
Developed by Ron Miller, Ruth Streveler and Monica R. Geist
Purpose | To identify important but strongly held misconceptions in the thermal and transport sciences. |
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Format | Pre/post, Multiple-choice |
Focus | Thermal / Statistical Content knowledge (second law of thermodynamics, energy quality, conversion of thermal energy to work, enthalpy, internal energy, equilibrium processes, steady-state processes) |
Level | Intermediate |
Sample question from the TTCI-T:
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This is the second highest level of research validation, corresponding to at least 5 of the validation categories below.
Research Validation Summary
Based on Research Into:
- Student thinking
Studied Using:
- Student interviews
- Expert review
- Appropriate statistical analysis
Research Conducted:
- At multiple institutions
- By multiple research groups
- Peer-reviewed publication
The multiple-choice questions on the TTCI-T were developed based on feedback from experts to identify and rank core concepts in thermodynamics courses in engineering departments (using a Delphi study). These categories of concepts were validated through a literature review. Open-ended questions were then written and student responses to open-ended versions of the questions were collected. These student responses and findings from student interviews were used to create the multiple-choice options, which then underwent further expert review and revision. The multiple-choice questions were given to students and appropriate statistical analyses of reliability, difficulty and discrimination found the TTCI to have acceptable values. The TTCI has been given to over 1000 students at more than 10 universities. There are 12 publications presenting TTCI-T data.
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