I am the greatest lab instructor that ever lived...

Today I had an inspiration for what to do in lab. (FYI, I'm a lab instructor for Astronomy labs...) Last week we did Luminosity and we did a few different exercises to measure the Inverse Square Law of luminosity using lightbulbs of different wattages and a differential null photometer (made of wax). The problem was that everyone was using metal guards around the light bulbs to shield the light so it wouldn't interfere with the other lab groups. These were basically a box made out of sheet metal with 2 empty sides, so it would shield 3 sides and the top and prevent the light from spilling out everywhere. The problem was that the inside of these boxes was shiny and highly reflective and it was directing more light toward the photometer and causing the results to be skewed. Realizing this, I explained to the class today what their problem was, and also showed them how the ambient light in the room was probably throwing off their results as well, since there was light coming in the windows around the edges of the blinds which was causing the wax photometers to be initially brighter on the side toward the window, even without any of the light bulbs turned on. Then I brought up our previous discussion on error analysis how we discussed systematic errors and how they can be eliminated. Finally, I challenged them to set up the experiment again (working all together this time instead of in smaller groups, so they wouldn't have to worry about light from other groups messing up their readings), and eliminate these errors. I told them they could set it up anywhere, and use any materials they could come up with. Then I just sat back and watched. They did great! I was so proud of them, and I think this exercise was way more educational than just following a procedure out of a lab manual and doing exactly what it said. They actually had to think and come up with ideas and implement them. It was much more like "real" science. Yay for me!