Do You Measure Up?

Have you ever wanted to redecorate your bedroom with an entertainment center, or an up-dated video game station, or just turn your room into a state-of-the-art movie theater. Well, here is your chance. This site involves using measurements of different capacities to redecorate your room. It is a fun activity that you will enjoy.

The Tasks:

You have asked your parents to let you redecorate your bedroom. You have decided to try to convince them by making an estimate of how much it will cost and what materials you will need. You may want to figure the project with more than one option. You will need to make a diagram of the room showing dimensions to support your expenses, and a list of materials needed as well as the expenses. Upon completion of planning, try to get approval. You will:

decide what changes you want to make,
gather necessary measurements for the room,
choose the desired supplies and/or materials to complete the job,
compute the estimated expenses,
examine your estimates and decide if you want to do additional estimates to increase your chances of getting one approved, and
submit your proposal for approval.

The Resources:

1. Measure 4 Measure will help you with conversions. Some of the conversions that this page offer are lengths between twenty-five different units of measurement, weight, volume and time. A collection of interactive sites on the Web estimate, calculate, evaluate, translate, etc. In other words, they do the work for you.
2.This site provides a summary of most of the units of measurement to be found in use around the world today (and a few of historical interest), together with the appropriate conversion factors needed to change them into a 'standard' unit of the S I. The units may be found either by looking under the category in which they are used [such as length, mass, density, energy etc.], or else by picking one unit from an alphabetically ordered list of units. There are NO units of currency.There is an outline of the S I; a list of its basic defining standards and also some of its derived units; then another list of all the S I prefixes and some notes on conventions of usage.
3. Here is a site that has more games that will reinforce customary equivalents of measurement, such as 3 feet = ? yard, 2 cups = ? quarts, etc. It involves multiple activities such as matching, concentration, and flash cards.
4. This site also has more activities that focus on measurements. It will provide you with the necessary skills to reinforce your knowledge of measurements.
5.These pages have more interactive activities pertaining to measurements. This site has additional activities.

The Process:

1. Use Measure 4 Measure to help you with conversions. You can write the conversions in your math journal for reference. Some of the conversions that this page offer are lengths between twenty-five different units of measurement, weight, volume and time.
2. Find the units of measurement by looking under the category in which they are used or by picking one unit from an alphabetically ordered lists of units. Next, determine if you will need to convert a unit of measurement. Thereafter, type in the unit you need and click the convert button.
3. Try to find the matching squares, or try to uncover matching pairs of cards. These games will reinforce customary equivalents of measurements such as 1 yard = ? feet, 1 quart = ? cups, etc.
4. Convert between U.S. Lengths Units by pressing the start button. Next, click on PLAY and play the countdown activity. This site also has more activities that focus on measurements. It will provide you with the necessary skills to reinforce your knowledge of measurements.
5. Engage in U.S. Lengths II activity by clicking it on with the mouse. These pages have more interactive activities pertaining to measurements. This site has additional activities.
6. Play this game located at Quia.com that has been made to check your knowledge of measurements.

Learning Advice:

You should write the conversions down in a journal for reference. Also, you will need measuring tape to perform the task. Make sure that you proofread your report and check it for spelling and grammatical errors before submitting it for approval. You would probably need to create more than one report. This could be your Plan B.
The interactive activities that focus on measurements will provide you with the necessary skills to reinforce your knowledge of measurements.

Conclusion:

After completing this activity, the student will be able to use a measuring tape, estimate the cost of materials, create a list of the materials and/or supplies for effective planning, and write a proposal seeking approval.

Click the image for a PowerPoint presentation.

This page was written by Cedric D. Franklin for EDU 506 at Freed-Hardeman University on October 14, 2000.