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The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 2000) has identified measurement as a strand in its Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. In grades pre-K-12, instructional programs should enable all students to do the following:
• | Understand measurable attributes of objects and the units, systems, and processes of measurement |
• | Apply appropriate techniques, tools, and formulas to determine measurements |
In pre-K-2 classrooms, students are expected to do the following:
• | Recognize the attributes of length, volume, weight, area, and time |
• | Compare and order objects according to these attributes |
• | Understand how to measure using nonstandard and standard units |
• | Select an appropriate unit and tool for the attribute being measured |
• | Measure with multiple copies of units of the same size, such as paper clips laid end to end |
• | Use repetition of a single unit to measure something larger than the unit; for instance, measuring the length of a room with a single meterstick |
• | Use tools to measure |
• | Develop common referents for measures to make comparisons and estimates |
The NCTM (2000) Measurement Standards suggest that students will begin to understand attributes of area by "looking at, touching, or directly comparing objects." Instruction that provides students with opportunities to measure and explain their findings will help teachers further this goal. Furthermore, "although for many measurement tasks students will use nonstandard units, it is appropriate for them to experiment with and use standard measures such as centimeters and meters and inches and feet by the end of grade 2" (NCTM, 2000, p. 105).
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