Make Students Measure

Students do not need a fancy animated bar to apply the strategy that is demonstrated in the video above. In fact, most math teachers (or proficient students) would “eye ball” the solution to this problem.

But, for students that demonstrate a weak understanding of this strategy, it is essential for them to use some tool to measure. If they are working on a printed page, they can use the edge of a piece of paper to mark-off and slide their measurements. If they are presenting their reasoning at an interactive whiteboard, they might use their hands, fingers, or a movable drawing on the board to solve the problem.

Why make students measure to solve problems like this? Because physically measuring distances on a number line reinforces a fundamental concept of number lines:

The relative positions of tick marks and points on a number line
hold important information.

Students that lack this fundamental concept will often ignore the essential information that a number line or diagram is presenting. And, since diagrams with linear scales show up everywhere in mathematics, students that are not fluent with basic measurement strategies will repeatedly run into issues when solving problems that include them.

Since this measurement technique will form the basis for more sophisticated number line strategies, students should get many opportunities to apply the technique and use it to justify their solutions. See the PDF links below for additional practice and apply opportunities for students.

Now, can practicing these measurement strategies be taken too far? For students that demonstrate proficiency with the strategy, the answer is yes. But, even a proficient student should be expected to apply the strategy to justify their reasoning when solving more advanced problems.

 

Practicing Measurement Strategies

Below is a 4-page lesson on measuring to label number lines. The Explore page can be used review or reteach the basic measurement strategy. The Practice page is self-explanatory. The Apply page challenges students to apply the measurement strategies to Grade 6 problems involving rates, percents, and common multiples. The Demonstrate page allows students to show what they have learned.

Note, the Explore, Practice, and Demonstrate pages can be used with students in earlier grades, even though the number-choices and problem-sequences were structured as a review or reteach for middle school students. In future posts, we will ask what the basic measurement strategy might look like in problems designed for grades 2-5.

Links to PDFs

Explore page

Practice page

Apply page

Demonstrate page

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