Utah State Science Core:

Language Arts
Standard 1, Objectives 1 and 2
Students develop language for the purpose of effectively communicating through listening, speaking, viewing, and presenting.
Standard 5, Objectives 1 and 2
Students develop reading fluency to read aloud grade level text effortlessly without hesitation.
Standard 8, Objective 1
Students write daily to communicate effectively for a variety of purposes and audiences.

Mathematics
Standard 4, Objective 2a
Students will understand and use measurement tools and techniques.

Science ILO's
Use science process and thinking skills.
Communicate effectively using science language and reasoning.

TALONS Category: Science skills

Objective: An inquiry based introduction to tools of measurement for 3rd graders.

Summary: Students explore several different measurement tools and make hypotheses of how they are used. They test the tools on different types of objects and substances to discover the use for the tools. Then, they select two objects to compare through measurement and prepare an oral presentation.

Season: Any

Materials Needed: Measurement toolkit, available from HWI OR several different types of measuring tools and items to measure per group. The HWI toolkit contains: rulers, tape measures, calipers, an old-fashioned scale, a modern scale, pH paper, measuring cup, graduated cylinder, softballs or tennis balls, wing spans, small screw cap, containers of vinegar, plush hawks or other stuffed animals, several lengths of ribbon

Time Needed: 20 minutes reading activity, 40 minutes classroom inquiry

Background: Scientists, in the course of testing their hypotheses, must use standardized tools of measurement so that the data they take make sense to the world community. There are many types of measurement tools, from rulers and calipers that measure length, to colorimetric tools that measure the amount of chemicals present in a substance.

The Lesson

Engage: Begin with a group reading assignment of one of the following books (Included in the Measurement Toolkit from HWI) Break the group into six groups of 3 -5 children. Give each group a book from the list below. Have the students go to separate parts of the classroom and read their storybook out loud to one another. If you know of other books that might be appropriate for this lesson, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it the title, author and ISBN number to us.

• How Big Is A Foot?, by Rolf Myller; ISBN 0-440-40495-9
• The Long and Short of It, by Cheryl Nathan and Lisa McCourt; ISBN 0-8167-5609-0
• The Fattest, Tallest, Biggest Snowman Ever, by Bettina Ling; ISBN 0-590-97284-7
• Inch by Inch, by Leo Lionni; ISBN 0-590-47991
• Jim and the Beanstalk, by Raymond Briggs; ISBN 0-698-11577-5
• Inchworm And A Half, by Elinor J. Pinczes; ISBN 0-439-44710-0
• Measuring Penny, by Loreen Leedy; ISBN 0-8050-5360-0

Explore: Bring the children back into one group. Ask them the following questions:

• "What were these books about?" Each group will report a short synopsis of their story.
• "What measurment tools were used in your story?" Write down all that they say on the board.
• "What makes each of these measurment tools different from one another?" Let the students brainstorm on this for a while. There are several answers we are trying to get from this question, such as:Each tool measures something different, like length, width, weight, volume, etc. Some are standardized (have consistent markings that don't change) and some are not (like the length of a person's foot).

Break the group into smaller groups one more time. Have each group work together at a separate table. On the table, place several measurement tools and several things that can be measured. Try to be sure that all groups get the familiar measuring tools (such as rulers, measuring cups, tape measures) and at least one tool that they might not have used before (scale, pH paper). Write these instructions on the board:

1. How is each tool used?

2. Which item does each tool measure best?

Remind the students that some of the items can be measured with several of the tools.

Marty Lind, 3rd Grade Teacher at Mountain View Elementary, Davis County School District, has written a lesson plan that can be used for the "Explore" step of this lesson. Take a look by clicking here !

Explain: Demonstrate and explain how each of the tools is typically used in science. You can do this, or have HWI come and present a live bird program that contains all of these elements.

Rulers are to measure the length of something flat.

Tape measures measure the length or girth of something that is not flat.

Calipers are used by scientists to measure length more precisely than you can measure with a ruler. HawkWatch uses calipers to measure beak lengths (we call that measure the "culmen" length) and foot lengths (we call that measure the "tarsus" length). There are photos in the TALONS gallery that show these measurements being taken.

Scales measure weight. HawkWatch uses scales to weigh our education birds and the food we give them, so we can keep track of their health. The classic scale is kind of difficult to use, and it is good to demonstrate it at this point. There are also chemical measurements.

The pH paper has a coating of chemicals that changes colors depending upon the composition of the liquid you dunk it into. It turns one color if the liquid is an acid, and another color it is a base (the opposite of an acid). No change means that it is neutral. Water is neutral. Because some acids and bases are dangerous, it is good to know how strong they are.

Measuring cups, graduated cylinders etc measure volume.

Something the students might notice is that there are differences in how well different tools measure. In science, you want the most precise measurement. For other purposes, an inexact measurement might be ok.

Elaborate: Each group finds two items to compare, either in the classroom or outside, that they would like to measure using each the different measuring tools. These items can be anything they choose, even each other! (But please be careful with the scales, as they don't have the capacity to weigh a child.) They record the data that they collect, and present it to the class as an oral report. On the board, write the components of a report:

Introduction: What is the items you are measuring, and why did you choose them? What do you know about the items?

Methods: What methods are you using to measure the items?

Results: What are the results of the measurements?

Discussion: Did anything surprise you about the measurements? How do the two items compare to one another?

Evaluate/Assessment: Assign a 2-minute message to the students.  Each student writes a short summary of what they learned in the lesson and turns it in.