Through the inquiry in this chapter, students work to answer the question, How does measurement help us know about the world? The focus of the inquiry is what measurement can tell us. A scavenger hunt helps students learn to use measurement to describe everyday items, and a comparison activity helps them learn to select appropriate measurement tools. During the course of the inquiry, students learn about ordinal measurement scales and conduct an investigation in which measurement is critical.
As part of the inquiry, students write an experimental protocol and develop an ordinal scale for a set of items or a natural phenomenon. In doing this, the inquiry fosters students’ abilities to use descriptive language and write procedural information.