In this unit, students not only learned about the characteristics of energy and energy resources, but they developed their skills in making observations, analyzing the results of experiments, discussing their findings, and collaborating to develop conclusions about the world around them.  My essential question, How can we analyze the energy of an object? focused on students’ ability to make sense of information through experiments and discussions, rather than learning key vocabulary through textbook readings.  This work was meaningful to my students because they took far more than knowledge of energy from this unit; they gained expertise in identifying points of interest, researching and/or developing experiments, and collaboratively analyzing their results in order to make statements they know to be true.  They also learned to analyze the way in which we use the resources around us, and make educated comparisons between renewable and nonrenewable resources.  I don’t want to tell my students what is true; as author Goldy Muhammed suggests in her book Cultivating Genius, students should have the opportunity “to infuse their own voices, ideals, and stances” into their work.  Through the observation of the characteristics of objects in the world around them, students developed, tested, and proved their own self-made ideas about how energy functions, and drew their own conclusions about how we can use energy sustainably.