Measuring Using Footsteps

Measuring Using Footsteps

Mr. Kennedy’s Class

B.C. Cate Elementary School

Odessa-Montour School District

Montour Falls, NY

Information about myself and my class:

I am a second grade teacher at B.C. Cate School in Montour Falls, New York. I have been teaching for 4 years. My class consists of 20 students at various levels of learning. My students enjoy performing hands-on tasks. They are eager to embrace challenges, by working together and coming up with different ways to solve problems. All of my students participated at some level on this activity.

This math trail focuses around our math and science units in measurement. The students have been learning to measure distancing using different units for measure. They have used meters, yards, feet, and inches. In this math trail the students apply their knowledge of measuring by taking measurements in footsteps to places in our school. The students use pedometers to measure their steps. After the activity we discussed that there are many things that can contribute to having different answers with it comes to measuring footsteps. Some of the conclusions included; kids steps were different lengths, some students took little steps, some students took large steps, and some kids stomped and jumped. The students worked in cooperative groups for most of the project. Students reported out to the class and me to share their findings. The final outcomes of the project were problems created by the different cooperative groups.

Here are the steps the students used to create the final problems:

1. In cooperative groups, the students were given a place to measures the distance to and from. (One student was the recorder, one the speaker, and the other the pedometer user) Many students shared parts during the activity.

2. The students had to take 5 readings of the measurement of the place they were given.

3. The students then used mental math and calculators to come up with an average of their findings.

4. The students were then given a chart for a specific day of the week.

5. The students mapped out which places in the school we go, on that day.

6. Then the students used the information the class found from the measurements to come up with a total number of steps walked for the entire day.

7. Finally, each group compared the information for each day, and for the entire week to develop 5 math problems.

Here is a photo of the pedometers the students used:

Here are the average measurements each group came up with, with a picture of the destination to go with each.

Recess

60 steps to the doorway

Gym

61 steps

Cafeteria

61 steps

Art Room

138 steps

Music Room

86 steps

Computer Lab

42 steps

Library

146 steps

Each cooperative group came up with a chart that listed all the places the students go in a specific day, and the measurements for each place they go. The students then had to add up each measurement to come up with a total number of steps taken for that day.

Monday