Chinese Journal of Science Education


Volume 2 No 2, pp. 77-113 (September, 1994)

Children's ideas about temperature and heat

CHEN Wen-Den and LIOU Der-Sheng

Abstract

Being familiar with a phenomenon doesn't necesarily imply true understanding. Thermal phenomena are such kinds of experiences which are closely related to our daily life. In our investigations, it's found that students already get the concepts of temperature, heat, molecule and the relations between temperature and heat. We also find that these naive concepts are usually faraway different from the real scientific concepts.

Sometimes students make use of a concept and unconsciously make adaptations for temporary needs caused by different situations encountered. It is the naive concept which is formed unmindfully without rigorous speculation.

To stimulate learning effectively, teachers must skillful afford environment in which the concerning concepts appear simultaneously, and propose crucial questions to expose the contrasts or incompleteness of students' naive concepts, so as to push them to review, correct and rebuild their concept system.

Keywords: Temperature; Heat

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