Thermal Science Concept Inventory

Developing an Outcomes Assessment Instrument for Identifying Engineering Student Misconceptions in Thermal and Transport Sciences

(NSF DUE - 0127806)

Project staff

Principal Investigator: Ronald L. Miller, Colorado School of Mines
Co-PI: Ruth A.Streveler, Purdue University
Senior Personnel: Barbara M. Olds, Colorado School of Mines
Research Associate: Mary A. Nelson, University of Colorado at Boulder
Consultant: Michelene T.H.Chi, University of Pittsburgh

Information about the project

This project focuses on creating an outcomes assessment instrument to reliably identify engineering student misconceptions in thermal and transport science courses (e.g. thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, mass transfer). To create an instrument capable of identifying these misconceptions in engineering students, the following objectives will be completed:

Develop a list of the most important student misconceptions in thermal and transport sciences by surveying experienced engineering faculty about the misconceptions they find among their students and then validating this list through student interviews. COMPLETED.

Create a multiple-choice pencil-and-paper instrument patterned after successful misconception instruments such as the Force Concept Inventory; misconceptions to be included in instrument questions will be based on the list created to meet the first objective. COMPLETED.

Field test the instrument to demonstrate validity and reliability of the misconception results obtained and usefulness of the instrument for both course-level and program-level assessment of student misconceptions in thermal and transport science topics. IN PROGRESS. We are currently beta testing our instrument. For information about being a Beta site, contact Ruth Streveler.

Project documents

Papers and workshops

Using the Delphi Method to Identify the Most Difficult Concepts for Students to Master in Thermal and Transport Science. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education, June 2003, Nashville, TN.

Special Session: Why Are Some Concepts in Science and Engineering So Difficult to Learn? Identifying, Assessing, and "Repairing" Misunderstanding of Important Concepts. Presented at the Frontiers in Education Conference, November, 2003, Boulder, CO.
- Slides from the Special Session
- Resource page from the Special Session

Concept-Based Learning, slides from invited panel presentation for the American Association of Physics Teachers, January 26, 2004, Miami, FL.

Investigating the Conceptual Understanding of Engineering Students. Presented at the Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, April 2004, San Diego, CA.

Preliminary Results from the Development of a Concept Inventory in Thermal and Transport Science. Proceeding of the Annual Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education, June 2004, Salt Lake City, UT.

Interactive Session: Concept-Based Engineering Education: Designing Instruction to Facilitate Student Understanding of Difficult Concepts in Science and Engineering. Presented at the Frontiers in Education Conference, Session S1A. October, 2004. Savannah, GA.

Slides from Interactive Session
Handouts from the Interactive Session (thermal science Delphi survey results, circuits Delphi survey results, engineering mechanics Delphi survey results)
Results from the discussion at the Interactive Session

Practice to Research: Using Professional Expertise to Inform Research about Engineering Students' Conceptual Understanding. Presented at the Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, April 2005, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Concept Inventories Meet Cognitive Psychology: Using Beta Testing as a Mechanism for Identifying Engineering Student Misconceptions. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education, June 2005, Portland, OR.

Special Session: Cognitive Legos: Helping Your Students Construct Scientifically Accurate Mental Models. Presented at the Frontiers in Education Conference, Session S2A, October, 2005, Indianapolis, IN.

Using Concept Inventories for Formative Assessment of Conceptual Learning: A Case Study from Engineering. Presented at the Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, April 2006, San Francisco.

Misconceptions about Rate Processes: Preliminary Evidence for the Importance of Emergent Conceptual Schemas in Thermal and Transport Sciences. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the American Society for Engineering Education, June 2006, Chicago.

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