Petrosino, A. J. and Mann, M. J. (2017). The challenges of understanding fluid in fluid density

The following is some research that has been conducted over the past few semesters with preservice STEM teachers' understanding of fluid density. Density is a concept taught in almost all elementary, middle, and secondary schools across the nation and is a central concept in the physical sciences. It is also historically a difficult concept to understand since it involved mass as well as volume and is multidimensional. Even more difficult in many respects is fluid density (fluids in fluids). The fluid density of a liquid is determined by its consistency with respect to its state in temperature and pressure. The temperature and pressure play an important role individually in determining the density of a fluid. Therefore, oil based drilling fluids and water based drilling fluids have different densities. In this paper a colleague and myself explore some of the especially difficult ideas embedded within fluid density and some efforts we have made to address this conceptual understanding for preservice teachers (n= 140).

Petrosino, A. J. and Mann, M. J. (2017). The challenges of understanding fluid in fluid density. Journal of Continuing Education and Professional Development. Vol. 4 No. 1 pp. 28-38.

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