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Examples
Ms. Johnson’s class is having a party. Eight students each brought in a 2-liter bottle of soda for the party. How many liters of soda did the class have for the party?Clarifications
Clarification 1: Within this benchmark, it is the expectation that responses include appropriate units.Clarification 2: Problem types are not expected to include measurement conversions.
Clarification 3: Instruction includes the comparison of attributes measured in the same units.
Clarification 4: Units are limited to yards, feet, inches; meters, centimeters; pounds, ounces; kilograms, grams; degrees Fahrenheit, degrees Celsius; gallons, quarts, pints, cups; and liters, milliliters.
Benchmark Instructional Guide
Connecting Benchmarks/Horizontal Alignment
Terms from the K-12 Glossary
- NA
Vertical Alignment
Previous Benchmarks
Next Benchmarks
Purpose and Instructional Strategies
The purpose of this benchmark is for students to apply what they have learned about measurement to solve real-world problems.- When solving real-world problems, instruction should facilitate students’ understandings of contexts and quantities (MTR.4.1, MTR.5.1, MTR.7.1).
- Recommendations for helping students comprehend and solve real-world problems can be found in this document for benchmark MA.3.AR.1.2.
Common Misconceptions or Errors
- Students who struggle to identify benchmarks on number lines can also struggle to measure units of length, liquid volume, and temperature. Allow students to measure often and receive feedback. Students can also use error and reasoning analysis activities to identify this common measurement difficulty.
- Students may have difficulty creating effective models (e.g., drawings, equations) that will help them solve real-world problems. To assist students, provide opportunities for them to estimate solutions and try different models before solving. Beginning instruction by showing problems without their quantities is a strategy for helping students determine what steps and operations will be used to solve.
- Students can struggle to identify when real-world problems require two steps to solve and will complete only one of the steps. Focusing on comprehension of real-world problems helps students determine what step(s) are required to solve.
Strategies to Support Tiered Instruction
- Instruction includes providing opportunities to estimate solutions and try different models before solving. Instruction begins by showing problems without their quantities to determine what steps and operations will be used to solve. Teaching problem-solving strategies should focus on the comprehension of problem contexts and what quantities represent in them.
- For example, “For a science experiment in Mr. Thomas’s 3rd grade class, each student needs some milliliters of water. If there are some students in Mr. Thomas’s class, how many milliliters will be needed in all?” Students will notice that the quantities have been removed from the problem. This will help them to determine what the quantities represent and which operation to choose to solve the problem. The numberless word problem may also be written as ______ students × _______ milliliters of water = ______ milliliters needed in all.
- Teacher encourages exploration of estimation strategies to determine reasonable ranges for solutions (e.g., rounding, finding low and high estimates) and teach problem-solving strategies that build comprehension.
- For example, the 3-Reads Protocol is a close reading strategy for solving problems that focuses on comprehension of the word problem.
- The problem is read 3 times, each for a different purpose.
- What is the problem, context, or story about?
- What are we trying to find out?
- What information is important in the problem?
- The problem is read 3 times, each for a different purpose.
- For example, the 3-Reads Protocol is a close reading strategy for solving problems that focuses on comprehension of the word problem.
- Instruction includes opportunities to measure often and provide feedback. Use error and reasoning analysis activities to address common measurement difficulties.
- Instruction includes opportunities to find the locations of points on number lines. Number lines should be represented vertically and horizontally. Instruction includes whole number values and fractions, including fractions greater than one.
- For example, number lines should be included with benchmarks instead of every number in the sequence included. The blue line below extends from the 0 mark on the number line to the first hashmark beyond 2. The dot plotted on the number line identifies the end of the blue line. Since each whole number interval is partitioned into four equal parts, the first hashmark beyond 2 is represented as 2.
- For example, number lines can also have all numbers included to represent the values between the benchmarks.
- For example, teaching problem-solving strategies should focus on the comprehension of problem contexts and what quantities represent in them.
- Instruction includes an emphasis on teaching problem-solving strategies, focusing on the comprehension of problem contexts and what quantities represent in them.
- For example, questions that help students comprehend word problems are:
- What is happening in the real-world problem?
- What do you need to find out?
- What do the quantities represent in the problem?
- What will the solution represent in the problem?
- For example, “For a science experiment in Mr. Thomas’s 3rd grade class, each student needs 8 milliliters of water. If there are 23 students in Mr. Thomas’s class, how many milliliters will be needed in all?”
- For example, questions that help students comprehend word problems are:
- Teacher guides exploration in estimation strategies to determine reasonable ranges for solutions (e.g., rounding, finding low and high estimates) and teaches problem-solving strategies that build comprehension (e.g., Three Reads).
- For example, the 3-Reads Protocol is a close reading strategy for solving problems that focuses on comprehension of the word problem.
- The problem is read 3 times, each for a different purpose.
- What is the problem, context, or story about?
- What are we trying to find out?
- What information is important in the problem?
- For example, the 3-Reads Protocol is a close reading strategy for solving problems that focuses on comprehension of the word problem.
Instructional Tasks
Instructional Task 1
Each year, the Tallahassee Pumpkin Festival hosts a contest to find the largest pumpkin grown that season. The winner of the competition has the greatest mass, in grams. The masses of the contest entries are in the table below.
- Part A. Which pumpkin won the contest?
- Part B. What is the difference of the mass, in grams, between the first and second place winning pumpkins?
The high temperatures on April 3 in Detroit, Michigan and Gainesville, Florida are shown below.
- Part A. Which city was warmer on April 3? Explain how you know.
- Part B. How much warmer was that city, in degrees Fahrenheit, than the other one? Write an equation to model how you found your answer.
Instructional Task 3
- Part A. Measure the lengths of three different objects at your desk to the nearest quarter inch. Each should have a different length.
- Part B. Plot the three lengths on a number line.
- Part C. Write the lengths in ascending order.
- Part D. Compare the lengths of two of your objects using.
Instructional Items
Instructional Item 1- For a science experiment in Mr. Thomas’s 3rd grade class, each student needs 8 milliliters of water. If there are 23 students in Mr. Thomas’s class, how many milliliters will be needed in all?
- Beau is 8 years old and 49 inches tall. Carter is 13 years old and 57 inches tall. Determine who the taller student is and by how many inches.
- Dr. Parker’s fruit punch recipe is made with 300 milliliters of cranberry juice, 80 milliliters of lime juice, 250 milliliters of pineapple juice, and 75 milliliters of club soda. Dr. Parker mixes all the ingredients into a large pitcher. What is the total volume of the fruit punch in the pitcher, in milliliters?
*The strategies, tasks and items included in the B1G-M are examples and should not be considered comprehensive.
Related Courses
Related Access Points
Related Resources
Formative Assessments
Lesson Plans
Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) STEM Lessons
Original Student Tutorials
STEM Lessons - Model Eliciting Activity
Students will help an architect find the area of each room in a celebrity home and then determine the best location to build the home based on qualitative data about the locations.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx
This task involves having students look at three different fish tank sizes and determine, using a data list, which fish will fit in these fish tanks based on their size. They will also need to look at other characteristics to determine how to group the fish together. Students will have to either multiply, divide or add repeatedly in order to find different solutions on how to place the fish in each tank size.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx
Students are asked to compare group observations, measure and estimate content of liquids, and prepare and participate in a range of conversations in order to design a method for choosing the healthiest beverage to supply to school children.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.
The students will rank companies offering canopies to a school for their Physical Education area.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx
The Plant Package MEA provides students with an engineering problem in which they are asked to rank different plant containers using recycled materials.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx
In this model eliciting activity students use data about the temperature and water requirements of plants to figure out when the plants should be planted. They also use data such as space requirements and time until harvest to make judgments about which plants would best suit the needs of students planning a school garden in Florida.
Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx
MFAS Formative Assessments
Students solve two one-step word problems about mass and volume.
Students determine the distance walked by a student on her way home from her friend's house.
Students are asked to model a multiplication and a division problem that involve measurement quantities with multiplication and division equations and then solve each problem.
Students solve two one-step word problems about mass and volume.
Original Student Tutorials Science - Grades K-8
Learn to measure and compare the mass of solids as Devin helps Chef Kyle in the bakery with this interactive tutorial.
Student Resources
Original Student Tutorials
Learn to measure and compare the mass of solids as Devin helps Chef Kyle in the bakery with this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
This SaM-1 video provides the students with the optional "twist" for Lesson 17 and the Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) they have been working on in the Grade 3 Physical Science Unit: Water Beach Vacation.
To see all the lessons in the unit please visit https://www.cpalms.org/page818.aspx.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Help SaM-1 make observations and sort items based on the mass of materials using a triple-beam balance and equal-arm balance. In this video, you will also become familiar with metric units for measuring mass: gram and kilogram.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
