Simple Measures
See Also: Simple Measures Materials List | Printable Page | Teachers Suggested Additional Activities Using Simple Measures | Making Metric Measurements Activity
Have you ever been measured? At your doctor’s office, you have probably been measured to determine your height and weight. Have you ever measured anything? At the grocery store you may have measured fruits and vegetables to determine how much you will pay for them. Scientists measure things often. In order to compare the utilities of objects of interest, they must know how similar or different they are.
Measuring answers questions such as: which one weighs more and which one takes up more space? There are many different ways to measure an object, In the exercises that are in this box, you will learn about mass/weight (Activity 1), how size, shape and material type affect mass (Activity 2), and about volume and its relationship to shape (Activity 3).
Links
Exercises
- Exercise 1: What Is Its Mass?
- Exercise 2: How Are Size, Shape, And The Material An Object Is Made Of Related to Its Mass?
- Exercise 3: How Is Volume Related To Shape?
Teachers
There are four activities accompanying the materials in this trunk. The activities flow more smoothly if they are completed in chronological order. Three of the activities require your students to use a balance. Before they begin these activities, please be sure that the balance is set-up on a flat, sturdy surface. You will also need to check that the balance is calibrated (i.e., that the two trays balance one another and that the white pointer on the front of the scale is pointing at the long line centered between two smaller lines).
You can calibrate the scale by moving the white lever on the back of the balance as follows:
If the white pointer needs to be moved to the right in order to get it centered on the long line, then move the white lever on the back of the balance to your left and vice versa.