PERC 2010 Abstract Detail Page
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| Abstract Title: | Investigating student understanding for a statistical analysis of two thermally-interacting solids |
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| Abstract: | As part of an ongoing research and curriculum development project for upper-division courses in thermal physics, we have developed a sequence of tutorials in which students apply statistical methods to examine the behavior of two interacting Einstein solids. In the sequence, students begin with simple results from probability and develop a means for counting the states in a single Einstein solid. The students then consider the thermal interaction of two solids, and observe that the classical equilibrium state corresponds to the most-probable distribution of energy between the two solids. As part of the development of the tutorial sequence, we have developed several assessment questions to probe student understanding of various aspects of this system. In this poster, we describe the strengths and weaknesses of student reasoning, both qualitative and quantitative, to assess the readiness of students for one tutorial in the sequence. Supported in part by NSF CCLI grant DUE-0817335. |
| Abstract Type: | Contributed Poster |
Author/Organizer Information | |
| Primary Contact: |
Michael Loverude California State University Fullerton Department of Physics MH 611 California State University Fullerton Fullerton, CA 92834 |
