DIAGNOSIS OF GRADE 12 STUDENTS' ALTERNATIVE CONCEPTIONS ON THE CONCEPTS OF CHEMICAL THERMODYNAMICSUSING A FOUR TIER DIAGNOSTIC INSTRUMENT: THE CASE OF ANSHO SECONDARY SCHOOL IN SNNPR, ETHIOPIA

<strong>Abstract</strong>: Thermodynamics is fundamental to physical science to understand the concept of energy and associated properties. Despite the importance of chemical thermodynamics as the foundation for chemistry, most students hold several misconceptions about these concepts. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the common misconceptions of grade 12 natural science steam students held on the concept of chemical thermodynamics (first law and second law of chemical thermodynamics) using four-tier diagnostic test and to determine the level of their misconceptions. The data were collected from 120 grade 12 students joined natural science streams in 2021/2022 academic year. To identify students’ misconceptions four-tier diagnostic test which consists 14 multiple choice questions were prepared from first law and second law of chemical thermodynamics. The analysis of results showed that Grade 12 Natural science students hold misconceptions about the concepts of chemical thermodynamics predominantly on enthalpy, heat, entropy, open system, closed system and open system are some major areas’. Besides, the misconception level of Grade 12 Natural science students’ level of misconception ranged from low level misconception to high level misconception (27.50%- 72.50%).