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ABSTRACT:The procedural understanding of university students at the freshman level, prior to instruction, has been investigated in the context of experimental work in physics. A written instrument was used to explore students' ideas about data collection, data processing, and data comparison; in particular, the need to repeat measurements and the implications of the scatter associated with numerical and graphical data. Two types of reasoning used by students in the laboratory, viz. point and set reasoning, are proposed and used to classify students' responses. The findings show a high degree of consistency of these modes of reasoning across the experimental phases of data collection and data processing. A framework is suggested from which a laboratory teaching program may be developed.

Conventional physics laboratory courses generally include an emphasis on increasing students' ability to carry out data analysis according to scientific practice, in particular, those aspects that relate to measurement uncertainty. This study evaluates the efficacy of the conventional approach by analyzing the understanding of measurement of freshmen following the physics major sequence, i.e., top achievers, with regard to data collection, data processing, and data comparison, through pre-and postinstruction tests by using an established instrument. The findings show that the laboratory course improved the performance of the majority of students insofar as the more mechanical aspects of data collection and data processing were concerned. However, only about 20% of the cohort of physics majors exhibited a deeper understanding of measurement uncertainty required for data comparison.

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