Student difficulties with concepts related to entropy, heat engines and the Carnot cycle

home » Conference Proceedings Detail Page

Detail Page

written by Trevor I. Smith, Warren M. Christensen, and John R. Thompson

We report the rationale behind and preliminary results from a guided-inquiry conceptual worksheet (a.k.a. tutorial) dealing with Carnot's efficiency and the Carnot cycle. The tutorial was administered in an upper-level thermodynamics course at the University of Maine. The tutorial was implemented as the third in a three-tutorial sequence designed to improve students' understanding of entropy and its applications. Initial pre- and post-tutorial assessment data suggest that student understanding of heat engines and the Carnot cycle improved as a result of tutorial instruction.

Physics Education Research Conference 2009
Part of the PER Conference series
Ann Arbor, Michigan: July 29-30, 2009
Volume 1179, Pages 277-280

download 96kb .pdf
Published: November 11, 2009

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Education Foundations - Alternative Conceptions - Assessment Education Practices - Instructional Material Design = Tutorial Thermo & Stat Mech - Second and Third Law = Carnot Cycle = Heat Engines	- Upper Undergraduate - Lower Undergraduate	- Reference Material = Research study

Intended Users	Formats	Ratings
- Researchers - Educators	- application/pdf - non-digital	Currently 0.0/5 Want to rate this material? Login here!

Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3266735
Access Rights:: Free access and
Available for purchase; A preprint of the work is available. A hard copy of the PERC 2009 proceedings is also available.
Restriction:: © 2009 American Institute of Physics
DOI:: 10.1063/1.3266735
NSF Numbers:: 0633951; 0817282
PACSs:: 01.40.Fk; 05.70.-a
Keywords:: Carnot cycle, Carnot efficiency, PERC 2009, efficiency, guided-inquiry, heat engines, thermal physics, tutorial, upper-level
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created October 13, 2009 by Alea Smith
Record Updated:: August 31, 2011 by Harvey Gould
Last Update when Cataloged:: November 11, 2009
Other Collections:: The PER-Central

The Statistical and Thermal Physics

Post a new comment on this item

ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!

Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=9503">Smith, T, W. Christensen, and J. Thompson. "Student difficulties with concepts related to entropy, heat engines and the Carnot cycle." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 29-30, 2009.</a>

AIP Format

T. Smith, W. Christensen, and J. Thompson, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2009, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9503&DocID=1379).

AJP/PRST-PER

T. Smith, W. Christensen, and J. Thompson, Student difficulties with concepts related to entropy, heat engines and the Carnot cycle, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 2009, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9503&DocID=1379>.

APA Format

Smith, T., Christensen, W., & Thompson, J. (2009, July 29-30). Student difficulties with concepts related to entropy, heat engines and the Carnot cycle. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Retrieved November 1, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9503&DocID=1379

Chicago Format

Smith, T, W. Christensen, and J. Thompson. "Student difficulties with concepts related to entropy, heat engines and the Carnot cycle." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2009, Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 29-30, 2009. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9503&DocID=1379 (accessed 1 November 2024).

MLA Format

Smith, Trevor I., Warren M. Christensen, and John Thompson. "Student difficulties with concepts related to entropy, heat engines and the Carnot cycle." Physics Education Research Conference 2009. Ann Arbor, Michigan: 2009. 277-280 Vol. 1179 of PER Conference. 1 Nov. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9503&DocID=1379>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "Trevor I. Smith and Warren M. Christensen and John Thompson", Title = {Student difficulties with concepts related to entropy, heat engines and the Carnot cycle}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2009}, Pages = {277-280}, Address = {Ann Arbor, Michigan}, Series = {PER Conference}, Volume = {1179}, Month = {July 29-30}, Year = {2009} }

Refer Export Format

%A Trevor I. Smith %A Warren M. Christensen %A John Thompson %T Student difficulties with concepts related to entropy, heat engines and the Carnot cycle %S PER Conference %V 1179 %D July 29-30 2009 %P 277-280 %C Ann Arbor, Michigan %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9503&DocID=1379 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2009 %O July 29-30 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Smith, Trevor I. %A Christensen, Warren M. %A Thompson, John %D July 29-30 2009 %T Student difficulties with concepts related to entropy, heat engines and the Carnot cycle %B Physics Education Research Conference 2009 %C Ann Arbor, Michigan %V 1179 %P 277-280 %S PER Conference %8 July 29-30 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9503&DocID=1379

Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.

Citation Source Information

The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References.

The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation.

The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ.

This resource is stored in a shared folder.

You must login to access shared folders.