The vision, mission and goals of the 1998 ARC/ORNL Teacher Leadership Institute and the follow-up Dept. of Education/ORNL Internet Tutorial Project are grounded in National Science Standards - specifically the Science Content Standards for grades 5-8, Physical Science - Energy Transfer (http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/nses/).

 

1. Energy is a property of many substances and is associated with heat, light, electricity, mechanical motion, sound, nuclei, and the nature of a chemical. Energy is transferred in many ways.

 

2. Heat moves in predictable ways, flowing from warmer objects to cooler ones, until both reach the same temperature.

 

3. Light interacts with matter by transmission (including refraction), absorption, or scattering (including reflection). To see an object, light from that object - emitted by or scattered from it - must enter the eye.

 

4. Electrical circuits provide a means of transferring electrical energy when heat, light, sound, and chemical changes are produced.

 

5. In most chemical and nuclear reactions, energy is transferred into or out of a system. Heat, light, mechanical motion, or electricity might all be involved in such transfers.

 

6. The sun is a major source of energy for changes on the earth's surface. The sun loses energy by emitting light. A tiny fraction of that light reaches the earth, transferring energy from the sun to the earth. The sun's energy arrives as light with a range of wavelengths, consisting of visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet radiation.

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