WEEK EIGHT: MEASUREMENT
- cassbass
- May 16, 2016
- 3 min read
The BIG ideas covered and related concepts, skills and strategies:
1. Measurement concept, skill and strategy
Concept: That an object's attributes determines how it is measured
Skill: 1. Choose an appropriate unit of measurement for the attribute being measured 2. Measure the object using the chosen unit 3. Report the number of units
(Week 8 Lecture)
Strategy: Estimation, activities using arbitrary measurement units
Teaching strategies with additional resources:
Activity: Arbitrary measuring activities
(Teacher Pay teachers (n.d.). NBT printable. Retrieved from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/2nd-Grade-NBT-2043932)
Introduce children to measurement using concrete materials and student language
"How many beans long is this footprint?"
"How many Teddy Bears fit in the.....?"
"Lets find something as big as the giant's footprint"
2. Common physical and geometric measures:
Perimeter - Measuring the outside of an object
Units of measurement: Millimetre, centimetre, metre, kilometre
Mass - Measuring the weight of an object
Units of measurement: Grams, Kilograms, tonne
Area - Measuring the inside space of a shape/object
Units of measurement: mm/cm/m/km - Squared
Volume - The amount of 3-dimensional space an object occupies
Units of measurement: MM/CM/M cubed
Capacity- Measuring how much something can hold
Units of measurement: Millilitres, litres
Time - Measuring passing moments
Units of measurement: Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries etc
Angle - Measuring the amount of turn between two straight lines that have a common end point (the vertex)
Units of measurement: Degrees
Money - Measuring the value of money
Units of measurement: Cents and dollars
Temperature - Measuring the climate
Units of measurement: Celsius or Fahrenheit
Teaching strategies with additional resources:
Activity: Measurement activities
1. Maths Coachs Corner (2014). Dice area game [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.mathcoachscorner.com
2. Moffat Girls. (2015). Tolls to measure printable [Digital image]. Retrieved from http://moffattgirls.blogspot.com.au /2015/10/november-fun-fill-learning-resources.html
Reflection: Once a child can identify an attribute, they must then learn to compare and object with a unit of measurement informally; this early introduction to measurement conceptualises the relationship between an object and a unit of measurement. I will endeavour to introduce this idea of measurement using student language and matching concrete materials, such as sticks in the garden to measure a path for example, to create inquiry based lessons in context of each child's life and learning environment. By doing this, I will allow children to gradually build their knowledge and understanding through the stages of language and materials.
The Language Model:
Misconceptions and strategies to remediate:
Misconception: Conservation - That the tall skinny glass holds more water than the short fat glass. That the compact playdough ball has less playdough than the long skinny playdough snake.
(Kayla's Education Experience, 2004)
(Odizzy1, 2004)
Strategies to avoid or remediate misconception:
- Use varying shaped measuring cups to show they look different but hold the same (concrete)
- Divide up play dough evenly and have students make varying shapes (concrete)
- Have children pour water/sand/rocks amongst varying glass sizes (concrete)
Australian Curriculum and Scootle links:
ACARA Links to Foundation Year:
(http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/mathematics/curriculum/f-10?layout=1)
Scootle Resource:
Who is taller?
(http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1225362/)
A short video comparing height (shorter/taller) and length (longer/shorter)
Measuring Length Informing: How big is the magic bus?
(http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/29655/)
A video introducing children to informal measurement using arbitrary units of measurement
Chapter 17: Measurement
- Plan learning experiences by:
- Identifying the attributes, measure with informal units, measure with standard units, apply the measurement to real-life contexts.
- Children must:
- Measure frequently and often on real life problems, develop estimation skills, encounter activity-oriented measurement situations, instructional planning must emphasis the important idea of measurement
- To measure with understanding children should know which attribute they are measuring:
- Length, capacity, weight/mass, area,angle, temperature, time
- Measure in informal units - Compare an object with an informal measurement unit to find out how many units would be equal to the object, some informal measurements:
- Length (hands, hand span, paperclips, pencils) Area (handprints, stamps, envelopes, tiles) Capacity (spoonfuls, cups, scoops) Volume (cubes, matchboxs, wooden blocks) Mass (rocks, shells, metal washers) Time (daylight, moon phases)
- Measurement tools;
- Rulers, scaled instruments,clocks
- Equivalences - Seven days is equivalent to one week / 60 minutes is equivalent to one hour
- Conversions - The equivalence of two units leads to a conversion - Convert 10mm to 1 cm
(Reys, Lindquist, Lambdin, Smith, Rogers, Falle, Frid & Bennett, 2012)
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