Warm-Up Activity: Measuring OurselvesUsing your own body, determine:How many hands tall are you?How many finger-widths tall is your head?How many finger-widths is it from your elbow to the tip of your finger?Compare your results with your neighbors.

A Concise and Abbreviated History of MeasurementUnits of measurement based on the human bodyDiagram of Yupik (Alaska Native) units of lengthRelief carving of Ancient Greek measurement using hand span and footDiagram of Egyptian definitions of cubit and palmimage credit: Jerry Lipka et alphoto credit: Xavier de Jaurguiberry

The SmootThe Harvard Bridge between Boston and Cambridge, MA. The Harvard Bridge is 364.4 Smoots in length, plus or minus an ear. Oliver Smoot being used to measure the Harvard Bridge in 1958. photo credit: Denimadept creative commons photo credit: MIT museum via Dave Schumaker

With trade and taxation came the need for standardized unitsStandard weights for measuring gold dust used by the Asante of Ghanaphoto credit: Claudia ZaslavskyStandardized weights from the Indus river valleyphoto credit: John Hill creative commonsphoto credit: Andrew RobinsonA bronze ruler from the Han dynasty in China

Systems of measurement commonly used in the US:The English or Imperial Systemimage credit: Ian Whitelawphoto credit: Andrew RobinsonThe early English inch was defined as the length of three barleycorns laid end-to-endKing George the III of Englands standard weights from 1773.

Systems of measurement commonly used in the US:The Metric SystemSince 1983, the meter has been defined as the distance that light travels in 1 299,792458th of a secondCommemorative stamp showing the French Republic measuring one quarter of the earths circumference the original idea behind the meter

Systems of measurement commonly used in the US:More about the metric systemThe Canadian Standard Kilogram. The kilogram is the only unit in the metric system defined by an actual object.photo credit: Harry Turner, National Reseach Council of CanadaThe nickel has a mass of 5 gramsA cube of water with sides each 1 cm has a mass of 1 gram1 cm1 cm1 cm

BibliographyLipka, Jerry, Tod Shockey and Barbara Adams. Bridging Yupik Ways of Measuring to Western Mathematics in Learning and Teaching Measurement: 2003 Yearbook. Ed. Douglas Clements and George Bright. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc, Reston, VA. 2003

Robinson, Andrew. The Story of Measurement. Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, UK. 2007

Tavernor, Robert. Smoots Ear: The Measure of Humanity. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT. 2007

Whitelaw, Ian. A Measure of All Things: the story of man and measurement. Quid publishing, Hove, England. 2007

Zaslavsky, Claudia. Africa Counts: Number and Pattern in African Culture. Prindle, Weber, and Schmidt Inc, Boston, MA. 1973

Your turn: DiscussionIn groups of 2 or 3, discuss the following questions:Why do we measure? How do we choose what to use to measure?

Think not only in general, but also in the context of your work in your program.