Consistent and Inconsistent Pupils' Reasoning about Intensive Quantities: The Case of Density and Pressure

In this research we investigate whether the categorisation of physical quantities into intensive and extensive, according to scientific knowledge, is perceivable and understood by pupils aged 12–15 years. For this purpose we administered written questionnaires to 300 pupils, comprising four tasks for each intensive quantity: density and pressure. The tasks investigate whether pupils realise that intensive quantities do not depend on the amount of the system they refer to and the factors affecting pupils' reasoning and their consistency when studying phenomena involving fluids at rest or in transition. The analysis of responses led us to identify three models of consistent pupils' reasoning. It was also observed that a significant percentage of the pupils provide inconsistent answers, that is, they change their reasoning across tasks and use alternatives to scientific reasoning, influenced by phenomenological features of the tasks. According to our results we propose a number of recommendations, such as the introduction of intermediate teaching/learning steps to be followed as well as suitable experiments to be used towards the acquisition of the scientific model for density and pressure.     

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