Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Educational Research and Reviews, cilt.10, sa.4, ss.491-500, 2015 (Hakemli Dergi)
Science students find heat, temperature, enthalpy and energy in chemical reactions to be some of the most difficult
subjects. It is crucial to define their conceptual understanding level in these subjects so that educators can build upon
this knowledge and introduce new thermodynamics concepts. This paper reports conceptual understanding levels of
high school students of common thermodynamics subjects such as heat, temperature, enthalpy and energy changes in
chemical reactions. The sample of the study was composed of 418 randomly selected students from 11 different high
schools. A cross sectional survey model was employed in this study. Data were collected through the Conceptual
Understanding Test (CUT), which consists of 16 questions. Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient for the test was 0.72.
Besides, interviews were conducted with 10 students to get qualitative data about their beliefs on the subject. The results
of the study indicated that students’ level of conceptual understanding in thermodynamics concepts is very low. It was
observed to be especially low for the concepts of (1) relationship between energy, enthalpy and bonds in chemical
reactions, (2) energy and catalysts in chemical reactions, (3) changes in heat, temperature and enthalpy during change of
state, and (4) the relationship between heat, temperature, mass and specific heat. Most of the students in this study do
not fully understand common thermodynamics concepts although they have been studying these topics since primary
school.