Practical approaches to teaching about energy and developing understanding. This article describes an approach to teaching about the energy concept that aims to be accessible to students starting in early secondary school, while being scientifically rigorous and forming the foundation for later work. It discusses how exploring thermal processes is a good starting point for a more general consideration of the ways that energy can be stored and transferred from one store to another, and emphasises the importance of quantitative work if students are to acquire a firm understanding of the concept.