Professional Documents
Culture Documents
T
raditionally physics laboratory courses at the that are inconsistent with the generally accepted scien-
freshman level have aimed to demonstrate tific model.4 For example, a large proportion of stu-
various principles of physics introduced in dents view the ideal outcome of a single measurement
lectures. Experiments tend to be quantitative in as an “exact” or “point-like” value. A sizeable minority
nature with experimental and data analysis techniques feel that since the ideal is not attainable, only an un-
interwoven as distinct strands of the laboratory quantified “approximate” value can be obtained in
course.1 It is often assumed that, in this way, practice. Only if a measurement is considered really
students will end up with an understanding of the na- “bad” would it then be reported in terms of an inter-
ture of measurement and experimentation. Recent val.5
research studies have, however, questioned this as- The studies carried out by the Cape Town-York
sumption.2,3 They have pointed to the fact that fresh- group have focused on aspects of dispersion in data
men who have completed physics laboratory courses sets. A model of student thinking has been developed
are often able to demonstrate mastery of the mecha- that has been termed “point” and “set” paradigms.6
nistic techniques (e.g., calculating means and standard In brief, in the “set” paradigm the ensemble of data is
deviations, fitting straight lines, etc.) but lack an modeled by theoretical constructs from which a “best
appreciation of the nature of scientific evidence, in estimate” and the degree of dispersion (an interval) are
particular the central role of uncertainty in experi- reported. However, the majority of students who ar-
mental measurement. We believe that the probabilis- rive at university operate within the “point
tic approach to data analysis, as advocated by the In- paradigm.”6 They subscribe to the notion that a “cor-
ternational Organization for Standardization (ISO), rect” measurement is one that has no uncertainty asso-
will result in a more coherent framework for teaching ciated with it. For many students, therefore, the ideal
measurement and measurement uncertainty in the in- is to perform a single perfect measurement with the
troductory physics laboratory course. utmost care. When presented with data that are dis-
Over the past few years we have researched4–7 fresh- persed, they often attempt to choose the “correct” val-
man physics students’ understanding of the nature of ue (for example, the recurring value) from amongst
measurement. The group at Thessaloniki has probed the values in the ensemble. It was found7 that even af-
students’ views of a single measurement. They con- ter a carefully structured laboratory course,8,9 most
cluded that, after completing a traditional laboratory students had not shifted completely to “set” paradigm
course, the majority have ideas about measurement thinking.