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Activity
Exploratorium

Handy Measuring Ratio

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
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...
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Activity
Big Kid Science

Measuring Shadows Using an Ancient Method

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Virginia Commonwealth University

General Construction Measurement and Dimensions

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
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....
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Activity
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

The Right Tool for the Job

For Students K - 5th Standards
Is a saw a tool? What about a thermometer? Discover the applications of various tools with a worksheet that accompanies a matching card game. Learners search for tools from a stack of cards and circle its match on their worksheet. 
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Activity
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

Noodling Around: Powers of Ten

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
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...
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Activity
NSW Department of Education

Relationships Between Formal Measurement Units: Measure and Record Mass in Kilograms and Grams

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
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.
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Lesson Plan
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

Is Measuring an Art or a Science?

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
Not only do future engineers learn the difference between accuracy and precision, they also get some hands-on experience using different measuring tools. 
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Activity
Perkins School for the Blind

Identifying and Using Tools

For Teachers 6th - 12th
How can you teach a person about technology and engineering if he has never been exposed to the tools and devices used to create and construct? Learners with visual impairments examine a number of common tools, such as hammers, wrenches,...
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Activity
Education Outside

Garden Sketching Activities

For Teachers K - 1st
How big is that carrot? Why one hand span, of course. As an exercise in measurement, individuals trace their hand in their science journal and search the school garden for one object the same size as the span between their thumb and...
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Lesson Plan
Illustrative Mathematics

Are These Right?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
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...
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Activity
2
2
Teach Engineering

Tools and Equipment (Part 1)

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Looking for the best inclined plane for the job? Groups calculate the theoretical mechanical advantage for four different inclined planes. They determine the actual mechanical advantage by measuring the amount of force needed for the...
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Activity
Education Development Center

Interpreting Statistical Measures—Class Scores

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
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...
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Activity
1
1
Teach Engineering

Machines and Tools (Part 2)

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
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.
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Activity
1
1
Teacher's Corner

What Is a Foot?

For Students 2nd - 4th Standards
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.
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Activity
Exploratorium

Angle Hunting

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
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.
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Activity
Exploratorium

Stride Ruler

For Teachers 1st - 5th Standards
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...
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Activity
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

Shrink Me!

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
The incredibly shrinking meter—decimeters to centimeters, to millimeters, and now to nanometers! Learners may have a difficult time visualizing particles on a nanoscale. Help them see a little clearer using a well-designed lesson that...
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Activity
1
1
NOAA

Climate, Weather…What’s the Difference?: Make an Electronic Temperature Sensor

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
What's the best way to record temperature over a long period of time? Scholars learn about collection of weather and temperature data by building thermistors in the fourth installment of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series....
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Lesson Plan
Illustrative Mathematics

Making Cookies

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
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...
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Activity
International Technology Education Association

Reinventing Time

For Students 10th - 12th
Take a trip through time. A lesson resource provides instruction on the origin of current measurements for time. The text explains the different tools humans used throughout history to measure time as well as provides examples such as...
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Activity
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

Scale Models

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
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.
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Activity
Teach Engineering

Slinkies as Solenoids

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
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...
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Activity
1
1
NOAA

How Do We Know?: Make Additional Weather Sensors; Set Up a Home Weather Station

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Viewers learn about three different weather measurement tools in installment five of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series. They build weather vanes to collect data on wind speed, barometers to determine air pressure, and rain...
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Activity
Exploratorium

Tired Weight

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
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.

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