Speaker: Dr. Katharyn Nottis | Education | Bucknell University
Coauthors: Dr. Michael Prince & Dr. Margot Vigeant | Department of Chemical Engineering | Bucknell University
Previous research has found that engineering students have difficulty distinguishing among heat, energy and temperature concepts, even after instruction. A pattern of females having lower pre-test scores on conceptual assessments than males has also been revealed in physics education research, with this discrepancy being maintained even after instruction. This exploratory study sought to determine whether undergraduate engineering students’ prior knowledge of four crucial concept areas in heat transfer significantly changed after instruction: rate versus amount of heat transferred, temperature versus perceptions of hot and cold, energy versus temperature, and thermal radiation. The Heat and Energy Concept Inventory (HECI; Prince, Vigeant, & Nottis, 2009) was used to assess these areas with questions targeting previously documented misconceptions in each area. This study also looked to discover whether there were significant gender differences in engineering students’ prior knowledge and their learning after instruction. A convenience sample of 152 undergraduate engineering students from five institutions in diverse locations in the United States participated; 145 were assessed in the first couple weeks of class, prior to instruction on the target concepts. The students were then evaluated in the last two weeks of the course with the same instrument (n = 142). Females comprised 27% (n = 41) of the sample. Results showed that while participants significantly improved from pre- to post-test, there was a moderate effect and the mean score on the post-test was below what most have considered concept mastery. Males had higher mean scores than females on the total pre-test however; the difference was not statistically significant. After instruction, the mean post-test score for males was significantly higher than that of females. Females did not significantly improve from pre- to post-test. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research will be provided.