When I moved into the home ec room to teach my health classes, I discovered boxes of old film strips on everything from meal planning to sewing. There was one TWO WEEK unit on measuring. Liquid measure, dry measure, teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, pints and equivalents. At the time I thought how ridiculous it would be to spend all that class time studying measurement. Surely 7th and 8th graders know how to use measuring cups and spoons.
Well, today the 7th graders made stove-top energy bars, and I was wishing I had spent at least a day teaching measurement. Here's why:
The recipe called for 1/4 t. vanilla. I watched one boy measure the vanilla into a 1/4 cup. Luckily I stopped him before it was added to the other ingredients.
Three kids were trying to measure 1/3 c. of brown sugar. One student held the cup and the other two held the bag of brown sugar. I watched in disbelief as they tried to pour brown sugar into the cup from a small opening in the bag. Brown sugar doesn't pour.
The recipe called for 2 cups of oats. One student was convinced that three 1/3 cups equalled 2 cups, then couldn't figure out why his mixture was so runny.
This was definitely a learning experience for me. Next trimester we will have a measurement mini lesson before we cook. However, I think I will skip the filmstrip.
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Yum, all that vanilla! Hilarious, but the best way to teach measurement is by measuring. Some things simply must be learned by doing....no other way.
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