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Apr 2013

Volume 81, Issue 4, pp. 245-319

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University student and K-12 teacher reasoning about the basic tenets of kinetic-molecular theory, Part I: Volume of an ideal gas

Amy D. Robertson and Peter S. Shaffer

American Journal of Physics -- April 2013 -- Volume 81, Issue 4, pp. 303

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This article reports on a long-term investigation of student and teacher reasoning about the basic tenets of kinetic-molecular theory as they relate to the concept of volume. This research grew out of the finding that university-level students and practicing K-12 teachers often treat the volume of a gas as different from that of its enclosing container. We examined the extent to which this tendency might be associated with incorrect reasoning about the motions of the particles in the gas. The results suggest that teachers and students often justify incorrect answers about the volume of a gas with incorrect statements about the motion of gas particles.
Show PACS
01.40.Fk Research in physics education
05.00.00 Statistical physics, thermodynamics, and nonlinear dynamical systems
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