Technology, Statistics, And Subtleties Of Measurement: Bridging The Gap Between Science And Mathematics

In an ideal world, science students would act as scientists do: investigating their own questions, designing experiments, and so forth. This paper reports on curriculum development and field testing that takes a step in this open-ended direction. To do this, we have focused on integrating more data analysis into science activities; this also gives students a chance to use more mathematics, in an understandable context. This mathematics includes work with functions and variation. A closer look at plausible activities shows us that principles of measurement connect these elements; furthermore, a broad view of measurement reconnects us to our original goal: to expose students more directly to the nature of science.