Teaching of the Second Law of Thermodynamics: Evaluation of learners‟ concept maps

The present study describes the effect of concept maps on learners’ achievement and interest for classroom teaching of the second law of thermodynamics to engineering students. Learners are encouraged to develop their individual concept maps of the second law of thermodynamics. The scores of the learners’ concept maps are compared with the score of the expert map developed by the teacher. After teaching the topic, an achievement test about the second law of thermodynamics consisting of 15 questions was administered. Concept map scores and the results of achievement test were compared. Experimental data reveals that concept map scores are moderately co-related with the scores of achievement test. While achievement test measures application knowledge, the concept maps on the other hand measure knowledge about related concepts and degree and quality of relationships constructed between the concepts. As a result, concept maps can be used as an assessment method along with achievement test to measure various aspects of learning. Learners’ perceptions indicate the effectiveness of the use of concept maps in the classroom. An analysis conducted on learning outcomes is also presented. Kewords: Concept maps, The second law of thermodynamics, achievement test, meaningful learning, Cronbach alpha coefficient, K-R 20 coefficient