Science Assessment ~ Ideas ~ Motion energy (kinetic energy) is associated with the speed and the mass of an object.

Key Idea: Transformations and transfers of energy within a system usually result in some energy being released into its surrounding environment causing an increase in the thermal energy of the environment.

Sub-Ideas
Items & Student Performance
Misconceptions
NGSS

Students should know that:

When objects interact with each other or with the surrounding environment, some amount of energy is transformed into thermal energy that is transferred to the surrounding environment.
Because thermal energy always results from these interactions, it is impossible to convert 100% of one form of energy into another form of energy.
Processes that involve an interaction between objects or between an object and the surrounding environment will eventually stop unless additional energy is added to keep them running because the amount of energy available to keep the process running decreases as energy is transferred to the surrounding environment.
Some interactions between objects or between objects and the surrounding environment transfer more energy to their environment than others. For example, increasing the amount of friction, including air resistance, increases the amount of energy transfer to the surrounding environment.
There are ways to reduce the amount of energy transferred to the environment, for example, by using insulation to reduce the amount of energy transferred by conduction or using reflective materials to reduce the amount of energy transferred by radiation.

Boundaries:

Items do not ask students to make any calculations about how much energy is transferred to the surrounding environment. For example, students are not asked to use equations like KE = 1/2mv2 of PE = mgh.

Percent of students answering correctly (click on the item ID number to view the item and additional data)
Item ID Number	Knowledge Being Assessed	Grades 4–5	Grades 6–8	Grades 9–12
RG127002	In a windmill, 100% of the kinetic energy from the wind cannot be converted into electrical energy because a small amount of energy will always be converted into thermal energy and transferred to the environment, during each transfer and transformation of energy.	39%	41%	52%
RG119002	When a battery is used to power a flashlight, a small amount of energy is transformed into thermal energy.	30%	36%	56%
RG128002	Friction between a carpet and a chair will increase the amount of energy transferred to the environment, so in order to move the chair on the carpet, a man will have to transfer more energy to the chair.	28%	34%	44%
RG149002	When a student pushes a block across a table energy is transferred to the environment as thermal energy.	21%	28%	41%
RG170002	Which energy flow diagram represents the flow of energy when a wind-up car is wound and then let go?	N/A	29%	36%
RG065002	When a rubber band is stretched and then let go of, some elastic energy is converted into kinetic energy and some energy is also transferred to the surroundings.	20%	30%	40%
RG114002	When two balls collide, a small amount of energy was transferred to the environment as thermal energy.	29%	27%	35%
NG065005	A pendulum stops swinging because the motion energy of the ball is transferred somewhere else, like the air, as the ball swings from side to side.	24%	24%	35%
RG064002	The amount of kinetic energy a white ball has after being hit by a black ball is less than the amount of kinetic energy the black ball had before the collision because when energy was transferred from the black ball to the white ball, some energy was also transferred to the surroundings.	22%	23%	33%

Frequency of selecting a misconception
Misconception ID Number	Student Misconception	Grades 4–5	Grades 6–8	Grades 9–12
NGM009	An object has energy within it that is used up as the object moves (Brook & Driver, 1984; Kesidou & Duit, 1993; Loverude, 2004; Stead, 1980).	60%	60%	52%
NGM037	An object always gains energy as it moves. For example, the height that a pendulum reaches after it is released is greater than its starting height because it gains energy as it swings (Loverude, 2004).	32%	31%	29%
NGM060	Energy can be destroyed (Kruger, 1990; Trumper, 1998).	30%	34%	26%
NGM010	Energy can be created (Kruger, 1990; Lovrude, 2004; Papadouris et al., 2008).	31%	31%	21%
RGM010	Energy can be changed completely from one form to another (no energy losses) (Hapkiewicz, 1992).	36%	24%	25%
RGM006	Energy only degrades when it is not conserved (Pinto, et al., 2005). In other words, energy does not degrade in systems where energy cannot enter or leave.	20%	20%	18%
EGM048	Living things give inanimate objects energy by carrying or pushing them. For example, a person gives a bike energy by riding it or a bird give a stick energy by carrying it (Herrmann-Abell & DeBoer, 2010).	16%	16%	13%
NGM040	The total amount of energy an object has cannot change (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.).	9%	12%	13%

Frequency of selecting a misconception was calculated by dividing the total number of times a misconception was chosen by the number of times it could have been chosen, averaged over the number of students answering the questions within this particular idea.

NGSS Statements
Code	Statement
PS3.B Grade 4	Energy is present whenever there are moving objects, sound, light, or heat. When objects collide, energy can be transferred from one object to another, thereby changing their motion. In such collisions, some energy is typically also transferred to the surrounding air; as a result, the air gets heated and sound is produced.
PS3.D HS	Although energy cannot be destroyed, it can be converted to less useful forms--for example, to thermal energy in the surrounding environment.
PS3.B MS	When the motion energy of an object changes, there is inevitably some other change in energy at the same time.
PS3.B HS	Uncontrolled systems always evolve toward more stable states--that is, toward more uniform energy distribution (e.g., water flows downhill, objects hotter than their surrounding environment cool down).