Interactions, energy transfer and transformation of energy are integral to the organization and development of life. They are powerful concepts for understanding changes of all kinds: the growth of plants, the production of materials, the manufacture of artifacts, the maintenance of life, the birth of a star and the fall of a leaf. These processes are the basis for understanding interaction and change in the natural world.
Learners study the ways people use energy in everyday life; they identify renewable energy and non- renewable energy sources. They appreciate patterns of energy use in the home, school and other places. They perceive the importance of the sun, fuels and food. Learners explore energy transfers and changes that take place around them. They begin to understand how energy causes change and its role in everyday life. They experience sound energy, light energy, heat energy and electrical energy in the environment.
They investigate how motions are changed by the wind, by pushing, pulling, striking and by magnets. They investigate how an energy source can be used for a purpose, for example, heat radiating from a fire. They perceive the effects of energy transfer. Learners come to grips with the underlying idea that energy transfer and conservation cause and explain change, such as in electricity use and magnetism. They begin to appreciate the problems of our dependence on non-renewable fuels.