Investigating graduate student reasoning on a conceptual entropy questionnaire

Crossette, Nathan; Vignal, Michael; Wilcox, Bethany R.

doi:10.1103/physrevphyseducres.17.020119

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In order to improve teaching, it is important to test student understanding because it gives teachers insight into how they think. Thermodynamics is a mandatory course in undergraduate physics with extensive studies done on how well students comprehend concepts like ideal gas [1,2], entropy [3,4] and the laws of thermodynamics [5,6]. Statistical mechanics which is an advanced course is typically taken late in the undergraduate years because of complex mathematics regarding the microscopic considerations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching ideal gas in a uniform field: exploring student preferences

Kanchanapusakit,

Tanalikhit

2023

Eur. J. Phys.

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An ideal classical gas under uniform gravity is a commonly discussed problem in statistical thermodynamics. At an introductory level, the condition of hydrostatic equilibrium gives rise to the barometric formula, which describes the variation of gas pressure with height. At an advanced level, the partition function can be used to find the density and the internal energy of the gas. These methods rely heavily on mathematical concepts, which may pose a difficulty to some students. This article presents teaching the problem via the virial theorem, emphasising the physical picture of the particle distribution. The virial theorem allows the internal energy to be expressed as an integral over the surface of the container. For the pedagogical purpose, visualisation of how the particles distribute themselves at extreme temperatures helps determine the internal energy of the gas. Student feedback is used as a basis for evaluating different approaches to the problem.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching ideal gas in a uniform field: exploring student preferences

Kanchanapusakit,

Tanalikhit

2023

Eur. J. Phys.

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Student Understanding of Thermal Physics

Hull

2023

The International Handbook of Physics Education Research: Learning Physics

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This chapter provides a review and summary of existing work on student understanding of thermal physics. The topic of thermal physics is one that can be encountered by students at many levels and in many different disciplines. The focus is Physics Education Research (PER), i.e., studies on physics courses with data (qualitative and/or quantitative) on student understanding. This includes primarily undergraduate level physics courses, with brief mention of some studies with graduate students and university faculty. The large body of work on student understanding in younger students is mentioned only briefly. We also consider briefly work in other disciplines in which thermal and statistical physics might be taught, notably chemistry and engineering. The focus is on thermal physics and not the study of energy more generally, simply to limit and focus the scope of the chapter.

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