From feet to Fathoms

Guiding question: What is the importance of having an International measuring system? How accurate are old measurements using body parts?

Hypothesis: The importance of having a International measuring system is that people could measure things while meter sticks were not invented.

Materials: body, meter stick, calculator,  hallway, peep, whiteboard, crayon box, space book, and a desk.

Procedure: 
 

1.       Make a data table in your notebook with 7 columns and 7 rows.  (See below).

2.       Choose one of the six objects or distances you will measure.

3.       Determine what form of measurement you will make with the first object. (For example:  Length of the 6^th grade hallway with paces, book with palm or hand, fingernail for crayon box, etc…)

4.       Measure it with the determined form of measurement 3 times, and then find the average. 

5.       Measure it with the meter stick/or measuring tape and find the actual measurement.  (IMPORTANT!!!!!  BE SURE THAT THE UNITS OF MEASUREMENT STAY THE SAME, either inches or centimeters or yards or feet or meters and the average needs to be in the same units)

 6:       Repeat the same for each of the five objects that are left and measure it with a different type of measurement, 3 times, find the average and again the actual measurement.

 7: Compare class data results.  Find the average of these results.

Data Table:

Object	Measure-ment Type	Measure-ment #1	Measure-ment #2	Measure-ment #3	Average	Actual Measurement
Peep	inch	6	6	6	6	5.5 cm
Book	inch	9.5 inch	10 inch	10 inch	9.833 inch	10.5
Hallway	Fathom	8	7.5	7	7.5	1,050 cm
Whiteboard	Egyptian cubit	7 cubits	7 cubits	6 cubits	6.66	2.51 cm
Crayon box	inch	3.5	4	4	3. 833	?
Desk/table	English yard	2 yards	2 yards	2 yards	2 yards	137 cm

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 Data Analysis: There was sometimes similar averages in our group. For example, look at the book and the crayon box, they are only few inches different in size.  

Conclusion: I would prefer the current measuring system, because for some of the old measuring systems, your parts of the body would get tired, and it causes trouble to keep working for your muscles. I think we need the International measuring system for accurate measurements such as for building a house, if you measure a millimeter or shorter, the whole house can go to hell. My hypothesis was correct, because it turned out as I thought it would.