An Investigation of Teaching and Learning about Measurement Data and their Treatment in the Introductory Physics Laboratory

This study investigates aspects of first-year Physics undergraduate students’ understanding of measurement and data treatment after introductory instruction on measurement and data treatment. In the first part of the study we present key aspects of the design and structure of an innovative sequence, which employs metrological uncertainty and bayesian probability as primary concepts for the modelling of the content instead of the concepts of measurement error and frequentistic probability. In the second part we focus on interpretation of instrument readings by students who were engaged in this sequence. Besides we investigate the interpretation of instrument readings by students who were engaged in a conventional course that is based on a frequentistic scientific framework.