Measures

Measures or measurement can be its own unit, adaptable for your family.  

Elementary: NSTA has a sample, How Big is a Foot?, from More Picture Perfect Science Lessons.  I like lessons which include books, especially for kiddos.  Look at all of the Measures Books and easy lesson ideas.  For example, read How Far Can a Kangaroo Jump? and then measure how far your kiddos can jump.  

Middle School: Make your own Balance Scale and coins as weights.  You’ll need to do a bit of math.  The Volume Lab requires a graduated cylinder.  There are four parts to the lab, including the classic rainbow lab.  Human Body Ratios is another fun lab.  Set your own Body Benchmarks.  For example, the width of a child’s finger is often close to one centimeter.

High School: Typically, students are taught how to use the lab equipment during measurement labs; Equipment Measurement Lab is one example.  Introduction to Measurement uses pennies for several activities: direct measurement, mass, volume by displacement,  density, and includes significant figures, estimated digit, and precision.  Even in high school Chemistry and Physics Co-op classes, we review measures.  HST offers Apologia’s Module #1 Measurements and Units (Chemistry 2e)  Two experiments, Comparing Conversions and Density are in Apologia’s Physics (2e) textbook, too. See why I like Apologia?  This book and answer key comprise an excellent assessment of measurements.

Reinforce measurements all the time!  Use Body Benchmarks to estimate lengths.  (We do this all the time; my husband’s foot is about 12 inches, perfect for measuring rooms and rugs.)  How much fertilizer do you need to make a solution for the tomato plants?  Weigh the apples.  How many pounds do we need for the apple sauce recipe?  What if we want to double the recipe?  How much sugar, cinnamon, and apples will we need?  Calculate the car’s average mileage.  Measures is likely one of the most practical STEM lesson you can teach.