How Accurately Can Your Students Measure?

Measuring is more than an essential math skill.

Measuring lengths, areas, spaces, and time among other things is part of our daily life. We frequently measure  in order to:

• get places on time
• prepare tasty meals
• create amazing craft projects
• add soap to the dishwasher or washing machine
• track progress in sports, academics, or business
• monitor our health
• calculate the unit price when shopping 

Adults have internalized common units of measure.

We may not know the exact relationship between inches and centimeters, but most adults understand which is longer. We have developed an intuitive understanding of various measurements we use frequently:

• 5 minutes
• ½ a cup
• 1 tablespoon
• a yard of fabric
• a liter 
• a gallon
• ⅓ of the way down from the top 
• 55 miles per hour
• 70 beats per minute
• 60 degrees Fahrenheit 
• 90 degrees of a circle

Understanding measurements is developed over time.

After years of measuring, adults have a pretty good understanding of common measurements. Adults often rely on our innate measurement skills to help us calculate new information.  

• Sale on ground beef? How much is needed to double or triple our favorite recipe?
• Spot a fantastic remnant on sale? Is there enough fabric for a tablecloth?
• Pulling into a gas station? Do you have enough cash to fill your tank or should you charge it?

We are so used to using measurements to help us figure out what we want to know, that we sometimes forget what it was like before we knew how to measure accurately. 

Students have to learn how to measure before they can measure to learn.

Before students can use length, area, duration, or volume to model fractions, they have to know exactly how to measure length, area, duration and volume in different circumstances and with different units of measure.