LEARN NC

teenage boys removing a piano from a flooded house

Measuring the waters

By Kristin Post

1.1 Lesson plan: Measuring the waters

By Kristin Post

Provided by UNC Libraries / Documenting the American South

Learning outcomes

Students will:

  • discuss how the same height can be measured in different ways
  • demonstrate an understanding of patterns and relationships in measurements
  • graph these patterns

Teacher planning

Time required for the lesson

90 minutes

Materials/Resources

  • teacher’s guides
  • oral history excerpts: Early Measurement and Failed Measurement
  • masking tape (to use on classroom walls)
  • measurement “tools” including a ruler or tape measure, leaf, stapler, sheet of paper

You may also wish to print the transcripts and hand them out to students.

Technology resources

  • internet connection
  • speakers
  • computer
  • headphones (preferred)
  • CD player (in lieu of the computer, speakers and internet connection, if you have burned your own CD)

Pre-activities

Teacher preparation

  1. Listen to the oral history excerpts.
  2. Read through the teacher’s guides and transcripts.
  3. Familiarize yourself with the location of Duplin County, which is in eastern North Carolina.
  4. Read over or watch this Hurricane Floyd essay, or review the Hurricane Floyd fact sheet.
  5. Print out the transcripts, if desired.
  6. Before class begins, measure a standard height (for example, 39 inches) and place masking tape on the wall in at least four places around the classroom. Your first activity will involve students measuring this height with different tools.

Audio preparation

  1. If you are playing audio from a CD player, you will not require a computer or speakers. In this situation, you will want to download the oral histories ahead of time and burn them onto a CD.
  2. If you are playing the oral histories from a computer and speakers in your classroom, you can play it live from the website or download the audio to your computer and play it with a variety of audio players that may be installed on your computer.
  3. If you are going to use the computer lab, you do not have to download the oral histories. You and your students can simply listen to the audio excerpts included in this lesson plan.
  4. Before you use the computer lab, you should ensure every student will have a computer and headphones. Also, ensure that the volume on all of the computers is not muted, and is not too loud.

Consult UNC’s Resources for Teachers: Audio Toolkit if you wish to know more about downloading or playing audio files.

Activities

Activity 1: What is in a measurement?

  1. At the start of class, divide the class into groups of three or four. Hand each one of the groups a different measurement “tool” (mentioned above: a leaf, stapler, sheet of paper). All but one group gets a tool. One group has to devise their own tool using some part of an arm (e.g. a fist, a thumb, a finger, the part between the elbow and the wrist, the hand outstretched.) Students need to place their measurement tool directly on the wall, and count how many “units” represent the height of the masking tape.
  2. Since one group has a ruler or tape measure, they should get the answer 39 inches but every other group will get varying answers depending on their unit (e.g. 10 leaves, 3.2 staplers or 7.5 fists).
  3. Discuss that any item can be used for measurement, so long as it is used consistently. Discuss which tools might be more exact than others and why.
  4. Optional: To drive this point home, have the groups exchange tools and measure again. Check in and see if the second group got the same measurement as the first group. Explain that part of the work of scientists and mathematicians is to repeat the same experiment to see if they get the same answer.

Activity 2: Early measurement

  1. Have the students take their seats. Pass out the transcripts for Early Measurement and Failed Measurement to each student or have them access it in the For Students from their computers.
  2. Using your Early Measurement teacher’s guide, read the introductory script aloud to the class.
  3. Using your Early Measurement teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the preliminary questions.
  4. Play the Early Measurement oral history excerpt. Running time: 2 minutes 25 seconds.
  5. Using your Early Measurement teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the follow-up questions.

Activity 3: Failed measurement

  1. Using your Failed Measurement teacher’s guide, read the introductory script aloud to the class.
  2. Using your Failed Measurement teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the preliminary questions.
  3. Play the Failed Measurement oral history excerpt. Running time: 1 minute 48 seconds.
  4. Using your Failed Measurement teacher’s guide, discuss the answers to the follow-up questions.

Activity 4: Math skills and assessment

Discuss:

  1. How many feet in a yardstick?
  2. How many inches in a foot?
  3. If a yardstick is underground “to ten” (from zero), how many inches are showing above the ground?

Draw a graph:

  1. Graph it: Using graph paper, draw a graph. The x-axis will be units of time, and the y-axis will be units of height.
  2. On the same graph, show two lines that represent years. One will be 1962, and the other 1999.
  3. Start at zero, and show the rate the 1962 flood rose (according to Mr. Cavenaugh.) The second will also start at zero, and show the rate the 1999 flood rose.
  4. Remember, we don’t know how high the original 1962 was, so make a guess. Add four feet to that height to show how high the 1999 flood was.

Extra assessment: Class activity

Mr. Cavenaugh’s grandfather nailed a post to a tree to mark where the floods had been. This was a way of documenting measurements over time. Have the class look around the classroom and brainstorm on what might change over time, depending on the season or time of day. (Examples: height of the sunlight on the wall, a plant, a certain student’s height) As a class, discuss ideas and agree on one thing that you will measure throughout the year, and what tool you will use. Remember to take these measurements throughout the year. Later on, discuss how the thing you measured changed.