Big Kid Science
Measuring Shadows Using an Ancient Method
How did ancient peoples determine the height of really tall objects? Young scientists and mathematicians explore the concept of using shadows to measure height in a hands-on experiment. Paired pupils measure shadows, then calculate the...
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
Noodling Around: Powers of Ten
How many noodles long is your classroom? Find out when engineers of all ages explore measurement through the use of pool noodles. With the noodles pre-cut to certain metric lengths, the activities could be used to introduce the metric...
Exploratorium
Handy Measuring Ratio
Your hand can be a handy tool for measurement. Young mathematicians learn how to estimate the height of objects by applying similarity. They find the horizontal distance from the object where spreading their outstretched fingers results...
Virginia Commonwealth University
General Construction Measurement and Dimensions
Learners construct their understanding of measurement and dimensions in this step-by-step approach that begins with an all group vocabulary introduction, consisting of measuring objects and dialoging using measurement vocabulary....
Illustrative Mathematics
Are These Right?
Is that a right triangle or a wrong triangle? Young mathematicians look at eleven different shapes and use a measuring tool of their choice to determine which triangles have right angles. Consider cutting out sets of the shapes to...
NSW Department of Education
Relationships Between Formal Measurement Units: Measure and Record Mass in Kilograms and Grams
Teach the masses about the metric system with this hands-on measurement lesson. Given a fruit or vegetable, learners estimate, measure, and convert its mass using the metric units gram and kilogram.
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
Is Measuring an Art or a Science?
Not only do future engineers learn the difference between accuracy and precision, they also get some hands-on experience using different measuring tools.
Exploratorium
Angle Hunting
Do angles change with distance? Using a previously made tool, individuals find and measure angles on a playground. They observe that angles are the same measure regardless of the distance at which they're measured.
Exploratorium
Stride Ruler
Take it all in stride! Scholars learn to estimate distances using their strides as measurement. They take 10 steps next to a set of meter sticks and use the final distance to estimate the length of each step. Once they've found the...
Education Development Center
Interpreting Statistical Measures—Class Scores
Explore the effect of outliers through an analysis of mean, median, and standard deviation. Your classes examine and compare these measures for two groups. They must make sense of a group that has a higher mean but lower median compared...
Teacher's Corner
What Is a Foot?
An in-class and at-home assignment, young math stars find and list items from home and school that they think are one foot in length. Once the list is made, provide everyone with rulers to measure and find the actual lengths of their items.
Curated OER
Tile Patterns I: Octagons and Squares
This can be used as a critical thinking exercise in congruence or as a teaching tool when first introducing the concept. Four octagons are arranged in such a way that a square is formed in the middle. With this information, geometry...
Curated OER
How Big is a Foot?
Introducing measurement can be as simple as reading a book and then using measurement tools to understand how big a foot really is. The class reads and discusses the book How Big is a Foot? by Rolf Myller, stopping often to consider the...
Teach Engineering
Machines and Tools (Part 2)
Which pulley system will give us a whale of a good time? Teams compare the theoretical and actual mechanical advantages of different pulley systems. They then form a recommendation for how to move a whale from an aquarium back to the ocean.
PBS
KidVid: Fractions and Scale
Scale the challenge of learning about ratios and scales. Young mathematicians learn to incorporate fractional measurements when considering scales and scale factors. They use an interactive to investigate the concept and critically...
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
Scale Models
With instructions to adapt the activities for any grade K-12, any teacher can incorporate the concept of scale into the classroom with a simple, yet effective lesson.
Teach Engineering
Applying Statistics to Nano-Circuit Dimensions in Fabrication
Do flexible circuits change dimensions during fabrication? Groups use GeoGebra software to measure the length of pictures of flexible nano-circuits. To determine if the circuits change dimensions, future engineers use Microsoft Excel to...
Teach Engineering
Slinkies as Solenoids
What does an MRI machine have to do with a slinky? This activity challenges learners to run a current through a slinky and use a magnetic field sensor to measure the magnetic field. Groups then change the length of the slinky to see the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Making Cookies
Hooray for chocolate chip cookies! Ask your mathematicians to triple a chocolate chip cookie recipe and then reduce the recipe by one-fourth. Your class may need two days to complete, tripling the recipe the first day and reducing the...
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Eruptions: Old Faithful Geyser
How long do we have to wait? Given several days of times between eruptions of Old Faithful, learners create a graphical representation for two days. Groups combine their data to determine an appropriate wait time between eruptions.
Curated OER
Narrow Corridor
Buying a new sofa? Learn how to use the Pythagorean Theorem, as well as algebra and graphing techniques, to determine whether the sofa will fit around a corner (which I'm sure you'll agree is a very important consideration!).
Exploratorium
Tired Weight
You don't need a scale to determine weight. This activity provides a way to use the concepts of air pressure and surface area to determine the weight of a vehicle by calculating the amount of weight each tire supports.
Teach Engineering
Exploring Bone Mineral Density
Bone up on bone density. The second installment of the seven-part series has pupils read articles on two different websites to learn about bone density and its measurement, as well as X-rays and other imaging tools. A quiz assesses their...
Shodor Education Foundation
Triangle Area
While the lesson focuses on right triangles, this activity offers a great way to practice the area of all triangles through an interactive webpage. The activity begins with the class taking a square paper and cutting in in half; can they...