Learning to Connect the Macroscopic and Microscopic Variables of the Ideal Gas Law by Using Drawing-Based Modeling

Abstract

The difference between macroscopic and microscopic scales are difficult for students to understand. The ideal gas is a representative topic in high school physics and chemistry that requires students to connect micro-level and macro-level of gas properties. In order to solve the problems which students have for connecting microscopic and macroscopic variables of the ideal gas law, in this research, we used drawing-based modeling, known as SimSketch, to visualize the micro-level movement of the ideal gases and to guide students to learn one part of the ideal gas law. We have developed and adjusted SimSketch for two iterations. In each iteration, the dialogue and the written answers of five dyads of students were analyzed. We found five themes of how students connected the microscopic variables to the macroscopic variables. Through further analysis, these themes might stem from the representations and tasks demonstrated in SimSketch. Our findings suggest that drawing-based modeling can guide students to connect the micro-level and macro-level gas properties along with guiding tasks but the choice of the representations in SimSketch may affect students’ interpretation of the micro-level properties of ideal gases. With inexplicit representations, students may have an incomplete knowledge regarding the connection of microscopic variables and macroscopic variables but may provide more in-depth conversations.