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: (What do you think?)
I think today’s tech will be more precise but the old measurements would be somewhere around the true length.
Materials:
• Partner
• Objects in the classroom (whiteboard, desk, hallway, SPACE book, Peep, Crayon box)
• List of ways to measure:
Pace: legs outstretched =1 yard approximately or 1 meter
Egyptian cubit= elbow to tip of the middle finger= 18 inches or 45 cm
Fathom = middle finger to middle finger across the body = 6 feet, 180 cm, 1.8m
Palm = across the palm of the hand = 3 inches or 8 cm
Hand including thumb = 4 inches or 10 cm
Span = from tip of thumb to tip of little finger= 3 palms or 9 inches or 24 cm
English yard = from fingertip of arm to nose = 36 inches or about 1 meter
Foot = 12 “or 30 cm approximately
Fingernail = tip of pinky =1/2 inch = 1 cm.
• Meter stick or measuring tape
• Calculator
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 6th 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.
Record & Analyze
Data Table:
Object Measure-ment Type Measure-ment #1 Measure-ment #2 Measure-ment #3 Average Actual Measurement
Computer span 2 2 2 2 33 cm
Game pack span 1 1 1 1 17 cm
Hallway pace 8 8 8 8 7 cm
T.V English Y 1 1 1 1 87cm
phone pinky 5 5 5 5 6 cm
Desk/table egyptian 3 3 3 3 119 cm

Data Analysis:
What patterns or relationships do you see between the forms of measurement, the averages you and your partner got and the actual measurement for each object?
I saw that most of the time your measurements would be too long and I got the average easily because I got the same measurement while spanning etc.
Conclusion: How effective were the old English forms of measurement compared to using the meter stick or measuring tape? What is the importance of having an International measuring system? Answer the guiding question here. Was your hypothesis correct in the beginning? If no, what do you think now? Which objects were the easiest or most accurate to measure? Which form of measurement did you prefer the most? State why for both questions. Give examples to help you explain.

The old English forms were effective till a certain point, they were accurate somewhere around the true length or width but the meter stick and the tape were accurate in half centimeters when the old English were accurate to about 1 cm to 1 meter depending on the measurement type. The importance of having the International measuring system is that all measurement would be the same because there are two for everyday world which are quiet(different) in length. Yes. The easier objects to measure were the objects that were in wholes like meters. I liked the span because it can measure small to large things you just need to add up.
Further inquiry: What improvements would you make next time? What errors did you and your partner make? Do you have any further questions about measurement? If so, what were they?
I would try and make it more precise by using to kinds of measurements at once. I let a little room pass by in the test so I rounded up.