Ontological metaphors for negative energy in an interdisciplinary context

Abstract

Teaching about energy in interdisciplinary settings that emphasize coherence among physics, chemistry, and biology leads to a more central role for chemical bond energy. We argue that an interdisciplinary approach to chemical energy leads to modeling chemical bonds in terms of negative energy. While recent work on ontological metaphors for energy has emphasized the affordances of the substance ontology, this ontology is problematic in the context of negative energy. Instead, we apply a dynamic ontologies perspective to argue that blending the substance and location ontologies for energy can be effective in reasoning about negative energy in the context of reasoning about chemical bonds. We present data from an introductory physics for the life sciences course in which both experts and students successfully use this blended ontology. Blending these ontologies is most successful when the substance and location ontologies are combined such that each is strategically utilized in reasoning about particular aspects of energetic processes.

University student conceptual resources for understanding energy

“…For example, representations for tracking energy through a system [120,129,134,135] may encourage students to draw on this resource in order to determine when and where energy transfers and transformations occur. Energy bar graphs [90,114] enforce the identification of forms of energy at particular instants; pairing such representations with requests for evidence for the presence of each form of energy may also encourage students to associate forms with indicators.…”

“…several reasons. Perhaps most importantly, energy is a concept with multidisciplinary relevance; it is fundamental to understandings of chemistry, biology, and physics, cutting across concepts in each of these disciplines [89][90][91][92][93][94]. In addition, although most of the existing literature on students' ideas about energy focuses on misconceptions (see Sec.…”

On the origin of energy: Metaphors and manifestations as resources for conceptualizing and measuring the invisible, imponderable

“…[4][5][6][7][8][9] It has been argued that the use of multiple ontological metaphors is productive for experts and students alike. According to Lakoff and Johnson, 45 "Understanding our experiences in terms of objects and substances allows us to […] refer to them, categorize them, group them, and quantify them-and, by this means, reason about them."…”

“…[4][5][6][7][8][9] However, little has been said about the origins of metaphorical language to describe the energetics of a system, or even the use of metaphors for describing energy in contemporary physics. In the past, researchers have primarily used analyses of textbooks-especially Feynman's writings-as the authority on what "energy" is to physicists.…”

“Classical-ish”: Negotiating the Boundary between Classical and Quantum Particles

“…A student's "ontology" of a given entity [7][8][9] is what kind of entity they think it is, whether literally or metaphorically [10][11][12]. For instance, in classical physics, protons and sound waves could be seen as two different kinds of entities, corresponding to the ontologies of matter (or particle) and waves respectively.…”