Teaching the concepts of measurement: An example of a concept-based laboratory course

American Journal of Physics

Volumn 73, Issue 8, 2005, Pages 771-777

  Kung, Rebecca Lippmann ^a  

^a UPPSALA UNIVERSITY   (Sweden)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 25144433849     PISSN: 00029505     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1119/1.1881253     Document Type: Article

References (31)

1. M. Welzel, K. Haller, M. Bandiera, D. Hammelev, P. Koumaras, H. Niedderer, A. Paulsen, K. Robinault, and S. von Aufschnaiter, "Teachers' objectives for labwork. Research tool and cross country results," Labwork in Science Education, Working Paper 6, Targeted Socio-Economie Research Programme Project PL 95-2005 (1998).
2. M. G. Sere, R. Journeaux, and C. Larcher, "Learning the statistical analysis of measurement errors," Int. J. Sci. Educ. 15(4), 427-438 (1993).
3. J. Leach, R. Millar, J. Ryder, M. G. Sere, D. Hammelev, H. Niedderer, and V. Tselfes, "Students' images of science as they relate to labwork learning," Labwork in Science Education, Working Paper 4, Targeted Socio-Economic Research Programme, Project PL 95-2005 (1998).
4. F. Lubben and R. Millar, "Children's ideas about the reliability of experimental data," Int. J. Sci. Educ. 18(8), 955-968 (1996).
5. A. Buffler, S. Allie, F. Lubben, and B. Campbell, "The development of first year physics students' ideas about measurement in terms of point and set paradigms," Int. J. Sci. Educ. 23(11), 1137-1156 (2001).
6. P. G. Hewitt, "Conceptual physics - Turning nonscience students on to their everyday environments," Phys. Teach. 10(9), 522-524 (1972).
7. For example, see D. R. Sokoloff and R. K. Thornton, Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (Wiley, New York, 2001), and
8. L. C. McDermott, P. S. Shaffer, and the Physics Education Group, Tutorials in Introductory Physics (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 2002).
9. E. Kim and S.-J. Pak, "Students do not overcome conceptual difficulties after solving 1000 traditional problems," Am. J. Phys. 70(7), 759-765 (2002).
10. Consider the popularity of P. G. Hewitt's Conceptual Physics (Pearson Education, 2001) as a high school and university textbook.
11. D. E. Trowbridge and L. C. McDermott, "Investigation of student understanding of the concept of acceleration in one dimension," Am. J. Phys. 49(3), 242-253 (1981).
12. R. Scherr, P. S. Shaffer, and S. Vokos, "Student understanding of time in special relativity: Simultaneity and reference frames," Am. J. Phys. 69(7), S24-S35 (2001).
13. B. S. Ambrose, P. R. L. Heron, S. Vokos, and L. C. McDermott, "Student understanding of light as an electromagnetic wave: Relating the formalism to the physical phenomena," Am. J. Phys. 67(10), 891-898 (1999).
14. In this paper we give an example of a course that teaches concepts separately and before calculations. To teach the two simultaneously, see S. Allie, A. Buffler, B. Campbell, F. Lubben, D. Evangelinos, D. Psillos, and O. Valassiades, "Teaching measurement in the introductory physics laboratory," Phys. Teach. 41(7), 394-401 (2003).
15. R. C. Hilborn and R. H. Howes, "Why many undergraduate physics programs are good but few are great," Phys. Today 56(9), 38-44 (2003).
16. D. L. Deardorff, "Introductory physics students' treatment of measurement uncertainty," unpublished doctoral dissertation, North Carolina State University, 2001.
17. For similar lists, see Ref. 15, and R. Fairbrother and H. Hackling, "Is this the right answer?," Int. J. Sci. Educ. 19(8), 887-894 (1997).
18. This laboratory course, called the Scientific Community Laboratory, began in 2001 and continues through Fall, 2004, with a few revisions. We do not claim that this laboratory is the only or the best way to teach the concepts of measurement, but it is an example of successfully improving learning outcomes in this area.
19. Such reform may need to take the form of a "spiral curriculum." See J. Bruner, The Process of Education (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1960).
20. S. Duggan and R. Gott, "What sort of science education do we really need?," Int. J. Sci. Educ. 24(7), 661-679 (2002).
21. For example, students consider whether it is better to have several people time the same trial or to run different trials with one person timing.
22. For a recent discussion on the size of confidence intervals, see D. Groh, "Questioning assumptions," Phys. Teach. 42, 68-69 (2004);
23. S. Allie, A. Buffler, B. Campbell, F. Lubben, D. Evangelinos, D. Psillos, and O. Valassiades, "Author's response," ibid. 42, 70 (2004).
24. For example, when measuring whether the period of a pendulum depends on the amplitude of the swing, stacking will not be useful if the amplitude of the swing dies away rapidly.
25. This issue is difficult. Consider the controversy surrounding what data Millikan chose to publish for his oil drop experiment. See D. Goodstein, "In defense of Robert Andrews Millikan," Eng. Sci. LXIII(4), 30-38 (2000).
26. For example, it is better to start and stop the timer when a pendulum swings through its lowest point (a fast transition) instead of the turn-around point (a slow transition).
27. The student responses could be interpreted in several different ways. Our analyses may not necessarily be the students' thinking, but we believe that they are reasonable. In either case, these student responses are examples of certain measurement concepts, and need not be interpreted in depth.
28. For definitions of these terms, see P. R. Bevington and D. K. Robinson, Data Reduction and Error Analysis (McGraw-Hill, New York, 2003), 3rd ed., pp. 36-39.
29. Reasons 9 and 11 in Fig. 5, which also mention the range, do not compare how much the two ranges overlap, and thus are not included as range overlap reasons.
30. The error bars on Fig. 6 are estimates of sampling error. Assuming a normal population of students studying physics in the U.S., the error bars are an estimate of the sampling errors that could be found if these results were applied to another similar sample of students.
31. D. S. Abbott, "Assessing student understanding of measurement and uncertainty," unpublished doctoral dissertation, North Carolina State University, 2003.