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Are You Certain? Teaching Error Analysis and Other Experimental Skills in the Physics Classroom

Conducting labs isn't a new way to teach physics, but labs have become increasingly prevalent with the rise of inquiry. Physics students collect mostly quantitative data, often represented by graphs or tables. Interpreting this data can be a challenge for students, especially when it comes to experimental error. To address this issue, this article describes a way to teach error analysis and other important experimental skills in the classroom. The purpose of experiments in learning From a learning perspective, experiments serve one of two purposes--verification or discovery. Verification experiments are application based and reinforce concepts that students have already learned. Discovery experiments are inquiry based; in these experiments, students pursue answers to questions. Both types of experiments are important in the science classroom, but this article focuses on how to use discovery experiments to maximize learning. The role of experiments in teaching From a teaching perspective, experiments serve as either teaching structures or curricular objectives. As a teaching structure, experiments offer a hands-on way of learning science content. For example, we can teach the concept of acceleration by having students investigate the motion of a marble rolling down an inclined track. As a curricular objective, an experiment has the purpose not of teaching acceleration or some other scientific concept but teaching how to do experiments. In physics, one important aspect of that is learning how to assess experimental error by conducting or analyzing repeated identical trials. Error analysis: A critical skill Students must learn how to conduct discovery experiments, and teachers must scaffold and support the development of the necessary skills throughout the year. One skill that should be mandatory for all students to develop is error analysis. Giving students hints to minimize error isn't enough; they must learn to reduce and interpret error on their own. As shown in Figure 1, there are three fundamental aspects of error analysis: 1. assessing and measuring error (i.e., quantifying error), 2. minimizing or accounting for error; and 3. applying error (i.e., identifying the correct trend in data or distinguishing a true trend from a false trend). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] From these, teachers can focus on several more specific skills that students need to conduct experiments and investigations. Teachers introduce these skills at the beginning of the year and then support and develop them throughout. In my physics classes, I teach three skills to address and minimize error: [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] 1. maximizing the range of independent variables; 2. collecting many data points within that range; and 3. conducting repeated trials at a particular data point or points. I teach these skills to increase students' confidence when they are unsure what trend to expect in their data sets. That way, during experiments, when students question "Am I doing this right?" I can simply ask what they can do to increase confidence in their data. Accountability and assessment Teachers should treat experimentation skills as content--teaching and assessing them like any other curricular objective so that students can practice and develop their skills over time. One way to do this is to demand that students have confidence in their data patterns for each experiment. To gain confidence, students must consistently practice these skills, which requires a high level of engagement during and after experiments. Assessment holds students accountable and measures their development. Sharing student groups' results with the class in some manner, instead of merely grading written lab reports or handouts, can increase engagement. Students can also periodically perform a lab practicum in which they have to demonstrate--and are graded on--their experimentation skills. …