Weighing and Hefting

 Last week we experimented with some scales and some weights, to investigate how they work. In groups we were each given a small scale and had to take turns experimenting with it. It was encouraging to see that each person was given a turn to test how the weights being placed onto different places of the scale affected the side of the scale that fell.

 

After our time of testing we placed the scale away and say in a circle to talk about any ideas or thoughts we had whilst doing our experimentation.

 Today during Maths we continued on with this to talk about how two objects can be measured to find out which is heavier or lighter. To do this we played a hefting game where some students would go and find two objects which could fit in their hands and guess which of the two items is heavier just by holding the two of them.

After this game the whole class moved onto doing their own experimentation through hefting by finding two objects of similar size and deciding which one they thought was heavier or not. They would then test if it was using the two sets of scales in the classroom.

 

It was interesting to see that some objects were heavier than we expected. We found that a marble and a pencil were the same weight even if they were different sizes. We look forward to continuing to investigate weight throughout the week.