Qualitative investigation of students’ cross-disciplinary understanding of energy concepts

Think-aloud interviews were used to investigate college students’ cross-disciplinary understanding of energy concepts. Interview subjects were enrolled in a set of four science content courses (physics, biology, geology, and chemistry) for preservice K-8 teachers. These courses, built around the common theme of the flow of energy and matter through interacting systems, use similar vocabulary, modeling tools, and pedagogy to teach energy concepts. The interview tasks were designed to probe how students apply energy concepts originally learned in the physics course in less familiar contexts in geology, biology, and chemistry. Transcripts were analyzed using a coding scheme based on conceptual resources. Thematic analysis was then conducted to identify common patterns in students’ cross-disciplinary reasoning, particularly with regard to potential energy. The constructs of disciplinary and situated productivity were used to guide the development of themes. We find that students engage in productive reasoning about energy across disciplines. Students activate ideas related to energy forms and the objects to which these forms are attached with relatively high frequency, and ideas related to physical indicators and mechanisms for energy transfers and transformations with relatively lower frequency. Students apply potential energy concepts across disciplines, but often struggle to identify the physical manifestations of potential energy changes in less familiar contexts. While this study was conducted in a set of courses for preservice teachers, the findings have broader implications for introductory physics courses that serve as prerequisites for other disciplinary coursework.