1) I accept both sides of the issue [teaching experimentation & analyzing data], but have my students focus more on interpreting data. Part of the reason why I don't collect data through experimentation is that the students don't have enough opportunity to conduct numerous experiments and compare the results. Also, I feel that kids have the fortune of having "stood on the shoulders of giants."

I absolutely agree that student-collected data is not always the best for analysis. They definitely need the practice of taking accurate measurements. I've been trying to use some of my student data for analysis, but I usually have to collect my own so that we end up with useful results.

Analyzing student data does provide a good opportunity to talk about accuracy and precision in data collection, though!