Sure middle schoolers know how to measure length! But if students need a little more experience with linear measurement, here are challenging resources that put linear measurement into a practical context, or can be used for review before introducing a new measurement topic.

Big Tree: Have You Ever Seen a Tree Big Enough to Drive a Car Through?
In this thought-provoking, discussion-generating challenge, students use common sense, given information, and their calculated tree diameters to answer the question. Teachers should investigate the links at the bottom of the web page. All activities on this site are printable.

Constant Dimensions
Students measure length and width of a rectangle using both standard and nonstandard units of measure. After creating a length vs. width graph, students observe an interesting and important fact — the ratio of length to width in a rectangle is constant.

Inclined Plane
Here is a terrific multiday lesson for teachers interested in having students apply their linear measurement skills and engage in mathematics discussions. Students use length and height data from hands-on experiments to draw conclusions. Useful teacher information is included.

Perimeter Explorer
Using this applet, students determine perimeters for irregular shapes on a grid. The applet is part of a complete lesson reinforcing students’ concept of perimeter and skills for finding perimeters. Shape area can be varied and a table comparing perimeter and area can be generated.

Reaching New Heights
Measuring, collecting and interpreting data, using variables—this complete lesson has it all! Students measure height and arm span, create a scatterplot, and draw conclusions about the correlation. This lesson is an excellent way to build the foundation for the study of functions. Teacher support and information about supporting research is included.

Rectangle: Area, Perimeter, Length, and Width
Using this simulation, students can instantaneously see the interplay among perimeter, area, and the rectangle dimensions. The rectangle size or shape is changed by dragging a point.

We Need Your Help

We want and need your ideas, suggestions, and observations. What would you like to know more about? What questions have your students asked? We invite you to share with us and other readers by posting your comments. Please check back often for our newest posts or download the RSS feed for this blog. You can also request email notification when new content is posted (see right navigation bar).

Let us know what you think and tell us how we can serve you better. We want your feedback on all of the NSDL Middle School Portal publications. Email us at msp@msteacher.org.