Student reasoning about sources of experimental measurement uncertainty in quantum versus classical mechanics

Emily M Stump,N G Holmes,Courtney White,Gina Passante

doi:10.1119/perc.2020.pr.stump

Abstract

Measurement uncertainty and experimental error are important concepts taught in undergraduate physics laboratories. Although student ideas about error and uncertainty in introductory classical mechanics lab experiments have been studied extensively, there is relatively limited research on student thinking about experimental measurement uncertainty in quantum mechanics. In this work, we used semi-structured interviews to study advanced physics students' interpretations of fictitious data distributions from two common undergraduate laboratory experiments in quantum mechanics and one in classical mechanics. To analyze these interpretations, we developed a coding scheme that classifies student responses based on what factors they believe create uncertainty and differentiates between different types of uncertainty (e.g. imprecision, inaccuracy). We found that participants in our study expressed a variety of ideas about measurement uncertainty that varied with the context (classical/quantum) and the type of uncertainty.

Highlights

One of the goals of an undergraduate physics education is that students understand the process of experimental scientific inquiry
For the single-slit experiment, students’ responses were more varied when considering the data set than when considering measurement uncertainty in quantum mechanics generically
While sources of generic uncertainty in quantum mechanics were almost exclusively restricted to physical principles, explanations of the single-slit experiment data included physical principles and measurement limitations, as well as a couple mentions of measurement principles and physical limitations

Summary

Introduction

One of the goals of an undergraduate physics education is that students understand the process of experimental scientific inquiry. Research has consistently shown that many introductory physics students hold ideas about measurement and uncertainty that differ from experts’ [2]. The colloquial use of error, is to describe a mistake. Research has found that many students interpret the physicist term “error” in this colloquial sense in classical mechanics experiments [3, 4]. This line of thinking has been observed in students’ broader understanding of measurement. Students may expect that all errors (and uncertainty) can be eliminated by experts [3]

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