Measurement and measurement-related competences of five to eight-year-old children in a British primary school

Measuring with units requires underlying conceptual competences as well as practical and numerical abilities. The social context, notably in relation to language, undoubtedly plays its part in their acquisition. Existing research had investigated conceptual, practical, numerical and social aspects of the acquisition of measurement, but rarely together, or by the same group of children. The present research united both in a conceptually coherent structure, enabling a picture to be presented that was both broad and detailed. There was a specific focus on conceptual difficulties children may face that are identified in the psychological and educational literature. Eighty-three five- to eight-year-old children were interviewed about their knowledge of measurement and participated in a comprehensive set of tasks designed to test their understanding of its language and concepts, their accuracy in making visual estimates, and their ability to measure length. Results showed the children to have a lively appreciation of the importance of measurement, good understanding of its everyday language and concepts, and good ability to estimate length. Yet they were poor measurers. This unevenness in their accomplishments indicated underlying conceptual insecurity that was manifested in ineffective deployment of measurement instruments, but went beyond it. There was some evidence that ability in language and estimation were associated for the younger children, while estimation and measurement ability were associated for the older. An agenda for further investigation of the disjunctions identified by this research was outlined.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo