Different Senses of Entropy—Implications for Education

Abstract

A challenge in the teaching of entropy is that the word has several different senses, which may provide an obstacle for communication. This study identifies five distinct senses of the word 'entropy', using the Principled Polysemy approach from the field of linguistics. A semantic network is developed of how the senses are related, using text excerpts from dictionaries, text books and text corpora. Educational challenges such as the existence of several formal senses of entropy and the intermediary position of entropy as disorder along the formal/non-formal scale are presented using a two-Dimensional Semiotic/semantic Analysing Schema (2-D SAS).

On Discerning Critical Elements, Relationships and Shifts in Attaining Scientific Terms: The Challenge of Polysemy/Homonymy and Reference

“…To judge its merits as an instrument for productive research it needs to be tested in empirical investigations. Haglund et al (2010) and Jeppsson and Strömdahl (2010) are two pioneering studies.…”

“…From a linguistic perspective, applying the theory of ''principled polysemy'', Evans (2005) has made an extensive study of the meaning and use of the word time. Haglund et al (2010) have combined the 2-D SAS approach with the principled polysemy approach investigating the polysemy of the word entropy.…”

Chemical engineering students' ideas of entropy

“…The importance of considering molecular interaction in chemistry found support in a study of students' argumentation in small-group work in physical chemistry study by Becker, et al (2013), where the students' justification of claims in relation to particle-level structures and processes was identified as a prevalent sociochemical norm across topics and context. In particular, Haglund, Jeppsson and Strömdahl (2010) show that the term 'entropy' is assigned different interpretations in different contexts, such as macroscopic thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, or information theory.…”

Teaching About Thermal Phenomena and Thermodynamics: The Contribution of the History and Philosophy of Science

“…Currently, different senses of entropy can be found in scientific and popular literature: thermodynamic, statistical, disorder and information senses (Haglund et al 2010). The disorder metaphor goes back to Helmholtz and Boltzmann and is very common in popularisations and textbooks as an aid to forming an intuitive image of entropy, but it is criticised because it would be conceptually misleading (Lambert 2002 considered it as 'a cracked crutch for supporting entropy discussions') and could lead students to erroneous conclusions in thermodynamics tasks (Viard 2005).…”