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Re: [Phys-l] estimation competition?



Hi Brian-
The no-no, which I've seen done in K-6, is to score on the basis of closeness to the correct answer. That totally defeats the purpose of estimating. In my classes, where I've banned the use of calculators for most problems, an answer is considered correct if it is within an order-of-magnitude, or so.
I don't favor your competition idea, that makes estimating "special". The idea is to promote numeracy by making estimatinrg part of the culture. That was the point of the celebrated "Fermi problems".
Regards,
Jack




On Sun, 29 Apr 2007, Brian Blais wrote:

Hello,

I was thinking it would be fun to have a competition in my class estimating various
quantities. It could be things like fractions of colors or M&Ms, or high and low
temperatures, or whatever. What I would like most is that they report not just the
estimate, but the uncertainty as well. Then I'd like to rank them in some way, and I
am not sure what is the best way to do this.

Intuitively, I want something that has the following properties:
1) for the same uncertainty, larger deviations of the estimate from the actual
yield lower rank
2) for the same estimate, larger uncertainty yields lower rank

Has anyone every tried this? I think it is important to communicate that the
uncertainty in an estimate is every bit as important as the estimate itself.

Perhaps its just an ill-conceived idea. :)


thanks,


Brian Blais




--
"Trust me. I have a lot of experience at this."
General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley