Pre-service physics teachers’ mental models of heat conduction: a case study of the process-analogy of heat conduction

摘要

Identifying the students' mental models in heat conduction forms the foundation for re-construction the introductory physics learning. In order to probe students' mental model on heat conduction, we conducted a qualitative study. In this paper, the authors describe the process of a multiphase study aimed at inferring the pre-service physics teachers' mental models of heat conduction. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to 31 students from two different teaching preparation institutions in West Java Province, Indonesia. They were all enrolled in Introductory Physics to elicit their understanding, explanation and prediction of heat conduction phenomena. Students' mental models were found to be dominated by unscientifically accepted mental models. These findings led teacher educator to suggest changes in the way that thermal topics are addressed in introductory physics course.