When asked how long the crayon is, kids might say it’s 5 inches long, though it’s actually 2 inches long. For example, imagine you lined up a crayon at the 3-inch mark on a ruler, and it reached the 5-inch mark.
#Ruler measurement how to#
Using a ruler can help by giving children standard units, but learning how to use a ruler can be difficult, too. In some cases children might create units when units aren’t obvious, like using hand lengths to measure a friend’s height. Kids need to know a lot about units and how to use them, like lining up pennies so there aren’t any gaps, or understanding that the units need to be the same size (using only pennies or only quarters rather than mixing them) to get a consistent measurement. Learning how to measure with units can be hard for young children. Children’s early ideas about measurement, such as comparing sizes, form the basis for other important aspects of mathematical thinking and learning. It’s likely not surprising, then, that measurement is a critical aspect of school mathematics across elementary and middle school. People need to measure things throughout their lives, including weight, time, length, and many other measureable dimensions. Kids start comparing things very young, and they don’t need to know about formal units, like pounds and inches, to do it. But it can also mean counting to get the total number of items in a set, or using pennies to decide a stick is 10 pennies long. That can mean we put an object on a scale to determine its weight in pounds or use a ruler to measure an object’s length in inches.
What is Measurement?Īnytime we use a process to find out the size, length, or amount of something, we’re measuring. Here are some ways parents can use every day talk and playful activities to support children’s developing understanding of measurement. These early understandings of measurement are foundational for children’s later math learning in school. Young children compare and measure things all the time, and in natural and spontaneous ways. Even though DeShawn is the only one with a ruler, all the kids are measuring-just in different ways. DeShawn reaches for a ruler so that they can check which is bigger and know for sure. Jasmine says the blue tower is bigger because it’s taller, but Andrea points out that they’re both made with three blocks. Jasmine, DeShawn, and Andrea are playing with blocks and build two towers: a red tower made of three small blocks and a blue tower made of three big blocks. By Michelle Hurst and Susan Levine, University of Chicago
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