Dice activity: students as molecules

Highlights of the activity

1. This kinesthetic activity is designed to help upper-division undergraduate students to understand the information-theoretic definition of entropy.
2. Students perform a simulation in which each student is a molecule, and use a die to decide how to move about the room, and the class calculates the change in entropy as the activity progresses.
3. The wrap-up discussion addresses the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the tendency of entropy to increase

Reasons to spend class time on the activity

The probabilities that show up in the “fairness function” (a.k.a. Shannon entropy) can be confusing to students. This activity will help students to visualize why the entropy is maximized.

Reflections

• Reflections from the original implementation.

• Reflections from "official" adapters/adopters.

• Reflections from the general public.

Instructor's Guide

• Wiki version