ABSTRACT
Rachael Lancor Department of Chemistry, Geoscience and Physics, Edgewood College, Madison, WI ,
USA
Themeaning of the term energy varies widely in scientific and colloquial discourse. Teasing apart the
different connotations of the term can be especially challenging for non-science majors. In this
study, undergraduate students taking an interdisciplinary, general science course (n ¼ 49) were asked to explain the role of energy in five contexts: radiation, transportation, generating
electricity, earthquakes, and the big bang theory. The responses were qualitatively analyzed under
the framework of conceptual metaphor theory. This study presents evidence that non-science
major students spontaneously use metaphorical language that is consistent with the conceptual
metaphors of energy previously identified in the discourse of students in introductory physics,
biology, and chemistry courses. Furthermore, most students used multiple coherent metaphors
to explain the role of energy in these complex topics. This demonstrates that these conceptual
metaphors for energy have broader applicability than just traditional scientific contexts.
Implications for this work as a formative assessment tool in instruction will also be discussed.
