Abstract: Based on the Rasch model, this paper conducted a quality test on four thermal concept scales (TCE, HTCE, TCS, and STPFaSL) with 573 college students as participants in order to assess their measurement properties and applicability in different cultural contexts. The results of the study show that the overall quality of the four scales is relatively good, which can properly reflect the level of students’ understanding of the relevant thermal concepts, but the difficulty of very few questions does not fully cover the ability level of all participants, and needs to be optimized. The average scores of domestic participants were generally higher than those of foreign participants, but the trend of scores of domestic and foreign students on the four scales remained consistent, indicating that they have some commonalities in their understanding of thermal concepts.

Key words:  thermal concept assessment, Rasch model, test quality analysis, cross-cultural applicability, physics education at universities