Energy Stores and Conservation
This lesson introduces Year 7 students to the concept of energy stores. Rather than focusing on 'types' of energy, it uses the modern 'stores and transfers' model. Students will learn to identify where energy is kept and understand that energy is never lost, only moved.
Learning objectives
- Identify and name the eight primary energy stores.
- Describe the energy stores associated with moving objects, raised objects, and fuels.
- Apply the Law of Conservation of Energy to simple physical scenarios.
- Explain how energy is 'dissipated' into less useful stores like thermal energy.
Lesson plan (60 minutes)
Introduction · 5 min
Do Now: List five things that 'use' energy in your home.
Explicit Instruction · 10 min
Teacher-led explanation of the 8 energy stores using the 'Energy Bucket' analogy.
Guided Practice · 10 min
Think-Pair-Share: Identifying stores in everyday objects (e.g., a battery, a spring, a hot cup of tea).
Independent Practice · 20 min
Differentiated worksheet task: Identifying and describing energy stores in various scenarios.
Review · 10 min
Class Quiz: Multiple choice check for understanding.
Closure · 5 min
Plenary: Summarise the Law of Conservation of Energy in exactly 10 words.
Key vocabulary
- Kinetic Store
- The store of energy in a moving object.
- Chemical Store
- Energy stored in fuels, food, or batteries due to chemical bonds.
- Gravitational Potential Energy (GPE)
- Energy stored in an object because of its position above the ground.
- Elastic Potential Energy
- Energy stored in a squashed or stretched object.
- Thermal Store碎
- Energy related to the temperature of an object.
Core worksheet (first questions)
- 1. List three energy stores involved when a battery-powered fan is spinning.
- 2. What happens to the Gravitational Potential Energy store of an aeroplane as it takes off? ⚖️
- 3. When a car stops suddenly, its brakes get very hot. Explain what has happened to the energy in the kinetic store. 🚗
- 4. State the Law of Conservation of Energy. 📜碎
Quiz (sample)
1. Which energy store is found in food and batteries?
- A. Kinetic
- B. Chemical
- C. Thermal
- D. Elastic
2. What is the Law of Conservation of Energy?
- A. Energy can be made by power stations.
- B. Energy is used up and disappears.
- C. Energy cannot be created or destroyed.
- D. Energy only exists when things are moving.
3. Which store increases when an object speeds up?
- A. Gravitational store
- B. Kinetic store
- C. Magnetic store
- D. Nuclear store
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