‘How science works’ and data logging: eleven quick experiments with a kettle
Justin Walker · Physics Education · 2010
The benefits of using data logging to teach 'how science works' are presented. Pedagogical approaches that take advantage of other school ICT are briefly described. A series of simple, quick experiments are given together with their resulting charts. Examples of the questions that arise from the charts show how the rich data lead to the refinement of the experiments, increased confidence in the measurements and improved understanding of the physics involved. The charts themselves support pupil discussion and curiosity about the physics. The simple experiments enable familiarity with data logging hardware and software to be built up.