GM2-1: Create and use appropriate units and devices to measure length, area, volume and capacity, weight (mass), turn (angle), temperature, and time.
This means students will recognise that the attributes length, area, volume and capacity, and weight can be measured. At Level Two students are expected to recognise that measurement units are countable and therefore able to be partitioned and recombined in the same way as other units of one. For example, if an 8 unit length is cut from a 14 unit long strip the remainder will measure 6 units. Units of measure have other characteristics including being a part of the attribute they measure and uniformity (same size). When measuring, the units need to fill a length, space, time etc, with no gaps or overlaps (this is known as tiling). Students should create measurement devices, for example rulers, rod towers, scales, to quantify the attributes of objects in numbers of units. In doing so they should develop an understanding that the marks on a linear scale show the endpoint of units and that scales always have a baseline (zero). Less tangible attributes such as turn (angle), temperature and time should also be measured. While the focus at Level Two is on students’ understanding the role of units in measurement it is also expected that students will encounter simple standard measures such as metres, centimetres, kilometres, minutes, seconds, kilograms, litres, etc, through using everyday measurement instruments.
