The most common problem students have is interpreting their data. � In particular they are asked about the percent error and the RMS deviation of their data to the best fit line.� This requires the concept of accuracy and precision which many students are not familliar with.� You may wish to discuss this at the beginning of class.
Students should use Excel to calculate the average value and standard deviation of the measured acceleration. They should save this data file (on a usb flash drive if possible) for use the following week in the curve fitting lab.