First year students' understanding of measurements in physics laboratory work

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dc.contributor.advisorAllie, Saalihen_ZA
dc.contributor.advisorBuffler, Andyen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorVolkwyn, Trevor Stantonen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-09-15T10:34:54Z
dc.date.available2015-09-15T10:34:54Z
dc.date.issued2005en_ZA
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 135-140).en_ZA
dc.description.abstractRecent collaborative work by the physics education research group at the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and the science education research group at the University of York (United Kingdom) has produced a suite of research instruments which may be used to probe the procedural understanding of first-year physics students. The work has led to the development of a model for classifying students' reasoning about measurement in terms of theoretical constructs which have been termed the point and set paradigms. The model accounts for the ways in which students make decisions in the areas of data collection, data processing and data comparison during experimental work. A set of questionnaires was modified and used in this study to investigate mainstream physics students' understanding of measurement both before and after completing a full year physics laboratory curriculum. It was found that although the mainstream students both entered and exited their course with high levels of proficiency in applying the more formalistic rules of data analysis, very few shifted in their fundamental understanding of the concepts that underlie experimentation. The results further suggest that the laboratory course may have indeed impeded these students from developing a deep understanding of the nature of measurement and uncertainty.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationVolkwyn, T. S. (2005). <i>First year students' understanding of measurements in physics laboratory work</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Physics. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14037en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationVolkwyn, Trevor Stanton. <i>"First year students' understanding of measurements in physics laboratory work."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Physics, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14037en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationVolkwyn, T. 2005. First year students' understanding of measurements in physics laboratory work. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Volkwyn, Trevor Stanton AB - Recent collaborative work by the physics education research group at the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and the science education research group at the University of York (United Kingdom) has produced a suite of research instruments which may be used to probe the procedural understanding of first-year physics students. The work has led to the development of a model for classifying students' reasoning about measurement in terms of theoretical constructs which have been termed the point and set paradigms. The model accounts for the ways in which students make decisions in the areas of data collection, data processing and data comparison during experimental work. A set of questionnaires was modified and used in this study to investigate mainstream physics students' understanding of measurement both before and after completing a full year physics laboratory curriculum. It was found that although the mainstream students both entered and exited their course with high levels of proficiency in applying the more formalistic rules of data analysis, very few shifted in their fundamental understanding of the concepts that underlie experimentation. The results further suggest that the laboratory course may have indeed impeded these students from developing a deep understanding of the nature of measurement and uncertainty. DA - 2005 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2005 T1 - First year students' understanding of measurements in physics laboratory work TI - First year students' understanding of measurements in physics laboratory work UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14037 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/14037
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationVolkwyn TS. First year students' understanding of measurements in physics laboratory work. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Physics, 2005 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14037en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Physicsen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherPhysicsen_ZA
dc.titleFirst year students' understanding of measurements in physics laboratory worken_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMScen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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