Key Idea: Everything has energy.
Students should know that:
- All objects have energy, and different objects can have different amounts of energy.
- The amount of energy an object has can change.
- Changes in motion and temperature or giving off and taking in sound and light are indicators that the energy of an object has changed.
Boundaries:
- At this level, students are not expected to know that when the amount of energy an object has changes, that energy is transferred somewhere else. This idea is covered at the intermediate level.
- At this level, students are not expected to know that the increase in energy somewhere equals the decrease in energy somewhere else. This idea is covered at the advanced level.
| Item ID Number |
Knowledge Being Assessed | Grades 4–5 |
Grades 6–8 |
Grades 9–12 |
Select This Item for My Item Bank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A speaker, light bulb, and rock all have energy because all objects have energy. | 49% | 69% |
70% |
|
|
47% | 62% |
68% |
|
||
46% | 55% |
61% |
|
||
48% | 49% |
63% |
|
||
Both a falling rock and a rock on a cliff have energy because all things have energy. | 20% | 30% |
42% |
|
Misconception |
Student Misconception |
Grades 4–5 |
Grades |
Grades |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cold/frozen objects do not have any thermal energy (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.). | 34% | 37% |
25% | |
33% | 25% |
23% | ||
23% | 17% |
15% | ||
22% | 15% |
11% | ||
The total amount of energy an object has cannot change (AAAS Project 2061, n.d.). | 12% | 13% |
13% | |
17% | 11% |
9% | ||
11% | 12% |
10% |
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.
Code |
Statement |
|---|---|