Virginia SOL 5.2

5.2 is a Standards of Learning science standard. These are the key ideas and practices under it.

• 5.2.a

  energy is the ability to do work or to cause change

• 5.2.b

  there are many different forms of energy

• 5.2.c

  energy can be transformed

• 5.2.d

  energy is conserved.

01

What Students Need to Do

Students identify common forms of energy, including chemical, electrical, light, thermal, sound, and motion energy. They trace how energy changes form and explain that it is transferred or transformed, not created or destroyed.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

Students can label the energy changes in a flashlight, toaster, moving bicycle, or bouncing ball. They explain that energy which seems lost has usually spread as thermal energy or sound.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may think energy is a substance stored only in batteries or that moving objects contain no energy once they stop. They may also say energy disappears instead of recognizing its transfer into thermal energy, sound, or another form.

04

How to Assess It

Give students a picture of a battery-powered flashlight. Ask them to draw and label the energy chain, then explain why no energy disappears.

1. 01

   Build a battery-and-bulb circuit, then label chemical, electrical, light, and thermal energy at each point.

2. 02

   Write an energy story for a bouncing ball, including where its motion energy goes when the ball stops.

3. 03

   Play an energy-chain card sort, matching sources, forms, transformations, and observable changes.

4. 04

   Inspect three classroom appliances and chart each device's input energy and its useful and unwanted output forms.

• PS.5

  The student will investigate and understand that energy is conserved. Key ideas include

• PS.6

  The student will investigate and understand that waves are important in the movement of energy. Key ideas include

• 6.4

  The student will investigate and understand that there are basic sources of energy and that energy can be transformed. Key ideas include

• 5.9

  The student will investigate and understand that the conservation of energy resources is important. Key ideas include