Math Content Standard A: Content of Math

Key Element 2. Measurement

A student who meets the content standard should select and use appropriate systems, units and tools of measurement, including estimation.

Measurement For All

Students make measurement decision such as which units are most appropriate for the context, what degree of accuracy should be measured, and how much confidence can be put into interpretations about variations of measurement. The same measurement concepts that are learned as primary students apply throughout our mathematical education in high school, college, and the work place.

Measurement extends beyond length, area, volume, temperature, and weights as attributes of objects. It includes brightness, relations, pulse, speed, radioactivity, sound, pressure and many other attributes. It can be expressed as a direct physical measurement or as a rate. Technology (probe-ware and computer based labs) helps extend the concepts of measurement to complex interactions and abstract measurements, all requiring an understanding of measurement concepts above and beyond the old-fashioned skills of using non-technical measuring tools.

Big Ideas in Measurement

Conservation of measurements
Non-standard units
Measurement error
Representations of measurements
Standard errors; confidence intervals
Measurement units
Comparisons
Indirect measurement techniques
Degree of precision; estimation