Introducing the idea of entropy to the ontological category shift theory for conceptual change: The case of heat and sound

Abstract

In the present theoretical study, we introduce the entropy concept into Chi's ontological shift theory. Chi distinguishes between two categories of process phenomena, direct and emergent, and claims that incorrectly considering emergent processes as direct ones is one of the sources of students' robust scientific misconceptions. The present study aims to address the needs of high school and undergraduate physics, chemistry, and engineering students being already familiar with the basics of mechanics and the kinetic molecular theory. Acknowledging the contribution of the ontological shift category theory to improving the learning of science, the present paper aims at taking this theory one step further. We argue that more information about scientific phenomena could be gained if we view direct and emergent phenomena as edges of the same scale level of emergency. We show that entropy can be used to evaluate the level of emergency of physical processes. We believe that interpreting scientific phenomena in terms of level of emergency and entropy might promote students' understanding about the underlying mechanisms explaining these phenomena, as well as about the concept of entropy itself. We provide two pedagogical examples of teaching heat and sound using the level of emergency scale and the entropy concept. We demonstrate analytically in these terms: (a) the development of the heat flow rate equation; and (b) the adiabatic nature of the sound propagation process.

Physics teaching via dialogic discussions about circus activities

“…Physics teaching is known to frequently be an arena for educators' dealing with physics misconceptions, frequently robust (see, for instance, Chi et al, 2012;Demirci, 2005;Ding et al, 2013;Eshach & Schwartz, 2006;Hestenes et al, 1992;Roche, 2001;Volfson et al, 2018Volfson et al, , 2019Volfson et al, , 2022Vosniadou, 2013;Vyas, 2012). Thus, looking for new ways aimed at identifying misconceptions as well as facilitating conceptual change is of both, theoretical and practical interest in physics teaching.…”

“…What keeps the fire artist from getting burned while the show? These questions deal with the nature of heat, heat transfer, convection and heat capacity; and thus, are of a potential to be fruitful for explaining these concepts and for treating materialistic misconceptions of heat (Chi et al, 2012;Volfson et al, 2019).…”

“…That is considering heat transfer as a direct process of "hot" molecules' flow from point 'A' to point 'B' (Chi et al, 2012;Volfson et al, 2019) instead of the scientifically correct understanding. This fact of declaring materialistic view of an actually emergent process by a senior science teacher points at the extreme robustness of such misconceptions (Chi, 2005;Chi et al, 2012;Volfson et al, 2019) and emphasizes the need of looking for new ways to arouse and treat such misconceptions. We discuss in the next section how DDCT can meet this need and facilitate conceptual change regarding physics concepts.…”

“…Indeed, numerous studies report the presence of robust misconceptions regarding physics concepts even after a thorough teaching process (for instance, Chi et al, 2012;Demirci, 2005;Ding et al, 2013;Eshach & Schwartz, 2006;Hestenes et al, 1992;Roche, 2001;Vyas, 2012). Furthermore, our previous studies conducted on university students and graduated engineers show that even after completing learning, participants have difficulties in applying theoretical knowledge to explain physical phenomena in real life, for instance, how simple devices work (Ben-Abu, 2018;Ben Abu et al, 2018;Volfson et al, 2018Volfson et al, , 2019Volfson et al, , 2021Volfson et al, , 2022. And if all these are not enough, or maybe, because of these, students, ranging from junior high (Baram-Tsabari & Yarden, 2005) up to undergraduate university level (Ornek et al, 2008), have an aversion to physics.…”

The development of physics learning tools to improve critical thinking skills

“…Physics is one of the fields of science that is still considered difficult for students because it relates to abstracting calculations [5]- [7]. Physics learning materials that are still considered difficult by students include Newton's Laws [8], [9], Elasticity [10], [11], Light [12], Free body diagrams [13], [14], Electricity and Magnetism [15], Static fluid [16], Circular motion [17], Projectile motion [18], Force and motion [19], Temperature and heat [20], Vector [21], [22], Lorentz force [23] and many another physics material. Students' motivation to learn physics is still shallow because teachers do not instill appropriate scientific  ISSN: 2252-8822 concepts and strategies in teaching physics [24].…”