This unit uses the context of making paper planes to develop understanding of metre and centimetre measures. Students investigate a variety of paper airplane designs, experiment to see which planes fly the furthest, and decide winners by measuring and comparing results.
This unit is suitable for students who have had plenty of previous experience with non-standard units and have been introduced to the concept of standard units. It provides an engaging context for practising the use of metres and centimetres. In the second unit, Paper Planes L4, students create scatter plots of the distance their planes travel when a variable is changed.
When students can measure lengths effectively using non-standard units, they are ready to move to the use of standard units. The motivation for moving to this stage follows from experiences where the students have used different non-standard units for measuring the same length. This develops an appreciation for consistency in the units used, and an understanding that such consistency allows for the easier and more accurate measurement.
Students' measurement experiences must enable them to:
The usual sequence used in primary school is to introduce the centimetre first, then the metre, then the kilometre and the millimetre.
The centimetre is often introduced first because it is small enough to measure common objects. The size of the centimetre can be established by constructing it, for example by cutting 1-centimetre pieces of paper or straws. You may also have a supply of 1-cm cubes that could be used to measure objects. An appreciation of the size of the unit can be built up through lots of experience in measuring everyday objects. The students should be encouraged to develop their own reference for a centimetre, for example, a fingertip.
As the students become familiar with the size of the centimetre they should be given many opportunities to estimate before measuring. After using centimetre units to measure objects the students can be introduced to the centimetre ruler. It is a good idea to let the students develop their own ruler to begin with. For example, some classrooms have linked cubes which can be joined to form 10 cm rulers. Alternatively pieces of drinking straw could be threaded together.
The correct use of a ruler to measure objects requires specific instruction. The correct alignment of the zero on the ruler with one end of the object needs to be clarified.
Metres and millimetres are established using a similar sequence of experiences: first construct the unit and then use it to measure appropriate objects.
There are many websites that give instructions for folding paper airplanes or students may like to experiment with creating their own designs.
This unit can be differentiated by altering the difficulty of the tasks to make the learning opportunities accessible to a range of learners. In particular, have students measure length using non-standard measures, such as hand spans or foot lengths, if they are not ready to progress to using metres and centimetres.
An alternative context for this unit is Manu tukutuku – Māori kites. Information about Manu tukutuku is readily available online, and the Te Ara website provides a useful overview. Within this context, students could design and make simplified Manu tukutuku to use for the measurement tasks, with the work culminating in a kite day, rather than an air show.
Encourage them to record their trials in a table similar to the one below, on paper or a device, to help them keep a track of which planes fly the best. This will help them decide which plane they will use in the air-show at the end of the week. Support students as they work through this process as needed. Students may wish to video their week’s investigation to share with whānau and classmates.
Plane | Flight 1 | Flight 2 | Flight 3 |
|
| ||
| |||
|
Dear family and whānau,
This week at school we are making paper planes and measuring how far they can fly. We will be holding an air-show on Friday to see which plane can fly the furthest. Ask your child to show you the design they are using for their plane and help them experiment with things that may make the plane go further. Run some trials at home estimating how far the plane flew each time. You can check the measurements together if you wish. Encourage the use of measuring vocabulary such as estimation, millimetres, centimetres and metres.
Printed from https://nzmaths.co.nz/resource/paper-planes-level-2 at 11:55am on the 29th March 2024