In a transfer, the same type of energy moves from one place to another (heat from a hot drink into your hands). In a transformation, energy changes type (chemical energy in a battery becomes electrical, then light). Almost every transformation also makes some heat that isn't wanted: a by-product.
Touch an old-style light bulb that has been on for a minute and it burns your finger, even though it was only meant to make light.
Energy comes in two families, kinetic and potential. This lesson follows it as it moves and changes.
Engage: Commit to a prediction before you test anything. A wrong guess is fine: it shows you what to look for.
Explore: Try it on the board and compare what happens with your prediction.
Explain: Use the particle model to explain what you saw.
Elaborate: Use the same idea in a new context.
Evaluate: Look back at your first ideas and what changed.
WidthMore contexts, same idea.
Make your prediction first. Help opens once you've locked it in.
EngageCommit to a prediction before you test anything. A wrong guess is fine: it shows you what to look for.
Engage: the hot bulb
ExploreTry it on the board and compare what happens with your prediction.
Explore: build the flow
Try it yourselfYour edits are saved in this browser.
Complete the torch: choose the useful energy at each stage and whether each arrow is a transfer or a transformation, then Check.
Use the board. This ticks when you get there.
Now a hot chocolate warming your hands.
Use the board. This ticks when you get there.
ExplainUse the particle model to explain what you saw.
Explain: transfer, transformation, by-products
In your book: draw the torch as a flow diagram (boxes and arrows). Label each arrow "transfer" or "transformation", and add the by-product heat with a side arrow.
Transfer (same type, new place) or transformation (type changes)?
Heat from a hot pan into the handle
A moving cue ball hitting another ball and making it moveKinetic to kinetic: same type, new place.
Sound travelling from a speaker to your ear
A battery lighting a bulb
A ball falling from a shelfGravitational potential becomes kinetic.
Burning woodChemical becomes heat and light.
For each device, is it the useful output or a by-product?
Electric kettle: heat in the waterHere heat is the job. What counts as a by-product depends on what the device is for.
Electric kettle: heat escaping into the kitchen air
Electric kettle: the rumbling sound
Fan: moving air
Fan: the motor getting warm
Fan: the whirring sound
Elaborate TypicalUse the same idea in a new context.
Elaborate: a speaker
Try it yourselfYour edits are saved in this browser.
Complete the phone speaker, then Check.
Use the board. This ticks when you get there.
Elaborate WiderUse the same idea in a new context.
Elaborate: a bow and arrow
Try it yourselfYour edits are saved in this browser.
Complete the bow and arrow, then Check.
Use the board. This ticks when you get there.
EvaluateLook back at your first ideas and what changed.
Evaluate: look back
Write one sentence: "At first I thought… Now I think… because…"
Revision summary
Transfer: the same type of energy moves to a new place (heat into your hands, sound to your ear).
Transformation: energy changes type (chemical → electrical → light in a torch).
Almost every transformation also makes by-product heat (and sometimes sound) that isn't the useful output.
By-product energy isn't destroyed: it spreads into the surroundings.
For teachers
Students distinguish energy transfer (same type, new place) from transformation (type changes), describe common transformations, and identify by-product heat (AC9S8U05, nodes 3 and 4; node 4 is a hinge). About 25 minutes.
I can tell an energy transfer from a transformation.
I can describe the transformations in a torch or a speaker.
I can name the by-product heat in a transformation.
Before class
A concept tutorial for introducing or revising the idea. Set the width with ?width=minimum, typical (default) or wider. It follows Moving or stored? and comes before Follow the energy.
Node 4 is a hinge: by-product heat is what Year 9 efficiency and Sankey diagrams are built on. Students who think a device makes only its useful output can't account for all the energy later. The prediction targets that.
Board notes: the flow diagram board checks each stage's useful energy type and each arrow (transfer if the type is the same, transformation if it changes), then shows the by-products. Sound counts as kinetic (vibrating particles), as in the progression.
Running the lesson
Engage: tally the predictions. 'Only light' is the hinge misconception.
Explore: after Check, ask what the red boxes or arrows had in common.
Explain: the sort and the by-product questions are the success criteria.
In your own words: the torch flow diagram with a by-product arrow.
The hard part (on purpose)
Deciding transfer or transformation. When a student guesses, ask them to name the energy type on each side of the arrow first, then compare.
When students get stuck
A student calls every arrow a transformation. Ask: Is the energy the same type before and after? Fix: If yes (heat to heat), it only moved: a transfer.
A student leaves out by-product heat. Ask: If you touched it after a while, would it be warm? Fix: Then some energy became heat: add it as a by-product.
A student says the heat is lost or destroyed. Ask: Where does it go? Fix: Into the surroundings, spread out. It's still there, just not useful.
Stretch and support
Stretch: An electric kettle's job is to make heat. Is heat a by-product there? (No: heat is the useful output; by-products are the heat lost to the air and the kettle itself, and the sound.)
Support: Give a decision card: 'Same type before and after? → transfer. Different type? → transformation. Anything warm? → by-product heat.'
Where it leads
Next: Follow the energy (nodes 5 and 6), then Year 9 conservation and efficiency.
In class: a circus of devices (torch, wind-up toy, buzzer, hand-crank generator) with a flow diagram for each; feel which parts get warm.
What each step is for
Engage: the hot bulb: Students expect a device to produce only its useful output; by-product heat is the hinge idea for efficiency in Year 9.
Explore: build the flow: Filling in a flow diagram stage by stage, and deciding for each arrow whether the type changed, makes 'transfer' and 'transformation' a rule students apply.
Explain: transfer, transformation, by-products: Defining the two processes, sorting examples, and naming by-product heat (not lost, just not useful) prepares conservation and efficiency.
Elaborate: a speaker: A four-stage chain with a by-product in the middle checks the rule on an unfamiliar device.
Elaborate: a bow and arrow: Elastic potential in a bent bow shows a transformation into stored energy and back out again.
Now you can
Tell an energy transfer from a transformation.
Describe the transformations in a torch or a speaker.