Educational research thermodynamics

Read, J. R., Kable, S. H. (2007). Educational analysis of the first year chemistry experiment Thermodynamics Think-In An ACELL experiment. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 8, 255-273. 

Physical chemistry and physics may be different fields but they have some important features in common they are abstract they both use mathematics they overlap in some content areas (such as thermodynamics and quantum mechanics). To a large extent, science and physics educators started research on basic physics concepts that also are used in physical chemistry. Consequently, physical chemistry education research owns much to the work that has been done in physics education and has much in common with it. For example, they share some of the research methodology and an interest in studying the relationship between the physical description of phenomena and its mathematics description in the learner s mind. 

Next, we review findings of educational research about the main areas of physical chemistry. Most of the work done was in the areas of basic thermodynamics and electrochemistry, and some work on quantum chemistry. Other areas, such as chemical kinetics, statistical thermodynamics, and spectroscopy, have not so far received attention (although the statistical interpretation of entropy is treated in studies on the concepts of thermodynamics). Because many of the basics of physical chemistry are included in first-year general and inorganic courses (and some even in senior high school), many of the investigations have been carried out at these levels. 

Some problems and concerns typical in the teaching and learning of thermodynamics do not appear in the papers cited earlier. These are a concern with a distinction between system and surroundings a concern with distinguishing state quantities from process quantities and the use of a certain type of mathematics that is specifically suited to treat non-Mnear relations between three or more variables. We therefore conclude that there is consensus among physics education researchers that the teaching of an energy concept does not require a specifically thermodynamic framework. 

In chemical education research papers, only two degrees of physics knowledge are generally used as frames of reference for what students could or should understand at certain stages. The first one is the everyday understanding of temperature, heat, and energy. The second one is the thermodynamic understanding of these terms - albeit without mathematics. 

Teachers opinions on how chemical thermodynamics should be taught can be frequently found in the literature. An example of this is the question of whether the entropy should be introduced by a statistical analysis of microstates or in a classical way from reversible heat. The debate about this and related issues is not anchored in educational research and this gives to this debate a yes-no character. We hope that these discussions can be underpinned by research in the field of teaching and learning chemical thermodynamics. In our opinion, here lies a challenge for future research. 

Albert Pilot was appointed in 1996 as professor of curriculum development in IVLOS Institute of Education at Utrecht University, in 1998 also as professor of Chemistry Education in the Department of Chemistry of that university. His work is concentrated in the field of curriculum development in secondary school chemistry and in higher education, iimovafion processes and the use of information and communication technology in education. He studied Chemistry at Utrecht University in The Netherlands, with a major in analytical chemistry and a minor in educational research. His PhD was in 1980 on Learning problem solving in Science, more specific in Thermodynamics, at the University of Twente. 

Much of the research that has been done to date on learning in the domain of thermodynamics has involved the study of populations other than college age physical chemistry students. Thermodynamics is usually first introduced in elementary and introductory physics courses. For this reason, many studies have been conducted from the physics education perspective (56-60). These studies provide insights into the learning of important basic concepts, uncovering misconceptions that students bring into physical chemistry courses. 

Lewis s research was wide-ranging and outstanding. He published important papers on chemical bonds, acid-base theory, and thermodynamics. He also developed firm ideas about howto build a chemistry department. His philosophy of education was something less than egalitarian. Writing in the Journal of Chemical Education, the distinguished chemist Gerald Branch spelled out Lewis s ideas "[F]or a chemist to be useful to... 

In 1912 Lewis accepted a position as dean and chairman of the College of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He remained at Berkeley for the rest of his hfe and transformed the chemistry department there into a world-class center for research and teaching. His reforms in the way chemistry was taught, a catalyst for the modernization of chemical education, were widely adopted throughout the United States. Lewis introduced thermodynamics to the curriculum, and his book on the same subject became a classic. He also brought to the study of physical chemistry such concepts as fugacity, activity and the activity coefficient, and ionic strength. 

There is a wide gap between the way the terms heat and energy are used in initial chemistry education and the way that these concepts are used in thermodynamics. When we try to bridge this gap, to account for students conceptions, we need the outcomes of research in physics education. We have divided the literature in this field into three different parts (i) literature on heat and temperature, (ii) literature on a general energy concept, and (iii) literature on thermodynamics. In the next sub-sections we will briefly review these literatures. 

Many teachers will state that their students have problems understanding thermodynamics. It is our impression that the same apphes to some secondary school teachers themselves. It is remarkable that so little research has been done on this aspect of chemical education, compared with subjects like chemical change, chemical calculations, or equilibrium. 

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