This two-lesson unit from Illuminations, exposes students to algebra, measurement, and data analysis concepts and the major theme of analyzing change. In the first lesson, students measure the heights of classmates and older students and construct a table of height and age data to compare them. The second lesson's instructional goal is to understand how change in one variable, age, can relate to change in a second variable, height. Instructional plan, questions for the students, assessment options, extensions, and teacher reflections are given.

Student pairs are given 10 minutes to create the biggest box possible using one piece of construction paper. Teams use only scissors and tape to each construct a box and determine how much puffed rice it can hold. Then, to meet the challenge, they improve their designs to create bigger boxes. They plot the class data, comparing measured to calculated volumes for each box, seeing the mathematical relationship. They discuss how the concepts of volume and design iteration are important for engineers. Making 3-D shapes also supports the development of spatial visualization skills. This activity and its associated lesson and activity all employ volume and geometry to cultivate seeing patterns and understanding scale models, practices used in engineering design to analyze the effectiveness of proposed design solutions.

An applet for students to use in exploring the area and circumference of a circle in relation to its radius and diameter. When the radius is changed, the other measures automatically change and are shown on a board. Most importantly, the ratio between any pair of these measures can be shown.

Lesson objective: Compare lengths of objects both directly and indirectly. Understand that if ​object A is longer than object B and object B is longer than object C, then object A is longer than object C.
This lesson helps to build fluency with comparing lengths of objects indirectly. Images and clues are used here because they allow students to build the relationships between direct and indirect comparison. 
Students engage in Mathematical Practice 7 (Look for and make use of structure) as they use transitivity, indirect comparison to compare length measurement.

Students learn about nanocomposites, compression and strain as they design and program robots that compress materials. Student groups conduct experiments to determine how many LEGO MINDSTORMS(TM) NXT motor rotations it takes to compress soft nanocomposites, including mini marshmallows, Play-Doh®, bread and foam. They measure the length and width of their nanocomposite objects before and after compression to determine the change in length and width as a function of motor rotation.

Through this lesson and its two associated activities, students are introduced to the use of geometry in engineering design, and conclude by making scale models of objects of their choice. The practice of developing scale models is often used in engineering design to analyze the effectiveness of proposed design solutions. In this lesson, students complete fencing (square) and fire pit (circle) word problems on two worksheets—which involves side and radius dimensions, perimeters, circumferences and areas—guiding them to discover the relationships between the side length of a square and its area, and the radius of a circle and its area. They also think of real-world engineering applications of the geometry concepts.

Explore size estimation in one, two and three dimensions! Multiple levels of difficulty allow for progressive skill improvement.

This lesson unit is intended to help teachers assess how well students can: Understand the concepts of length and area; use the concept of area in proving why two areas are or are not equal; and construct their own examples and counterexamples to help justify or refute conjectures.

In this activity students will learn the basic concept of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) using triangulation and measurement on a small scale in the classroom. Students discover how GPS and navigation integrate mathematic and scientific concepts to create a standard for locating people and objects. This activity helps students understand both the need for and methods of navigation.

Using this tool, students build these classic fractals: the Koch snowflake, a fractal tree, a reduced square, and the Sierpinksi triangle. As these shapes grow and change using an iterative process, students can observe patterns in the images created and in the table of values as the fractals progress through several stages.

In this five lesson unit with overview from Illuminations, student activities explore relationships among fractions through work with the length model. Students construct fraction strips and use fraction bars throughout the unit to make sense of basic fraction concepts, to compare fractions and order fractions and to work with equivalency in fractions. Specific learning objectives, a material list, an instructional plan, questions for the students, assessment options, extensions, and teacher reflections are given for each lesson.

This module brings together the ideas of similarity and congruence and the properties of length, area, and geometric constructions studied throughout the year.  It also includes the specific properties of triangles, special quadrilaterals, parallel lines and transversals, and rigid motions established and built upon throughout this mathematical story.  This module's focus is on the possible geometric relationships between a pair of intersecting lines and a circle drawn on the page.

Find the rest of the EngageNY Mathematics resources at https://archive.org/details/engageny-mathematics.

This interactive lesson encourages young students to solve problems by estimating angles and distances. They use an applet to give LOGO-like commands, e.g. forward (length), turn (right or left) to make a path that moves a turtle to a pond. Students can create a Path 1 and Path 2 and try to minimize the total path length. There is a newer applet (Turtle Pond, cataloged separately) that allows for adding or editing the commands and a choice of right angles only, or angles in multiples of 15 degrees. The lesson provides suggestions for implementation and discussion questions.

This activity has students calculating how any boxes of Girls Scout Cookies can fit into the back of a hatchback.

In this activity students practice measuring techniques by measuring different objects and distances around the classroom. They practice using different scales of measurement in metric units and estimation.

Module 3 begins by extending students’ kindergarten experiences with direct length comparison to indirect comparison whereby the length of one object is used to compare the lengths of two other objects.  Longer than and shorter than are taken to a new level of precision by introducing the idea of a length unit.  Students then explore the usefulness of measuring with similar units. The module closes with students representing and interpreting data.

Find the rest of the EngageNY Mathematics resources at https://archive.org/details/engageny-mathematics.

This lesson, from Illuminations, gives students practice in measurement and in displaying and interpreting data through box-and-whisker plots. Students may draw the plots themselves or use the online Box Plotter tool. Learning objectives, materials, student questions, extensions, teacher reflections, and NCTM Standards alignment are provided.

In this math lesson, learners read the book "How Big Is a Foot?" by Rolf Myller to explore the need for a standard unit of measure. Students then create non-standard units (using their own footprints) and use the footprints to make "beds." This lesson guide includes a student activity sheet, questions for learners, assessment options, extensions, and reflection questions.

This lesson emphasizes the connections between science and mathematics by using a performance, or authentic, assessment format. Students will develop measurement skills as they relate the size of their fists to the size of their hearts. Students have the opportunity to explore applications involving their own hearts. An activity sheet (pdf) is included.

In this lesson, students measure the dimensions of their own fist plus the fists of some other people who are older to approximate the size of each person's heart. Next they use construction paper to make a model of their own heart.