Physics, let alone all the sciences put together, covers such a vast range of knowledge that it’s useful to identify a small number of “big ideas” that link across a greater number of concepts. And energy is undoubtedly the biggest of these “big ideas”.
When it comes to revising energy, the breadth of its impact immediately becomes obvious as there are so many different aspects that need to be learned. This can be daunting but one of the nicest ways to link these ideas together involves the least writing (which students generally appreciate) combined with the greatest amount of thinking (which is always a good thing). I’m talking here about visual tools, such as mind-maps.
In an ideal world, every student would create his/her own mind-map because there is always a certain amount of individuality in the way that mind-maps are assembled – and maximum value is obtained when you work out your own connections. But sometimes it’s hard to know where to start.
With all that in mind, I’ve used an online tool, Mindomo, to create an initial mind-map that contains all the key points needed to revise energy in a GCSE context. There is more that could be added of course, not least Einstein’s famous equation, E=mc2, but this version is a useful foundation for GCSE physics and you are welcome to amend it with your own additional notes as appropriate.
The mind-map can be seen below: you can download a pdf version by clicking here or a high-resolution png image by clicking here. I’ve also written what I hope is a useful summary about energy, linking to a number of other posts here on physbang, that you can access here.
Mr Tarrant's physbang 'blog 