Learning about heat transfer-"Oh, I see" experiences

At RMIT University, Australia, a small team of engineers, media producers, a graphic artist/programmer and an educational researcher have designed, constructed and tested an alternative approach to teaching and learning in heat transfer. They have constructed computer animations using mathematical models of unsteady state heat transfer in conduction and in heat exchangers and steady state in forced convection. Students build operate and explore virtual experiments to see and experience connections between heat flow temperature differences, material thermal properties and material geometry. They have been surprised at how much, and how quickly, students (and teachers) learned from trials of the conduction "experiment". In particular, students\´ false or unscientific theories of heat transfer were quickly revealed. In this regard, they discovered that modelling and revealing transient or unsteady state heat transfer was particularly powerful.