Can you count off seconds? Can you make a meter stick from a stick? Can you find a one kilogram stone?
This is a lightweight introductory lab designed to be deployed during the early days of the term when the class may still be adding and dropping students. The lab is also designed to help prepare an education major for work in a rural, village school that might not have any scientific instruments.
Time: Keeping the beat
Fundamental measure: second
Close your eyes. Count the seconds in your head. When done I will ask how many seconds have passed.
Gather data. Average.
Calculate the percentage error.
Repeat on different period.
Space: Measuring in meters using meter stick tree meter sticks
Have the students use scientific meter sticks to determine the span of one meter from the tip of their middle finger to the opposite side of their body. They should also determine what part of their abdomen/hip/upper leg is one meter above the ground.
Lecture-demonstration using children's letter blocks to illustrate length, width, height, surface area, volume.
Cover 1 × 1 × 1, 2 × 2 × 2,... for the five quantities above. Continue beyond the number the blocks up to at least 8 × 8 × 8 to demonstrate that volume eventually grows larger than surface area and grows more quickly.
Measure the length, width, and height of the classroom using the meter stick tree meter sticks. Calculate the surface area and volume.
Mass: Stones
Pass around a one kilogram metal mass and a one kilogram bag of sugar or other commodity. Are they the same mass?
Mass the two objects. Discuss results
Homework: bring in a one kilogram rock, or, if no rocks, then other objects.
Instructional notes: During the summer term this functioned as a lead off laboratory. An attempt to deploy this in a one hour regular term lecture slot failed to provide enough time to walk to the meter stick tree forest. Decision was also made not to have students bring in stones as 32 kilograms of stones seemed unmanageable. One might be able to do meter stick trees exercise only, but period would have to focus on that one single activity and not include syllabus review or other material.