- Measurement is introduced rather late, usually in Class 5 or 6.
- It is not taught through sufficient concrete experiences.
- Measurement in science is not co-ordinated with related topics
in mathematics.
- Spatial and geometrical concepts are neglected.
- In beginning with the metric measurement of length, too many
skills are suddenly demanded: students have to learn how to hold a
ruler, the difference between its centimetre and inch edges, alignment
of the zero and the fractional decimal system. No time is provided
for them to internalise the basic principles of measurement.
- There is an obsession with technicalities, for example, at one
stage the formula for the least-count of the vernier callipers is
taught without adequate time given to conceptual understanding. It is
common to find students believing that this mysterious quantity called
least count applies to only certain complicated instuments like the
micrometer and the vernier callipers.
- The teaching of measurement is done in isolation, with no
connection to other topics, even in science. Elsewhere in the
curriculum there are few references to quantities. There are no
occasions to practise measurement skills.
Jayashree Ramadas
January 1999
