written by Timothy A. French, Annette Sanchez, Lauren A. Macur Brousil, and Emma E. Balison

The language used to describe concepts related to energy within the disciplines of physics and chemistry was interpreted in terms of the common definitions and ontologies of energy.  Experts and novices in both domains were asked to define energy, kinetic energy, and potential energy and perform word association tasks as part of a larger semi-structured interview on energy.  The provided responses were coded and analyzed based on definition and ontology to determine consistency.   In general, a range of views on energy was seen, with most novices defining energy as "the ability to do work."  Experts tended to describe energy more generally based on its characteristics.  These are preliminary results related to a larger study looking at the compartmentalization of energy concepts between the domains of chemistry and physics.

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Last Modified December 16, 2015

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