The Need to Reinforce the Teaching of Basic Descriptive Statistics Required in Reporting Quantitative Laboratory Results: Diagnose of Common Students' Misconceptions
| Title: | The Need to Reinforce the Teaching of Basic Descriptive Statistics Required in Reporting Quantitative Laboratory Results: Diagnose of Common Students' Misconceptions |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Juan M. Sanchez (ORCID |
| Source: | Journal of Chemical Education. 2023 100(7):2713-2718. |
| Availability: | Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 6 |
| Publication Date: | 2023 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Higher Education Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: | College Science, Chemistry, Undergraduate Students, Scientific Attitudes, Student Attitudes, Misconceptions, Science Laboratories, Laboratory Training, Science Instruction, Teaching Methods, Statistics, Laboratory Experiments, Science Process Skills, Student Evaluation |
| DOI: | 10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c00394 |
| ISSN: | 0021-9584 1938-1328 |
| Abstract: | Descriptive statistics involves summarizing and organizing data so that they can be easily understood. Even though these are basic and simple concepts, many applied science students have misconceptions about their use in applied experiments in the laboratory. Students usually receive limited or no training in how to understand the meaning of the results obtained from statistical calculations, which leads students, and often even researchers, to assume that statistics are just the ability to count and use formulas with an appropriate software. In this study, students were interviewed after doing an exercise devoted to calculating the descriptive statistics required for some experimental results obtained in the laboratory. This has allowed us to find out the most common misconceptions held by students and has helped to develop a methodology to reinforce descriptive statistics concepts within laboratory lessons, which has been demonstrated to be helpful for students to improve the required descriptive statistical skills in scientific degrees. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2024 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1445705 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| ISSN: | 0021-9584 1938-1328 |
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| DOI: | 10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c00394 |
| Published in: | Journal of Chemical Education |
| Language: | English |