Summer 2013: Day 1

Willie May giving an introduction of NIST

The 2013 Summer Institute for Middle School Teachers began today with an introduction to NIST by Willie May. He gave an overview on how NIST touches so many different aspects of the economy and our lives. It was really interesting to hear about the examples of measurement and standards in science, technology, medicine and commerce. Mary followed this up with some basic information about the institute.

Mary Introducing the Summer Institute

We finished the morning off with two tours, one by Jennifer Huergo about NIST in Your Community and the other by Keith Martin of the NIST Museum. Jennifer shared about how NIST has done research on the World Trade Center, food standards, information technology, and in many other areas. Keith provided a lot of really great information on the history of metrology and showed interesting examples of NIST products, like neon signs and space beads.

Keith explaining the neon signs in the museum.

Jennifer explaining standard reference materials

The afternoon was spent with Elizabeth Gentry, Tina Butcher, Ralph Richter and David Sefcik doing metrology games and activities. There was first a discussion about the concepts that were difficult for students when learning about measurement and the metric system. It was a good brainstorm, and then the activities addressed many of these issues. The first activity involved estimating mass, length or volume given basic measuring tools. It was interesting to watch the different groups find ways to determine the values without traditional tools or measurements. We also learned that a nickel is five grams, a packet of sugar is one gram, and one cubic centimeter is one milliliter.

Elizabeth shows an Egyptian cubit.

What's the mass of a bowling ball?

Estimating lengths

Estimating mass

Comparing mass

The next three activities were worked in stations. One station discussed the cost of measurement variation in regards to gasoline sales. A few milliliters for every 5 gallons can add up to a lot of money in the long term. Another station involved tare and measuring the mass of the containers we use to buy food. That can also add up to quite a lot of money in the long run. The third station was about recognizing sugar values in the beverages we drink. Different bags had the sugar for each container measured out into them. It was eye opening to see how measurements affect so many aspects of our lives.

6 cubic inches (98 milliliters) compared to 5 gallons.

Drinks and their sugar content.

Measuring Tare