Kindergarten

Measuring and Graphing: How Tall Are We?

Ask: How does our height change as we get older?

The STEM project that kindergartners explored was all about measurement. Kindergartners explored nonstandard measurement, and how our heights change with age.

Imagine: Students discussed what they knew and thought about how height changes as we get older.

Plan: The students would measure themselves, second graders, fourth graders, and adults with blocks. They would graph the measurements to observe the change.

They used blocks to measure each group of individuals. For each age, they measured heights, collected data and made bar graphs with the data. At the conclusion of our project, they examined the graphs, asking and answering questions about them.

Create: The students collected data and created graphs to test their theories about how heights change as they grow.

Kindergarten students design their bodies.

Kindergarten students trace each other before measuring.

First, the kindergarteners measured themselves. During this step kindergarteners worked in groups to trace each other on large paper. This gave the students the opportunity to see their own height. Then, they used a block(s) to measure their height. The students measured their height, either with multiple blocks, or by using one block, marking the endpoint and sliding it down until they could see how many blocks tall they were. We also demonstrated how we could do this while a child stood and we marked where the block was with our finger and moved the block up. They were able to color and decorate their traced body as they liked. After completing their body tracing and measuring, the students each recorded their own height on our class graphs.

A kindergarten lines up blocks to measure his body drawing. Students discovered that often they were either a little taller or shorter than the last block they used. They needed to decide which number of blocks was the closest to their own height.

A kindergarten student looks at the blocks that she lined up to measure her body drawing.

Kindergarten students add their data to the class graph.

Next, we had volunteers from second grade come to our classes. The kindergarteners measured the second graders with the same blocks that they used to measure themselves. They then used the measurement data to make another graph.

A kindergartener traces a second grader before measuring his height.

The bar graph of second grade heights.

We had volunteers from fourth grade come to our classes and we continued the project in the same manner. They measured the fourth graders and used the measurement data to make another graph.

The bar graph of 4th grade student heights.

A kindergarten student measures a fourth grade volunteer.

Mrs. Reimer points to the 4th grade heights graph as students examine how tall each student is.

The final group of people that the students measured was adults. The students measured teachers and paraprofessionals in each class and we compiled the data to make a final graph.

Test: The kindergarteners looked at the data in all graphs to test their theories about how heights change as they get older. They shared their observations and questions as a class. They answered questions such as who was the tallest and shortest in each group and what the most common height was in each group. They concluded that the most common height was larger as the individuals were older.

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Improve: The students noticed that there was not much difference between the number of blocks in each age group. We talked about how our heights were often not exactly the same as the number of blocks, and we needed to pick the number that was the closest to our height. We asked the students what would happen if we used a smaller size block to measure, many thought that we would be able to get closer to each person's actual height. If we were to try this project again, we would use a shorter block to measure each individual.

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