Methodology
The methodology for this study was influenced by
the literature survey, which had shown that current
research about students’ understanding of entropy
and Gibbs free energy lacked depth. Previous
studies had identified weakness in understanding
thermodynamics concepts, as well as some
individual alternative conceptions, but the studies
failed to give a picture of why misconceptions
developed and how they linked to different aspects
of students’ understanding of chemical
thermodynamics. It was, therefore, decided to place
a strong emphasis in this study on exploring
thoroughly the qualitative understanding of a small
number of students, both before and after a taught