ABSTRACT
Students come to science class with a rich repertoire of ideas about thermodynamics from their personal experiences (Clough & Driver, 1985 ; Erickson, 1979 ; Erickson & Tiberghien, 1985; Lewis, 1996; Linn & Hsi, 2000; Wiser, 1988, 1995 ; Wiser & Carey, 1 983) . Students often develop multiple, conflicting ideas about thermal equilibrium (D. Clark, 2000, 200 1 ; Davis, 1998; Foley, 1999; Lewis, 1 996) . Stu dents struggle as they sort through these ideas to create a coherent understanding (D. B. Clark, 2000, 2001 ; diSessa, 1993, 1994; diSessa & Sherin, 1 998; Linn, 1995 ; Linn & Hsi, 2000) . Results from National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) , Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) , and state testing show that students make minimal progress between 4th and 1 2th grades in the United States on topics such as thermodynamics (Blank et al. , 2000; O'Sullivan et al. , 1997 ; Schmidt, McKnight, et al. , 1997 ; Schmidt, Raizen, et al . , 1997) .
