Sid The Science Kid: Adventures in Measurement!

Let's join Sid and his classmates as they investigate ways to measure their classroom without using a ruler!

In the cartoon video Sid and his classmates are exploring non-standard measurement by using their bodies to measure objects around the classroom. When his teacher announces that they will exploring, investigating and discovering how to figure out another way measure something big. When Sid and his classmates suggest to measure the whole classroom their teacher’s states that they could but a ruler would be too small to measure the whole room and asks them what else they can use. One of the students stands up and starts measuring the classroom with his body and then estimates that the whole classroom is 10 students long, she explains that this is a form of non-standard measurement. When the students list objects to measure the class at the same time the teachers explains that you can only measure with one kind of item at a time and need to be the same size. Lastly, she explains that there is a rule where you cannot leave any spaces between the two units. The video then turns to a teacher doing this activity with her students in a real classroom.

Supporting Children's Learning of Measurement

By explaining objects and rules of non-standard measurement this video is supporting the children’s learning of measurement. It states rules when using non-standard measurement that the children can learn in order to get the most accurate answer. By knowing these rules they can apply it to other investigations they make using non-standard measurement and even standard measurement. In addition, the children can try this out in their own classroom or homes using different non-standard units and this supports their investigation of the relationship between two different sized units and how it measures the length of the room. Lastly, this supports the children’s learning about estimation and they can use estimation in their daily lives and to make predictions about the measurement of objects in and outside the classroom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aU0f6ajtJE