3. Planning to teach for understanding
Understanding the importance of ‘units’ and the ability to read from scales are central to effective work in measurement. Later sections in this module will deal with length, weight and time: for each, it is important for pupils to understand the correct unit, and how to read correctly from the scales on measuring instruments. This part explores how you can plan activities to help pupils develop these skills. By using practical activities related to their everyday lives, pupils will see a purpose to the work and be more interested.
Case Study 3: Planning the next steps for pupils’ understanding of measuring
Mrs Simpito had spent some time working on different units of measure with her pupils. She felt that they were now getting confident in reading from the scale on their rulers, and from the weighing scales she had brought from home. They had talked about centimetres and millimetres and could show these on their rulers, and explain the relationship between them. They knew about local distances between towns, and that these were measured in kilometres.
Mrs Simpito was pleased with the progress that had been made, and wanted to make sure the pupils could now see that ‘milli-’, ‘centi-’ and ‘kilo-’, could be applied to all measurements and units. (See Resource 4: Units of measurement.)
She decided to do an activity that would involve pupils in applying what they had learned and help them to consolidate it. At the same time, she knew that her pupils enjoyed quizzes.
She gave each pupil a copy of the quiz she had prepared (see Resource 5: Quiz about measurement). After some time had passed, she told the pupils to get into pairs and compare their results. They should discuss any answers that were different and try to agree which was correct. After a few more minutes, she went through the answers with the whole class.
For homework, Mrs Simpito asked her pupils to make up one or two more questions about weights and measures to try out the next day with the whole class.
Key Activity: Planning an observation lesson on measurement
Plan this activity with at least one other teacher at your school.
- Make a list of all the measuring devices you have access to that could be brought into the school (such as rulers, weighing scales, measuring jugs or spoons, etc.). Devices that have a scale are particularly useful. How do people selling vegetables in the local market measure what the customer wants? (For advice about collecting resources, see Key Resource: Being a resourceful teacher in challenging circumstances [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .)
- Think of activities that will allow pupils to practise using these devices and recording measurements, to develop their confidence and accuracy.
- Think about how you will introduce key terms: units, measurement, scale, distance, weight, volume, time, and what your pupils will do to understand and remember these terms.
- Decide how you will organise your pupils, how much time to allow and the resources you will need to carry out these activities.
- Plan your lesson, making sure that, as well as recording the ‘number’ from the device or scale, pupils also record the units and what is being measured (e.g. distance, weight, volume, time). See Key Resource: Planning and preparing your lessons.
Carry out this lesson. If possible, ask the teacher who helped you plan the activity to observe all or part of the lesson, and discuss it with you afterwards. What worked well? What was difficult? Were there any unexpected outcomes? How could you assess your pupils’ understanding of how to measure?
2. Measuring heartbeats
