School science models of energy and their representation in in-service training

Abstract Energy is both a concept of everyday life linked with strong societal issues and an abstract scientific concept particularly complex to teach. Teaching energy requires the use of scientific school models and can be facilitated by the use of energy chains. Through guided interviews, models and associated chains proposed by academic trainers (in-service education) have been clarified. These models and their representations are diverse, and only a few are derived from those promoted by research in didactics. In particular, they generally do not take into account the degradation of energy, a property which is nevertheless fundamental to talk about energy in a societal context.