RE: what good is "percentage error"?

[PHRP@FHSUVM.FHSU.EDU (Roger A. Pruitt)]

Well, I had never thought about the incorrectly labelled percentage error as
telling students that the purpose of the laboratory experiment was to get
the right answer. I do remember, however, my course in quantitative analysis
in chemistry where points were taken off according to how far we were from
the "correct" value. Chemistry students would indeed probably draw this
conclusion.

You may be correct in your assumption about student understanding for all
students. I'm getting to the point that I don't know what students assume
about any given thing.

Roger 


> The "formula" quoted in the original post is clearly telling the students
> that the purpose of scientific experiment and measurement is to get the
> right answer, reinforcing the notion that the content of our discipline is
> one of memorizable facts rather than a process for examining the world
> around us.
>
> George Spagna           **********************************************
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Roger A. Pruitt, PhD
Professor of Physics
Fort Hays State University
Hays, KS  67601
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