[Phys-L] Re: Human Error?

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

At 10:35 -0700 4/29/05, Bernard Cleyet wrote:

>  I don't remember an instructor ever using it.  Partly because
> early on error wasn't discussed (bad memory from the 40/50's?).

I have. I was visiting a middle school class when the teacher did
just that (he also thought that the proper way to handle graphing
data was to connect the dots). I cringed when he said it, and later
asked him to never tell his students that. He was genuinely shocked
that this wasn't standard "error analysis."

I have asked many students where they learned this idea, and the
almost all attributed its origin to a middle school science teacher,
although a few would blame their chemistry teacher.

Hugh
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Hugh Haskell
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<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

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