The learning-teaching trajectory of measurement in the lower primary

1. Presentatie titel
Rotterdam, 00 januari 2007
Measurement education in the
lower grades of primary school
Windhoek, October 2010

2. Introduction

3. 2010
‘Working together for excellence in
mathematics education in Namibia and
Rotterdam’
Windhoek College of Education
University of Namibia
Hermann Gmeiner Primary School
Elim primary
Suiderhof Primary School
…………
Rotterdam University, School of Education

4. Seminar
‘Measurement education in the lower
grades of primary school’
The learning-teaching trajectory for measurement in
the lower grades
The goal of measurement education in the lower
grades
Organization of measurement education
Conceptually based learning activities

5. Before we start…a few questions
about measurement…

6. The heigth of a grown-
up male giraf is at most
about …
 5,2 meter
 7,2 meter
 9,2 meter

7. The surface of the
cricketfield is about …
 1000 m2
 8500 m2
 16000 m2

8. The capacity of this
coffee cup is about …
 100 ml
 200 ml
 300 ml

9. The mass of a slice of
bread is about …
 11 gr
 22 gr
 33 gr

10. The mass of a
grown-up dikdik is
about …
 4 kg
 7 kg
 10 kg

11. Right or wrong?
 Namibia is about 20 times larger than Holland
 Right
 Wrong
 Holland has 20 times as many inhabitants as
Namibia
 Right
 Wrong

12. The learning-teaching trajectory for
measurement in the lower grades
The starting point
1 Measuring through
comparing

16. Measuring through comparing in a daily
life situation
Ernie and Bert share licorice candy

17. 2 Measuring through ordering

22. 3 Measuring through composing

27. 4 Measuring through pacing off

33. 5 Measurement through reading off
construction convention instrument
Length footmeter 1 meter
tape measure,
ruler
Mass/
Weigth
balance 1 kilogram scale
Capacity/
Volume
cups-
measuring jug
1 liter measuring cup
When you have a concept of measuring you can understand the
conventions of measurement:

34. mm, meter - gram, kg – ml, liter

35. Collect your own reference
measurements of meter, kilogram and
liter

36. Concept of measuring
Apply and understand
1. Comparing
2. Ordering
3. Composing
4. Pacing off
5. Reading off

37. Summary
comparing ordering composing pacing off reading off
length
Guess how much
I love you
The grounchy
ladybug
Do you want to
be my friend
Inch by inch
mm,cm,
dm, M
weigth g, hg, KG
volume ml, cl, dl, L

38. The goal of measurement education in
the lower grades
Learners develop a sense for measuring by:
 Developing awareness of the situations in which
measuring can be used as an approach,
 Learning how to approach situations in every day life
quantitively,
 Developing an appropriate measurement language,
 Determining which measurement is appropriate in which
situation.

39. Summary of the goals of measurement
education in the NIED program
length mass/
weigth
capacity/
volume
Grade 1
Measurement language
pictograms
comparing
ordening
pacing off
comparing
ordening
composing
comparing
ordening
pacing off
Grade 2
Measurement language
Pictograms
0 - 99
reading off
cm
reading off
kg
reading off
liter
Grade 3
Everyday application
0 - 499
cm, m gram, kg ml, liter
Grade 4
Everyday application
Pictograms and bars
0 - 999
mm, cm, m, km gram, kg ml, liter

40. Organization measurement lessons
Points to discuss:
Which materials are needed?
To perform the measuring activities with the entire
class?
Working in groups?
Different tasks?

41. In what way do the children write down the results of
their measurements?
What should children do when they finish their
measurements early?
How do you organize a nice discussion about
strategies, discoveries, learning contents?
‘What I hear I forget,
what I see I remember,
what I do I understand.’

46. One measurement activity, actually carried out and
collectively discussed, can induce more than ten
measuring problems on paper!

49. How long is the
table?

57. Workshop:
Conceptually based learning activities
Measurement passport
Designing storybook based measurement activities
Measurement imagebook, imageposter
Practicum teaching-learning trajectory length, area
surface, mass/weigth and capacity/volume