PACE AND SPACE


Purpose: To determine length of a pace, to develop computation skills, and to practice averaging.
Season: All
Materials: 100-foot tape measure, note pad, pencil.
Description: Students establish length of a pace by counting their steps over a hundred-foot course. The course is stepped off and the number of paces is determined. This number is divided into 100 to calculate length of a pace.
Procedure:
  1. Mark off a hundred-foot course in an open, flat field or on a sidewalk near the school. Discuss why it is important to use a normal pace when counting steps along the course.
  2. Have students pace off the course four times and find their average number of steps.
  3. Encourage the class to determine what the next step would be to calculate size of a pace. Have the students round off their paces to the nearest half foot. Most paces will be 2, 2 1/2, or 3 feet in length. Use the pace method to determine various distances around the school.
Questions:
  1. Who has the shortest pace?
  2. Who has the longest pace?
  3. Can you tell if taller people have longer paces?

Back to Elementary - Resource Grid