The Average of 36 and 38 is 57

Abstract

Every week with my Regents physics classes, per state mandate, the students conducted a “science laboratory.” I applaud the mandate. However I put science laboratory in quotes because so many of the labs that I saw implemented, published, and on line were procedures that I would not call science. I would also not call them laboratory activities. I certainly would not call them educational. As Thanksgiving approached, I had the students conduct a standard lab on the pendulum. They did the usual thing about measuring the period for different values of mass and string length. They graphed their results. The steps were laid out clearly for the students. They were told exactly what to vary, how many times to vary it, what to write down, what to graph, and what to calculate. I was bored just reading it, but this particular week I chose the path of least resistance and used it anyway.