Peer Review

Teaching About Energy

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Oct 27, 2025 by Biology

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This AAPT/PTRA manual contains background references and activities to help teachers and students with the many concepts involved in understanding Energy. Sample student activities from the full print manual are available here. The complete manual includes sections on basic concepts in energy, different forms and conversion of energy, and the social problems involved with energy. Appendices for teachers include help with labs, an energy concept inventory, and information on student learning of the topic.

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This material is content rich for the purpose of educating students about fundamentals of physics.

Type of Material:

Reference Material

Recommended Uses:

In-class lecture by professors for teaching, learning as discussion and mind / concept mapping for additional assessment.

Technical Requirements:

Internet browser

Identify Major Learning Goals:

Students will learn about fundamentals of physics.
Students will be able to explore the connection between energy and work.
Students will be able to apply the knowledge & skills to understand and elaborate concepts and contents on forms of energy.
Students will also be able identify and explain the role of physics in understanding nature of dynamics of static & kinetic motion and how different forms of energy are utilized to do work.
Students will be able to understand & demonstrate relationship between work and energy.
Students will be able to understand the role played by both potential and kinetic energy for acceleration of object.

Target Student Population:

College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Familiarity with basic Physics vocabulary.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

The resource modules identify the learning objectives
At the time of this review, content of material is accurate and up-to-date
Material is clearly laid out in a logical manner
The content is well organized and follows good pedagogy
Each activity demonstrates relationships between concepts
The resource has activities related to energy as a social value

Concerns:

The activities will be much more effective and appealing if there are diagrams and illustrations instead of just pure text.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

Each activity identifies the learning objectives.
The pedagogy of providing information is a nice blend of learning and interactivity.
The way the modules are presented makes it easy to write assignments for.
Most of the resources build on prior concepts and encourage collaboration among participants.
The activities give background information from which the students can learn the concepts under consideration.

Concerns:

Material is basically text and tables of numbers, which may not be very exciting for users who prefer animations and multimedia
Research articles and review articles are lacking along with assessments.Questions- constructive and selective response questions for both ESL & non-ESL students for each and every topic & sub-topic will be helpful.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

Accessible with any browser.
Information is well organized.
Very easy to navigate to the different major sections of site.
Can be used both at academic and non-academic institution.l

Concerns:

The resource is all text and will not appeal to for younger students.
Not visually appealing

Other Issues and Comments:: The resource is fully copyrighted
Creative Commons: