2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Systematic literature review on the common misconceptions in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer

Student misconceptions are rooted in their experiences from everyday life and unsteady foundations from previous courses. These misconceptions often have a negative impact on students’ conceptual understanding within an engineering subject. The literature includes many articles that identify misconceptions in engineering thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer, and some offer strategies for addressing these misconceptions. However, a recent literature review on the misconceptions that have persisted in these engineering subjects was not found. A systematic literature review on common misconceptions in engineering thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer was conducted for this paper. In total, 32 articles were found within mechanical engineering and engineering education research from the past 20 years that focused on the search criteria for misconceptions in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. The search terms used to find articles included: student misconceptions, mistakes, errors, and misunderstandings. The most common misconceptions in thermodynamics were: differentiation among heat, energy, and temperature, entropy, and steady-state vs. equilibrium processes. In fluid mechanics, the common misconceptions included: Bernoulli's principle, gravitational effects, and fluid statics. The common misconceptions in heat transfer included: differentiation among heat, energy, and temperature, rate vs. amount of transfer, and modes of heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation). A distinction is made in this literature review between primary and secondary misconceptions, where the secondary misconceptions typically arise from a lack of addressing primary misconceptions. The methods that instructors and researchers used to identify misconceptions were collected and categorized based on assessment type. Similarly, the strategies developed to repair and prevent student misconceptions are presented. With this literature review, a more cohesive view of student misconceptions can be formed, so that instructors may anticipate these misconceptions in their own courses and attempt to remediate them, as well as facilitating a deeper understanding of student misconceptions that may be more generalized to engineering education as a whole.

Authors

Dr. Adrian Rodriguez zyBooks, A Wiley Brand [biography]

Adrian Rodriguez is a Senior Engineering Content Developer for zyBooks, a Wiley brand and a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include engineering education, multibody dynamics, contact and impact with friction, electro-mechanical systems, and nonlinear dynamics. He earned his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington.
Ms. Linda Ratts Wiley
Lauren Fogg zyBooks, a Wiley Brand [biography]

Lauren Fogg is an Engineering Content Developer at zyBooks, a Wiley Brand. She has a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering. She also has a PhD in Engineering, concentration: Engineering Education. Her research interests are diversity, gender equity, retention, project-based learning, and cognitive models of problem-solving.
Yasaman Adibi zyBooks [biography]

Yasaman Adibi is an Engineering Content Author at zyBooks. She earned her PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2015, where her research focused on medical imaging using ultrasound. She also did two years of postdoctoral resear
Dr. Ryan Barlow zyBooks, A Wiley Brand [biography]

Ryan Barlow obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Utah in 2012, his Master's Degree in Science Education from the University of Maryland in 2016 and his PhD in Engineering Education from Utah State University in 2020. He currently works for zyBooks, A Wiley Brand creating interactive content for online mechanical engineering textbooks. His current research focuses on online engineering assessment, accessibility in online textbooks, and studying the effectiveness of online textbooks in engineering courses.
Ms. Jenny Welter Wiley [biography]

Jennifer ”Jenny” Welter has been a publishing professional for more than two decades, specifically focused on engineering publications and courseware during the majority of her tenure. She is passionate about supporting engineering education, specifically focused on content and assessment development for more effective student learning. She earned her BA in English from The University of Iowa.
James Eakins zyBooks, A Wiley Brand

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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