1 / 29

Concepts of Measurement

Concepts of Measurement. Informal Units, Standard Units, and Estimation. The Goal of the Teacher. Help students understand what it means to measure length, volume, weight, and area!. The BIG Ideas. Measurement involves a comparison of an attribute with a unit that has the same attribute.

joaquin-perez
Download Presentation

Concepts of Measurement

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Concepts of Measurement Informal Units, Standard Units, and Estimation

  2. The Goal of the Teacher Help students understand what it means to measure length, volume, weight, and area!

  3. The BIG Ideas • Measurement involves a comparison of an attribute with a unit that has the same attribute. • Meaningful measurement and estimation of measurements depend on a personal familiarity with the unit of measure being used. • Estimation of measures help students increase familiarity with units, prevent errors and aid in the meaningful use of measurement. • Understanding how measurement instruments work.

  4. The 3 Steps of Measurement 1.  Decide on the attribute to be measured 2.  Select a unit that has that attribute 3.  Compare the units, by filling, covering, matching, or       some  other method, with the attribute of the object being meaurement.

  5. Plan for Instruction 1.  Understand the attribute to be measured 2.  Understand filling, covering, matching, or making other comparisons of an attribute with informal measuring units 3.  Students will use common measuring tools with understanding and flexibility

  6. WHY USE INFORMAL UNITS? • Easier to focus directly on the attribute being measured. • Keeps the size of the numbers reasonable. • In K-3 a discussion of inches, feet, centimeters, etc., can obscure what it means to measure. • Provides the rationale for standard units. • It's gosh darn fun!!

  7. Assessment Can the student pick the best unit to measure with? Does the student overlap their units or measure in a crooked line? Can the student tell which is longer when measuring two objects? How does the student go about measuring?

  8. LENGTH • giant footprints • rope • paper clips • straws • cubes Have students measure with one unit and then another to make a comparison. • Meaure the length of your desk with paper clips.  Now with straws.  What do you notice about these two numbers?

  9. AREA chips, pennies, beans, one inch color tiles, cardboard squares, or newspaper Cut up one shape and re-arange it to show the area is the same Fill a space with cut pieces of paper (lends itself to the area algorithim) Give students two shapes.  Which has the greater area?  Fold or cut in any way to find out.

  10. Volume and Capacity beans coins styrophome peanuts rice water plastic caps cups and jars

  11. TIME            slow drip bottles            pendulum swing            one handed clock            elapsed time on a number line

  12. Weight and Mass        Two-pan balance             Rubber-band (spring) scale

  13. ANGULAR MEASURE wedges protractor made from wax paper protractor made with hand drawn units

  14. Comparison Activities • Comparison activities help students focus on the attribute being measured. • During these activities emphasis approximate language! • Many measurements don't come out even, so "approximate" language is especially useful for children.            The desk is about 10 blue rods long            The chair is less than five pencils high

  15. Length: Begin by comparing two or more lengths Compare lengths that aren't straight lines Area: *important to understand attribute first Rearranging shapes doesn't affect area! Use comparison to demonstrate (Act. 8.8) Comparison Activities That Work Well!K-3

  16. Volume and Capacity: Start with comparing capacities Compare capacity using different containers Volumes of solid objects can be a difficult concept to comprehend. Weight and Mass: Use simple activities to start. Hold out two objects in hands. Use approximate language Move into using balance pans and spring scales Comparison Activvities K-3

  17. Length: Students should have a good grasp on understanding the attribute of length by this age, but need to continue working with units of length. Area: Work on distinguishing between size and shape, length and width. Comparing rectangles with different lengths and widths (Act. 9.3) Tanagram Areas (Act. 9.4) Comparison Activities For 3-5

  18. Volume & Capacity: Capacity Line-up (Act. 9.9) Displacement activities for volume Box Comparison-Cubic Units (Act. 9.10) Measuring Angles: Compare angles by overlapping Use a cut-out angle as an informal unit to measure other angles make a wax paper protractor Comparison Con't 3-5

  19. Standard Units of Measurement: Instructional Goals   1.  Familiarity with the unit 2.  Ability to select an      appropriate measure 3.  Knowledge of a few      important relationships       between units 

  20. Standard Units of Measurement • Students mustdevelop a familiarity with standard units of measurement! • Students must learn appropriate relationships between standard units of measurement! • Use standard units once measuring concepts are in place!

  21. The Ruler!!!  Informal Units to Standard Units: How Does This Work?

  22. Standard Customary Units LENGTH:  inch, foot, yard, mile AREA: square inch, square foot, square yard VOLUME: cubic inch, cubic foot, cubic yard CAPACITY: ounce*, teaspoon, tablespoon, cup, quart, gallon WEIGHT: ounce*, pound, ton

  23. Standard Metric Units LENGTH: millimeter, centimeter, meter, kilometer AREA: square centimeter, square meter VOLUME: Cubic centimeter, cubic meter CAPACITY: mililiter, liter WEIGHT: gram, kilogram, metric ton

  24. Estimation and Measurement K-3 • Meaningful measurement and estimation of measurements depend on a personal familiarity with the unit of measure being used. • Estimations of measures and the development of personal benchmarks for frequently used units of measure help students increase their familiarity with units, prevent errors in measurements, and aid in the meaningful use of measurements.

  25. Estimation and Measurement 3-5 • Estimation helps students think about the attribute being measured and the measuring process. • Estimation provides intrinsic motivation. • Estimation can help build familiarity with units when standard units are being used. • Using benchmarks in estimation promotes multiplacative reasoning.

  26. How do we do this? *Students need to have a familiarity with measurement units and what units apply to different types of measurement. !Have students estimate a measure before they make it! Benefits: 1. Helps students focus on the attribute being measured and     the measurement process 2. It can be used as an intrinsic motivator 3. Helps develop a familiarity of the unit

  27. Estimating Measures WE USE ESTIMATIONS ALL THE TIME!!! Four Strategies: 1.Develop and use benchmarks 2.Use "Chunking"when appropriate 3.Use subdivisions 4.Iterate a unit mentally or physically

  28. Tips for Teaching Estimation • Start by using specific approach • Discuss with students how estimates were made, what techniques did they use • Accept a range of estimates • Have students give a range of measures: Real life practicallity & approximation • Use estimations on a regular basis.

  29. Estimate Exercises • Don't have to be ellaborate • "Quik Estimation" (Act. 9.17) • "Estimation Scavenger Hunt" (Act. 9.18) • "E-M-E Sequence" (9.19)

More Related