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Doing Science or Doing a Lab? Engaging Students with Scientific Reasoning during Physics Lab Experiments
written by N. G. Holmes and Doug A. Bonn
Undergraduate teaching labs often include expectations for students to use various sensemaking and reasoning behaviours when conducting an experiment. These expectations, however, are often unsupported in the explicit lab structure, and, as such, students develop distinctions between behaviours associated with "doing a lab" or "doing science." This study examines if and how students engage in reflection and evaluation of results during an experiment that involves two sources of systematic error. While many students reflected on their results and identified the source of the larger systematic error, very few did so for the smaller one. In fact, for the latter case, many students reported significantly inflated uncertainties, effectively hiding the systematic error altogether. We use these results, in-class observations, and post-lab interviews to describe how and why students failed to demonstrate authentic scientific inquiry behaviours during the lab.
Physics Education Research Conference 2013
Part of the PER Conference series
Portland, OR: July 17-18, 2013
Pages 185-188
Subjects Levels Resource Types
Education Foundations
- Student Characteristics
= Skills
Education Practices
- Curriculum Development
= Laboratory
- Learning Environment
General Physics
- Measurement/Units
= Error
- Scientific Reasoning
- Lower Undergraduate
- Reference Material
= Research study
Intended Users Formats Ratings
- Researchers
- application/pdf
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Mirror:
https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2013…
Access Rights:
Free access
License:
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the published article's author(s), title, proceedings citation, and DOI.
Rights Holder:
American Association of Physics Teachers
DOI:
10.1119/perc.2013.pr.034
PACSs:
01.40.Fk
01.40.G-
01.40.gb
Keywords:
PERC 2013, experimental physics, laboratory, scientific reasoning, systematic errors
Record Cloner:
Metadata instance created January 31, 2014 by Lyle Barbato
Record Updated:
January 31, 2014 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update
when Cataloged:
December 16, 2013
Other Collections:

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Record Link
AIP Format
N. Holmes and D. Bonn, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2013, Portland, OR, 2013, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13164&DocID=3711).
AJP/PRST-PER
N. Holmes and D. Bonn, Doing Science or Doing a Lab? Engaging Students with Scientific Reasoning during Physics Lab Experiments, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2013, Portland, OR, 2013, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13164&DocID=3711>.
APA Format
Holmes, N., & Bonn, D. (2013, July 17-18). Doing Science or Doing a Lab? Engaging Students with Scientific Reasoning during Physics Lab Experiments. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2013, Portland, OR. Retrieved October 4, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13164&DocID=3711
Chicago Format
Holmes, Natasha G., and Doug Bonn. "Doing Science or Doing a Lab? Engaging Students with Scientific Reasoning during Physics Lab Experiments." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2013, Portland, OR, July 17-18, 2013. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13164&DocID=3711 (accessed 4 October 2024).
MLA Format
Holmes, Natasha G., and Doug Bonn. "Doing Science or Doing a Lab? Engaging Students with Scientific Reasoning during Physics Lab Experiments." Physics Education Research Conference 2013. Portland, OR: 2013. 185-188 of PER Conference. 4 Oct. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13164&DocID=3711>.
BibTeX Export Format
@inproceedings{ Author = "Natasha G. Holmes and Doug Bonn", Title = {Doing Science or Doing a Lab? Engaging Students with Scientific Reasoning during Physics Lab Experiments}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2013}, Pages = {185-188}, Address = {Portland, OR}, Series = {PER Conference}, Month = {July 17-18}, Year = {2013} }
Refer Export Format

%A Natasha G. Holmes %A Doug Bonn %T Doing Science or Doing a Lab? Engaging Students with Scientific Reasoning during Physics Lab Experiments %S PER Conference %D July 17-18 2013 %P 185-188 %C Portland, OR %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13164&DocID=3711 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2013 %O July 17-18 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Holmes, Natasha G. %A Bonn, Doug %D July 17-18 2013 %T Doing Science or Doing a Lab? Engaging Students with Scientific Reasoning during Physics Lab Experiments %B Physics Education Research Conference 2013 %C Portland, OR %P 185-188 %S PER Conference %8 July 17-18 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13164&DocID=3711


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