Misconceptions and Their Remediation on High School Physics Temperature and Heat Materials: A Systematic Review

This study aims to explore misconceptions in temperature and heat concepts in high school physics and analyze the effectiveness of remediation strategies. The objectives of the study are: (1) to identify the concepts most affected by misconceptions, (2) to analyze diagnostic tests frequently used to detect misconceptions, (3) to evaluate the methods/models/strategies used to remediate these misconceptions, and (4) to assess the impact of these strategies on students’ conceptual understanding. A systematic review of existing research articles was conducted using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The results revealed that phase change concepts had the highest percentage of misconceptions (83%), while heat concepts had the lowest (12.42%). The Certainty of Response Index (CRI) was the most commonly used diagnostic tool (57.15%). Effective remediation strategies identified included Conceptual Understanding Procedures, Predict Observe Explain (POE), Problem-Based Learning (PBL), and Problem Solving. The study found that the average effect size of remediation strategies was 2.07, indicating a significant improvement in students’ understanding. The findings suggest that targeted diagnostic tests and remediation strategies can effectively reduce misconceptions and improve students’ understanding of temperature and heat concepts.