Semiquantitative reasoning can help students track energy and understand conservation: Examples and results from a course on sustainable energya).

This article focuses on improving college physics students' understanding of energy conservation and energy flow in real-world, dissipative contexts relevant to sustainable energy. It argues that conventional physics instruction's emphasis on idealized, quantitatively calculable cases limits students' ability to reason about energy in practical scenarios. Using a semiquantitative representational tool called energy cubes—originally developed for K–12 education—students in a sustainable energy course practiced tracking energy flows without formal calculations, leading to improved conceptual understanding and application of energy conservation principles. Assessment of 16 students showed significant gains in correctly applying energy reasoning to everyday examples such as air conditioners, refrigerators, and human-powered transportation. The study suggests that incorporating visual and manipulable energy tracking methods can enhance energy literacy, especially regarding sustainability, even among students with advanced mathematical skills.