COMPREHENSION OF TEMPERATURE WHEN SOLVING A THERMODYNAMIC TASK

The present study focus the presence and role of deep qualitative conceptual knowledge of temperature among a group of ten individuals (n=10), academic well-educated and experienced in science, when solving a task about changes in temperature of a given thermodynamic system. The aim is to find out the variation of comprehension of temperature in the task solving process. Data is gathered by interviews based on the thinking aloud method. The interviews were video-recorded and verbatim transcribed. Transcriptions were analysed by using a two dimensional semiotic/semantic analysing schema (acronym 2-D SAS). The results revealed a broad variation in the comprehension of the term temperature in the given context. The three informants who produced correct answers structured the task by identifying the scientifically appropriate referent and sense of the term temperature according to the given context.