"Hands, Loops, Crackers, and Salt: Exploring Length, Area, and Volume" Rachel Bachman, Ed.D Weber State University

What kinds of things do we measure? In Singapore, they study the measure of… – Length – Time – Area – Weight and Capacity – Angles – Volume – Density

Teaching Sequence for Measurement (Singapore) 1.Direct comparison of measure 2.Non-standard units used 3.Standard unit introduced 4.System of standard units introduced 5.Word problems used throughout sequence

“Measure Me” How did you decide which was longer? Did anyone decide which was longer a different way? Did you have to do anything different to answer “how much longer?”

“Measure Me” How tall is the length of a table? Are there problems with our strategy for measuring the table? Would we be able to measure all the things on the list with that standard measure?

Rectangular-O What sorts of things could we measure in the rectangle? Measure the area of the rectangle with Cheerios What are some problems with using cheerios to measure the area?

Rectangle Loops Using your rope, make a rectangle so that the length and width can be divided evenly with the same unit size Use masking tape to show the unit squares in the rectangle.

Composite Figures

Triangle Loops Using the loop, make a triangle on the floor. With your masking tape, figure out how you could determine the area of the triangle.

Trapezoid Loops Make a loop that looks like the trapezoid in #8 Work with your group to come up with a method for calculating the area of this shape Construct a trapezoid that at least one method would not work for

Cuboid What sorts of measurements could be make for a cuboid?

Cuboid Using the snap cubes, make a cuboid What is the volume of your cuboid?

What about these shapes are similar or different from the cuboid?

How do we calculate the volume of a prism, in general?

What’s the similarity and difference between the groups?

How could we figure out the volume of a pyramid, in general?