Earth Rocks gets an "A" for first rate teaching. The best mode of learning measurement at the K-12 level used to be shop classes. The disaster of the Gates Common Core Curriculum over the last 20 years has destroyed shop classes and other hands-on learning such as Home Economics. I witnessed years of students who did not master things as basic as a twelve-inch ruler. They had no concrete grasp of measurement because the curriculum became based on increasing levels of abstraction. This lack of basics has had dire consequences when these students show up in higher education.
Error analysis is VERY important! It's always my fear that in many news stories that the error in the published result is actually larger than the answer. Think how important this is when talking about temperature measurements and climate change! Always include the error with the number so people will understand the importance of the number given.
Earth Rocks gets an "A" for first rate teaching. The best mode of learning measurement at the K-12 level used to be shop classes. The disaster of the Gates Common Core Curriculum over the last 20 years has destroyed shop classes and other hands-on learning such as Home Economics. I witnessed years of students who did not master things as basic as a twelve-inch ruler. They had no concrete grasp of measurement because the curriculum became based on increasing levels of abstraction. This lack of basics has had dire consequences when these students show up in higher education.
Error analysis is VERY important! It's always my fear that in many news stories that the error in the published result is actually larger than the answer. Think how important this is when talking about temperature measurements and climate change! Always include the error with the number so people will understand the importance of the number given.