenary.
In a 60 minute block: run worksheet questions 1 to 3 in class as a Rally Coach set and model both the hardest worked example and its check live.
Anticipation / Reaction Guide
Before the lesson, students mark five statements true or false. After the teaching they mark them again and justify any change of mind in one sentence each. The statements come from the examiner traps below.
The full structure, with its variations and the other twelve, is on the cooperative-learning page.
What to head off, and how
| Trap learners fall into | Teaching move that pre-empts it |
|---|---|
| When energy is "used up", it has not vanished. | It has been transferred to the surroundings, usually as thermal energy, where it spreads out and becomes far less useful. The total amount of energy is exactly the same as before, so never write that energy is lost or destroyed. |
Energy stores and transfers: worksheet
6 questions, 13 marks. Written in the style of the papers; no past paper question is reproduced.
State the principle of conservation of energy.
A ball falls freely from a height. State the main energy store it starts with and the store this is transferred to as it falls.
Name four different ways in which energy can be transferred.
A child slides down a playground slide at a steady speed and notices the slide feels warm afterwards. Describe the energy transfers taking place.
A swinging pendulum gradually slows down and eventually stops. Explain what happens to its energy, making clear that energy is still conserved.
State the useful energy transfers that take place in a battery-powered torch when it is switched on.
Answer key and marking notes
- Energy cannot be created or destroyed. ✓
- It can only be transferred from one store to another; the total stays constant. ✓
- It starts with gravitational potential energy. ✓
- As it falls this is transferred to the kinetic store. ✓
- Mechanically (by a force doing work). ✓
- Electrically (by a current). ✓
- By heating. ✓
- By waves (light, sound, radiation). ✓
- Gravitational potential energy decreases as the child descends. ✓
- At steady speed, the kinetic store stays roughly constant. ✓
- The energy is transferred to the thermal store of the slide and child by friction; total energy is conserved. ✓
- Air resistance transfers energy to the thermal store of the surroundings. ✓
- The energy is not destroyed; the total energy is still conserved, just spread into a less useful store. ✓
- The chemical store of the battery is transferred electrically. ✓
- The bulb transfers this to light (by waves), with some to the thermal store. ✓
1 multiple-choice questions on this lesson
From the topic question bank. Assign them in the app for a marked score in your gradebook, or run the topic as a class game.
A ball is thrown straight up. As it rises and slows down, which energy transfer takes place?
- Agravitational potential store to kinetic store
- Bkinetic store to gravitational potential store
- Cchemical store to kinetic store
- Dthermal store to kinetic store
Quiz key
Rising and slowing means kinetic energy falls while gravitational potential energy rises, so the transfer is kinetic to gravitational potential. Option A is the reverse, which describes the ball falling. Energy is transferred between stores, not used up.
What to project
The student lesson embeds these tabs. Open them full screen on the projector; every slider has a drag handle on the stage.
Slides for this lesson
A projectable deck for every pack is on the way. Until then, present the student lesson full screen: its sections, figure and lab tabs follow the same order as the plan above.