The Next Generation Science Standards lay out a model of energy that locates energy within objects and fields, and tracks energy as it transfers between these objects and transforms between forms of energy while always being conserved. This model of energy pervades much of modern science and represents a foundational, cross-cutting concept for students. However, because it is abstract, energy is a very difficult topic for most students to learn. We have developed Energy Cubes to help make energy more concrete for students. Energy Cubes allow groups of learners to represent the dynamic energy changes in real-world scenarios by moving and flipping cubes on a horizontal shared workspace (see Fig. 1.) While Energy Cubes are accessible for elementary students, with carefully chosen scenarios we have found that Energy Cubes promote sophisticated and rigorous reasoning and argumentation among learners at all grade levels. The rules of Energy Cubes are presented in Fig. 2.

1.
N. L.
States
,
Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States
(
The National Academies Press
,
Washington DC
,
2013
).
2.
K. E.
Gray
,
M. C.
Wittmann
,
S.
Vokos
, and
R. E.
Scherr
, “
Drawings of energy: Evidence of the Next Generation Science Standards model of energy in diagrams
,”
Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.
15
,
10129
(
May
2019
).
3.
S.
Crissman
,
S.
Lacy
,
J.
Nordine
, and
R.
Tobin
, “
Looking through the energy lens
,”
Sci. Child.
52
,
26
31
(
Feb.
2015
).
4.
Focus on Energy
,” https://focusonenergy.terc.edu/, accessed Jan. 24, 2020.
5.
R. E.
Scherr
,
H. G.
Close
,
S. B.
McKagan
, and
S.
Vokos
, “
Representing energy. II. Energy tracking representations
,”
Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.
8
,
20115
(
Oct.
2012
).
6.
A. R.
Daane
,
L.
Wells
, and
R. E.
Scherr
, “
Energy theater
,”
Phys. Teach.
52
,
291
294
(
April
2014
).
7.
L. J.
Atkins
et al, “
Animating energy: Stop-motion animation and energy tracking representations
,”
Phys. Teach.
52
,
152
156
(
Feb.
2014
).
8.
R. E.
Scherr
et al, “
Energy tracking diagrams
,”
Phys. Teach.
54
,
96
102
(
Jan.
2016
).
9.
K. E.
Gray
and
R. E.
Scherr
, “
Drawing energy: Evidence of Next Generation Science Standards for energy in diagrams
,”
2016 PERC Proc.
28
131
(
2016
).
11.
B. W.
Harrer
,
V. J.
Flood
, and
M. C.
Wittmann
, “
Productive resources in students’ ideas about energy: An alternative analysis of Watts’ original interview transcripts
,”
Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.
9
,
23101
(
Sept.
2013
).
12.
D. M.
Watts
, “
Some alternative views of energy
,”
Phys. Educ.
18
,
213
217
(
May
1983
).
13.
R.
Driver
,
A.
Squires
,
P.
Rushworth
, and
V.
Wood-Robinson
,
Making Sense of Secondary Science: Research Into Children’s Ideas
(
Routledge, New York
,
1994
).
14.
T. G.
Amin
, “
Conceptual metaphor meets conceptual change
,”
Hum. Dev.
52
,
165
197
(
April
2009
).
15.
E.
Brewe
, “
Energy as a substance-like quantity that flows: Theoretical considerations and pedagogical consequences
,”
Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.
7
,
20106
(
Sept.
2011
).
16.
R. E.
Scherr
,
H. G.
Close
,
S. B.
McKagan
, and
S.
Vokos
, “
Representing energy. I. Representing a substance ontology for energy
,”
Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.
8
,
20114
(
Oct.
2012
).
17.
B. W.
Frank
and
R. E.
Scherr
, “
Interactional processes for stabilizing conceptual coherences in physics
,”
Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.
8
,
20101
(
July
2012
).
18.
R. E.
Scherr
et al, “
Negotiating energy dynamics through embodied action in a materially structured environment
,”
Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res.
9
,
20105
(
July
2013
).
19.
F.
Goldberg
,
S.
Robinson
, and
V.
Otero
,
Physics and Everyday Thinking
(
It’s About Time
,
Armonk
,
2006
).
20.
L.
Seeley
,
S.
Vokos
, and
E.
Etkina
, “
Examining physics teacher understanding of systems and the role it plays in supporting student energy reasoning
,”
Am. J. Phys.
7
,
510
519
(
June
2019
).
21.
A. D.
Robertson
,
R. E.
Scherr
, and
D.
Hammer
,
Responsive Teaching in Science and Mathematics
(
Routledge, New York
,
2016
).
22.
L. S.
Shulman
, “
Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching
,”
Educ. Res.
15
,
4
14
(
Feb.
1986
).
23.
R. G.
Tobin
,
S. J.
Lacy
,
S.
Crissman
,
N.
Haddad
,
O.
Wentink
, and
L.
Seeley
, “
Where does energy go when it’s ‘gone’? Promoting understanding of energy dissipation
,”
Am. J. Phys.
87
,
569
576
(
June
2019
).
AAPT members receive access to The Physics Teacher and the American Journal of Physics as a member benefit. To learn more about this member benefit and becoming an AAPT member, visit the Joining AAPT page.