written by N. G. Holmes and Carl E. Wieman

Many introductory physics labs include goals related to learning about measurement
uncertainty or error propagation. In this article, we present evidence from a new survey about experimentation and modeling in physics labs indicating that student difficulties with these concepts may stem in part from the language used. We demonstrate that students conflate measurement uncertainty, systematic effects, and measurement mistakes under a single umbrella. After a course that explicitly distinguished these three terms, students' paid more attention to precision and sources of random variability, rather than systematics or experimenter mistakes. We use this preliminary analysis to evaluate the survey as an instrument to assess learning in physics labs.

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Published November 17, 2015
Last Modified November 17, 2015

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