Concerning Scientific Discourse about Heat

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written by David T. Brookes, George K. Horton, A. Van Heuvelen, and Eugenia Etkina

We aim to examine communication in physics from a linguistic perspective and suggest a theoretical viewpoint that may enable us to explain and understand many physics students' alternative conceptions. We present evidence, in the context of the concept of heat, that physicists seem to speak and write about physical systems with a set of one or more systematic metaphors that are well understood in their community. We argue that physics students appear to be prone to misinterpreting and overextending the same metaphors and that these misinterpretations exhibit themselves as students' alternative conceptions. We will analyze physicists' discourse about heat and present evidence of a connection between students' alternative conceptions and the possibility that they are misinterpreting the language that they read and hear.

Physics Education Research Conference 2004
Part of the PER Conference series
Sacramento, California: August 4-5, 2004
Volume 790, Pages 149-152

download 636kb .pdf
Published: September 9, 2004

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Education Foundations - Alternative Conceptions - Communication = Speaking = Writing Thermo & Stat Mech - General	- Lower Undergraduate - Graduate/Professional	- Reference Material = Research study

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Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2084723
Access Rights:: Available by subscription and
Available for purchase
Restriction:: © 2004 American Institute of Physics
DOI:: 10.1063/1.2084723
PACS:: 01.40.Fk
Keywords:: Alternative Conceptions, Linguistic Perspective, PERC 2004, Systematic Metaphors
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created October 19, 2009 by Alea Smith
Record Updated:: May 18, 2012 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: September 16, 2005
Other Collections:: The PER-Central

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Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=9555">Brookes, D, G. Horton, A. Heuvelen, and E. Etkina. "Concerning Scientific Discourse about Heat." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, August 4-5, 2004.</a>

AIP Format

D. Brookes, G. Horton, A. Heuvelen, and E. Etkina, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, 2004, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9555&DocID=2827).

AJP/PRST-PER

D. Brookes, G. Horton, A. Heuvelen, and E. Etkina, Concerning Scientific Discourse about Heat, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, 2004, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9555&DocID=2827>.

APA Format

Brookes, D., Horton, G., Heuvelen, A., & Etkina, E. (2004, August 4-5). Concerning Scientific Discourse about Heat. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California. Retrieved May 3, 2025, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9555&DocID=2827

Chicago Format

Brookes, D, G. Horton, A. Heuvelen, and E. Etkina. "Concerning Scientific Discourse about Heat." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, August 4-5, 2004. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9555&DocID=2827 (accessed 3 May 2025).

MLA Format

Brookes, David T., George K. Horton, A. Van Heuvelen, and Eugenia Etkina. "Concerning Scientific Discourse about Heat." Physics Education Research Conference 2004. Sacramento, California: 2004. 149-152 Vol. 790 of PER Conference. 3 May 2025 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9555&DocID=2827>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "David T. Brookes and George K. Horton and A. Van Heuvelen and Eugenia Etkina", Title = {Concerning Scientific Discourse about Heat}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2004}, Pages = {149-152}, Address = {Sacramento, California}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {790}, Month = {August 4-5}, Year = {2004} }

Refer Export Format

%A David T. Brookes %A George K. Horton %A A. Van Heuvelen %A Eugenia Etkina %T Concerning Scientific Discourse about Heat %S PER Conference %V 790 %D August 4-5 2004 %P 149-152 %C Sacramento, California %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9555&DocID=2827 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2004 %O August 4-5 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Brookes, David T. %A Horton, George K. %A Heuvelen, A. Van %A Etkina, Eugenia %D August 4-5 2004 %T Concerning Scientific Discourse about Heat %B Physics Education Research Conference 2004 %C Sacramento, California %V 790 %P 149-152 %S PER Conference %8 August 4-5 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9555&DocID=2827

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