Measuring and Graphing: How Tall Are We?
Kindergartners measure each others' heights using large building blocks as the unit of measure. For their measurement technique, they tally how many blocks high each student is. Then they display the collected data in bar graphs made from from paper cut-outs of miniature building blocks glued on paper, which helps them see how bar graphs look like the various student heights they observe. Doing this establishes an important foundation for both creating and interpreting graphs in future years, as well as prepares students for the associated activity when they visit a second- and a fourth-grade class to measure those older students' heights. They also measure adults in the school community. Creating bar graphs from this additional data enables students to compare the different age groups to foresee how they may grow taller. Through this introduction to graphing lesson and its associated activity, students develop the concepts and vocabulary to describe, in a non-ambiguous way, how height changes as children age.
Building blocks are useful in this lesson.
Measuring and graphing are important skills used by engineers of all disciplines.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Measure the heights of their classmates using a non-standard method (building blocks instead of rulers).
- Record collected data in an organized fashion.