Teaching Core Concepts in Thermal and Fluid Sciences Using Devices Familiar to the Student

Students often struggle with core concepts in thermal and fluid sciences courses. Through a National Science Foundation funded project we are developing a suite of experiments designed to expose student misperceptions about core concepts, and to hopefully improve the students’ understanding of the basic principles. The experiments use common devices that the students are familiar with. By using such devices the students can concentrate on learning the underlying principles rather than getting lost in understanding how the device works. There are seven experiments currently being developed using a hair dryer, a blender, a toaster, a bicycle pump, a computer power supply, a pipe with a sudden expansion, and a water container with a hole in it. These will be implemented over the next two years at the authors’ campuses to determine the effectiveness of each.