The ideas of first year university students about measurement in the physics laboratory are explored. Student responses to written probes administered at the beginning of the year are compared to those written after a 12 week laboratory course. The 'point' and 'set' paradigms are used as a model to analyse the responses to the probes. At the heart of the point paradigm is that both action and reasoning are based solely on individual measurements in a data set. On the other hand, subscribing to the set paradigm implies an understanding that a series of measurements are to be viewed as a collective that can be modelled by theoretical constructs, such as the mean and standard deviation. The degree of consistent use of these paradigms by individual students across the sets of probes is investigated. Implications for effective teaching interventions in the physics laboratory are discussed.
The development of first year physics students' ideas about measurement in terms of point and set paradigms
Reprints and Corporate Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:
Academic Permissions
Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?
Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:
If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.
Related Research Data
Related research
People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.
Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.
Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.