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Physical Review Physics Education Research
written by Nathan Crossette, Michael Vignal, and Bethany R. Wilcox
Student learning in upper-division thermal physics has not been studied to the same extent as in other courses like electromagnetism and quantum mechanics. Studies addressing reasoning and learning at the graduate level are even more limited. In this study, we conducted think-aloud interviews with eight graduate students involving questions centered around a set of entropy related conceptual tasks, two of which are similar to tasks presented to undergraduates in other studies. We discuss patterns in student reasoning on each question then discuss themes that appeared across questions. We identify conceptual resources that students frequently used to reason about the interview tasks and compare them to prior work. We observed graduate students commonly thinking about entropy in relationship to a number of states, even in situations where such a connection was not directly relevant. Graduate students also frequently made direct associations between entropy and temperature, despite there being no general, explicit relationship between the two quantities. On the whole, graduate students demonstrated adaptability and metacognitive awareness in their approach to reasoning about entropy.
Physical Review Physics Education Research: Volume 17, Issue 2, Pages 020119
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education Foundations
- Assessment
= Conceptual Assessment
- Problem Solving
= Metacognition
- Student Characteristics
= Ability
General Physics
- Physics Education Research
- Scientific Reasoning
Thermo & Stat Mech
- Ensembles
= Macrostate
= Microstate
- Second and Third Law
= Entropy
- Thermal Properties of Matter
= Thermal Expansion
- Graduate/Professional
- Reference Material
= Research study
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Free access
License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
Rights Holder:
American Physical Society
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.020119
Keywords:
equilibrium, equilibrium state, thermodynamics, thermodynamics concept inventory
Record Creator:
Metadata instance created November 10, 2021 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
January 25, 2022 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update
when Cataloged:
September 20, 2021
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AIP Format
N. Crossette, M. Vignal, and B. Wilcox, , Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 17 (2), 020119 (2021), WWW Document, (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.020119).
AJP/PRST-PER
N. Crossette, M. Vignal, and B. Wilcox, Investigating graduate student reasoning on a conceptual entropy questionnaire, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 17 (2), 020119 (2021), <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.020119>.
APA Format
Crossette, N., Vignal, M., & Wilcox, B. (2021, September 20). Investigating graduate student reasoning on a conceptual entropy questionnaire. Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res., 17(2), 020119. Retrieved May 16, 2024, from https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.020119
Chicago Format
Crossette, N, M. Vignal, and B. Wilcox. "Investigating graduate student reasoning on a conceptual entropy questionnaire." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 17, no. 2, (September 20, 2021): 020119, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.020119 (accessed 16 May 2024).
MLA Format
Crossette, Nathan, Michael Vignal, and Bethany Wilcox. "Investigating graduate student reasoning on a conceptual entropy questionnaire." Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 17.2 (2021): 020119. 16 May 2024 <https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.020119>.
BibTeX Export Format
@article{ Author = "Nathan Crossette and Michael Vignal and Bethany Wilcox", Title = {Investigating graduate student reasoning on a conceptual entropy questionnaire}, Journal = {Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res.}, Volume = {17}, Number = {2}, Pages = {020119}, Month = {September}, Year = {2021} }
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%A Nathan Crossette %A Michael Vignal %A Bethany Wilcox %T Investigating graduate student reasoning on a conceptual entropy questionnaire %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 17 %N 2 %D September 20, 2021 %P 020119 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.020119 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Journal Article %A Crossette, Nathan %A Vignal, Michael %A Wilcox, Bethany %D September 20, 2021 %T Investigating graduate student reasoning on a conceptual entropy questionnaire %J Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. %V 17 %N 2 %P 020119 %8 September 20, 2021 %U https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.17.020119


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