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Year 3 students’ conceptions of heat transfer
Citation
Fitzallen, N and Wright, S and Watson, J and Duncan, B, Year 3 students' conceptions of heat transfer, Proceedings of the 2016 Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) Conference, 27 November - 1 December 2016, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, pp. 1-12. ISSN 1324-9320 (2016) [Refereed Conference Paper]
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Abstract
Many children and adults have problems differentiating between heat and
temperature. As a consequence, intuitions developed about the transfer of
heat and other thermal concepts do not align with scientific explanations
of the phenomena. These intuitions are formed as alternative conceptions,
which are resistant to change and persist as children progress through
school. In order to develop teaching interventions that challenge
children’s thinking it is necessary to determine the potential alternative
conceptions developed early in life. Embedded within the context of a
STEM research project, the study reported in this paper explored Year 3
students’ conceptions about heat transfer and the properties of insulation
after they had worked through an experiment that required them to collect
data to determine the effect of insulation on the transfer of heat. The
students were interviewed and the transcripts were interrogated to identify
the instances when the students demonstrated their conceptions of thermal
concepts. The aim was to determine the way in which the students related
their conceptions of heat transfer and insulating properties of material to
the context of the experiment and to every day experiences. Excerpts
from the student interviews are used to illustrate the range of
understanding expressed by the students.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Conference Paper |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | STEM, heat transfer, science education, technology education, alternative conceptions |
| Research Division: | Education |
| Research Group: | Curriculum and pedagogy |
| Research Field: | Science, technology and engineering curriculum and pedagogy |
| Objective Division: | Education and Training |
| Objective Group: | Teaching and curriculum |
| Objective Field: | Pedagogy |
| UTAS Author: | Fitzallen, N (Dr Noleine Fitzallen) |
| UTAS Author: | Wright, S (Mrs Suzie Wright) |
| UTAS Author: | Watson, J (Professor Jane Watson) |
| UTAS Author: | Duncan, B (Mr Bruce Duncan) |
| ID Code: | 112794 |
| Year Published: | 2016 |
| Funding Support: | Australian Research Council (DP150100120) |
| Deposited By: | Education |
| Deposited On: | 2016-11-29 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-12-14 |
| Downloads: | 73 View Download Statistics |
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