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ERIC Number: EJ1475438
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 27
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-2148-9955
Available Date: 0000-00-00
How Difficult Is It to Teach Thermodynamics in Tertiary Education? Teachers' Opinions and Predominance of the Disorder Metaphor
International Journal of Research in Education and Science, v11 n2 p190-215 2025
This study explores the challenges faced by tertiary education instructors in teaching thermodynamics, with a specific focus on entropy. This study completes and adds to the current literature by providing self-reported perceptions of difficulty by teachers, which is lacking, compared to students' opinions, in this area of research. Through a survey of 41 French-speaking thermodynamics teachers in Belgium (N = 26 full answers, N = 15 partial answers), we report various obstacles in thermodynamics identified by instructors, including content aspects such as their abstract nature, or diverging opinions on mathematical difficulties. For teaching management aspects, instructors report that they have enough resources to teach, but that maybe they have too many non-teaching tasks. For entropy specifically, instructors report that it is challenging due to its abstractness, to its lack of perceptibility, and to the disconnection between macroscopic and microscopic perspectives, among others. 77% of respondents use the disorder metaphor. Invoked reasons include helping students visualize entropy, making it simpler, or making it more concrete. Comparison between teachers' opinions and students' opinions reported by Sözbilir (2004) shows agreements on some difficulties, but also tensions, such as the pedagogical relevance of the lecture format, the need for links with everyday life, or the promotion of conceptual understanding.
International Society for Technology, Education, and Science. e-mail: ijresoffice@gmail.com; Web site: https://www.ijres.net/index.php/ijres
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Belgium
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A