What is Measurement and Uncertainty?
Measurement is fundamental to science. While measurement might sometimes seem obvious, students can harbor basic misconceptions about measurement that prevent them from understanding science concepts. In particular, students often don’t always understand what conclusions can or cannot be reached based on the degree of uncertainty of measurements they make (Allie et al, 2003). These misunderstandings can affect their ability to acquire knowledge during hands-on, inquiry-based learning (Kanari and Millar, 2004). The goal of this module is to provide science educators clearly written, effective material to teach introductory level students the fundamentals of effective measurement, and describe how to integrate these ideas into science teaching. This module provides instructional material appropriate for high school and introductory college students that is conceptually consistent with the methods of measurement taught at more advanced levels and used in industry. In addition, this module
Related Questions
- Can you quantify the uncertainty in positional measurement introduced by diffuse light and discrete objects within the field of view (field stop) which are not individually detected?
- What if the measurement date was set despite uncertainty over individual award recipients?
- Given the challenges in measurement, is marketing perpetually burdened by uncertainty?
