The influence of teaching methodologies in the learning of thermodynamics in secondary education

Abstract

This research has as it is the objective to show the influence of three different teaching methodologies in the learning of some basic concepts of thermodynamics with 14 and 15-year old students. This study was motivated by the scholar failure of students at these ages, especially in science. The sample was 93 students divided in three homogenous groups. Each group learnt the concepts with a teaching methodology. The concepts were density, pressure, volume, temperature and heat, these are the concepts of the curriculum. The instruments were a pretest and a posttest with theoretical questions, exercises and problems about thermodynamics concepts, moreover students made an intelligence test to verify the homogeneity of the groups. The results brought us that the teaching methodology has a very important role in the learning of the students in secondary education.