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September 10, 2025Open Access

Conceptions of Primary School Students With Mild Educational Needs About the Conceptual Area of Heat

VCVera Eirini Chandra MSMichael SkoumiosUniversity of the Humanities

Key Points

Students display misconceptions about heat and temperature, diverging from standard educational knowledge.
The analysis highlighted unique interpretations of thermal concepts such as thermal equilibrium among the selected students.
Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with five 12-year-olds with mild special educational needs.
The findings suggest implications for tailoring science education approaches to better fit these students' understanding.

Abstract

Although students' conceptions of science concepts have been extensively investigated, research examining the conceptions of students with mild special education needs is limited. This study aims to investigate the conceptions of primary school students with mild special educational needs about heat, temperature, thermal equilibrium, and thermal conductivity. Semi-structured interviews were used as a data collection tool and were applied to five 12-year-old students with mild special educational needs. The analysis of the students' responses revealed that they use conceptions about heat, temperature, thermal equilibrium, and thermal conductivity that are different from school knowledge. The findings of this work may be applied in both research and educational contexts. Article visualizations:

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