Junior primary

The data you need to collect with your class is described on the Core Activities page.

Lead-up ideas

Use language and make some comparisons associated with size, height and length (big, small, tall, long, short, longer than, shorter, the same length as, as long as, not as tall as...)

Make some predictions:

• Who do we think might be the tallest? Who has the shortest feet? What can we do to find out?
• How many of your footprints do you think you would need to line up together to match your height? (According to the ancient Roman architect, Vitruvius, a man's height is supposed to be the same as six of his foot lengths; do you think this is true? Would your answer be different for children or women? How could we test out these ideas?)

Discuss the national activity: students all around Australia are going to be making measurements and sharing some information about their heights and the sizes of their feet. What questions could we ask? What do you think the data might show us?

What do we need to know? How are we going to find out? How are we going to measure? Is it important that our measurements are made in the same way for each person? Why? How will we do that?

Make and decorate:

• a cutout or paper tape streamer which is the same height as you are;
• a cutout of your footprint (shoes off) or a paper tape the same length as your foot.

Collecting and recording the data

Liaise with an older or "buddy" class: older students could assist with measuring, recording and adding heights (we are developing a Measurement Mentors sheet which you might like to share with them to help them in this role).

Invite parents or other visitors to celebrate with you - and measure them as well (submission of staff and/or parent data is encouraged!).

Determining "Foot Size" groupings:

• Use a collection of linear measures for making direct comparisons (e.g. labelled cardboard strips, paper tape, masking tape etc.). These could be stuck on the floor with one end against the wall - make comparisons with child's heel touching the wall.
  Construct your own, or download an A4 template for Foot Sizes A to M.
• Construct some appropriately sized boxes (so that if your right foot fits inside this box but not the next smaller box then it is "Size D" etc.).
  Download a series of templates which could be used for Sizes A to J.

Determining heights:

Remember that students' height data will need to be grouped according to their gender and "Foot Size" classification and then added together for reporting.

• If you made paper cutouts or streamers, measure the height of each of these (in centimetres) and write the figure on it. Notice that the smallest numbers are on the shortest streamers.
• Take turns to stand next to a ruler or tape on the wall. Record the idividual heights in groups on a large chart ('Boys with Size E foot', 'Girls with Size F foot' etc.).
• Determining the totals of the students' heights for each group could be a class calculator exercise or could be done by the teacher.

Recording and displaying your data:

Each child could have their data recorded on their own cutouts/streamers and/or the downloadable footprint template (which has for the child to record his or her name, gender, Foot Size and height).

Create a wall graph - each child could put a name tag or picture in the appropriate Foot Size column of a large bar graph (a page of footprint images is available).

If you made cutouts or streamers, create a record with these along the wall or corridor (perhaps by putting the height record on the wall and the matching foot record on the floor at right angles to it).

Investigating

How many times does your foot length fit into your height?

• Each student could count how many times their foot length fits into their height. Suggestions include:

  • 

    Take a piece of string or streamer which is the same length as your height, then walk along it with your shoes off and count the steps (concentrating on "no gaps or overlaps" between your feet as you walk along); or
  • Make paper cutouts of your footprint and attach them to your string or streamer.
• This is an excellent opportunity to use descriptive language about parts of a whole foot: if the number of foot lengths is not exact, how can you describe your measurement? Is the "extra bit" more than half a foot length or less than a half a foot length? A paper cutout footprint could be folded to see how big a half and a quarter of the child's foot length is...
• Share your results as a class. What did you find?

Was the tallest person in your class also the person with the biggest feet?

Create a human bar graph: get children to stand in groups of people with the same “Foot Size”. How many people are in this group? Are there more people or fewer people in that group? Which is the most common Foot Size? Which is the least common? Is EVERYBODY in one group shorter/taller than EVERYBODY in another group?

Do taller people generally have bigger feet? Do they ALWAYS have bigger feet? (Test in the classroom by concrete comparisons – either in groups or as a whole class: line ourselves up in the classroom in order of height and record the results in a list; line ourselves up in order of foot lengths and make a list; compare the two lists)

Can you find anyone whose "Foot Size" is A? Where might you look?

Investigate the national data (available on Tuesday 11 September) and compare the findings with those of your class.

• Make gold streamers or cutouts which are the same height as the national averages (this is a graph!). You could add them to the classroom display if you made one.
• Who is the same height as the "average Australian student"(!) with their "Foot Size"? Who is taller or shorter? How many in each group?

More junior primary activity ideas