Challenge
Design
Prepare & Present
Invent a System of Measurement!
As a test to see if you understand what makes an effective system of measurement, your team is now going to work on a challenging yet creative task. You are going to invent a brand new system of measurement!
Step 1: Select one property from the list that your invented system will measure (your teacher may add more choices).
- length or distance
- volume
- capacity
- mass
Step 2: Create the base unit for your system and compare it to a familiar item. For example, Yesinia decided that the schnoz was a base unit and was equal to the length of Markus' nose.
Step 3: Once you have your base unit, build off of it and make larger and smaller units. For example, with dry measures (the blueberry farmer’s new favorite system), 2 pints equals 1 quart, 8 quarts equals 1 peck, etc. (See slide.) And Yesinia might decide that a “schnozette” is half the length of a schnoz. You get the idea.
Design a textbook page or a small poster that teaches your system to other people.
Your team will present your system to the class so other teams can rate it. Are you ready?
Read the list of challenges your classmates will use to evaluate your measurement system. How does your system measure up?
Here are the four main challenges for your team:
- Do the units in your system relate to one another in a logical way?
- Can your system be taught to other people easily?
- Can your system be used in a variety of places and situations?
- Compared to the measurement system that you actually use for this purpose, does your original system work equally well? Better? Worse?
