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A mistake based approach probing students’ understanding of PV-type work in thermodynamics

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Abstract

There are several concepts in molecular thermodynamics which easily befuddle students. PV-type work done, presents one such example. Classifying the systematic mistakes made by students in response to a concept-based question on work done in thermodynamics, and sharing them across a public forum results in a paradigm of learning called the ‘mistake based approach’. This approach is a subset of a popular genre in science education known as ‘student conception studies’. It extends beyond thermodynamics itself, is particularly amenable to undergraduate education and applies to multiple disciplines of science and beyond.

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Suggested Reading

  1. Donald McQuarrie, John D Simon, Molecular Thermodynamics, University Science Book, Sausalito, California, USA, 1999.

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  2. S K Abell and N G Lederman, Handbook of Research on Science Education, Routledge, New York, 2007, Vosniadou, S.(2008) (Ed.).

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  3. International Handbook of Research on Conceptual Change, Routledge, New York.

  4. At the school level in some other countries (noticeably in the US), a compendium of this kind (similar to a repository of error) already exists. See H Pfundt and R Duit, Bibliography of Students’ Alternative Frameworks and Science Education (4 ed.), Kiel: Institute for Science Education, 1994.

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  5. At the college level, such efforts are more common in physics education, though an exhaustive repository chronicling mistakes has not been prepared yet. See S Singer, N Nielsen, and H A Schweingruber, National Research Council, Discipline-Based Education Research, Editors–The National Academies Press, Washington D.C, 2012.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, IISER Tirupati, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, 517 507, India

    Raghunath O. Ramabhadran

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  1. Raghunath O. Ramabhadran
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Correspondence to Raghunath O. Ramabhadran.

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Ramabhadran, R.O. A mistake based approach probing students’ understanding of PV-type work in thermodynamics. Reson 22, 961–970 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-017-0556-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-017-0556-0

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