New Perspectives in Science Education

In recent years, work has been undertaken at Durham University to see how student understanding of uncertainty in experimental measurements changed throughout the course of the first year of undergraduate laboratories. Students were surveyed both pre and post instruction using an instrument developed by Allie et al [1] to see how their understanding had developed and deepened throughout the course of the year, with a particular focus on assessing measurement agreement. We were particularly interested to see if, following the period of instruction, students had overcome concepts in measurements and uncertainties that could be regarded as Threshold Concepts [2], allowing them to transition from the point to the set paradigm, [3]. Following the period of learning, student answers to the survey showed a statistically significant improvement in the sophistication level of the responses given. However, misconceptions still remained. Additionally, we were able to quantify learning gain by use of an optimal pooled t-test, which allowed comparison of the pre and post test data for a mixture of paired (students who had completed both surveys) and unpaired data.

Keywords: Physics Education, Undergraduate Experimentation.

References: 

1. Allie, S. et al (1998), “First-year physics students’ perceptions of the quality of experimental measurements,” Int J Sci Educ Vol. 20 (447)
2. Meyer, J., & Land, R. (2003) “Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Practising within Disciplines” Improving Student Learning: Improving Student Learning Theory and Practice – Ten Years On. Oxford; OCS:D. pp 412-424
3. Lubben et al (2001), “Point and set reasoning in practical science measurement by entering university freshmen,” Science Education, 85, 311-327