Baby You Can Drive My Car Years 2 - 6

Summary Engineering 'aha' moments in number can also occur through measurement activities. After all measurement is only putting number to work counting units of some sort. This activity drives tiny toy cars and big human cars along number lines represented by metre rulers. Number challenges overlap and interweave with measurement concepts producing a richer curriculum through connected learning. Suitable for threading. Materials One metre ruler and one toy car per group of 3 or 4 One long measuring tape, say 25 metres, per class One coloured car drawing per group - make your own, or use the 7 cars in this set.

Acknowledgement

Thanks to the Year 3 children and teachers of Internationella Engelska Skolan, Huskvarna, Sweden who explored this activity as part of a professional development program built around working like a mathematician.

Procedure Gather the class at a central floor space (or table) with one metre ruler. Ask questions to determine what the children know about the ruler and the numbers on it. Produce a toy car and explain that the activity today will be about driving the car beside the ruler. Introduce the rule that the car begins with its front at the start and ends with its front at a chosen point. I'll show you what I mean. The car starts here with the bumper on zero. Now I am going to drive it to 57cm. Call out STOP when I get there. Test understanding by asking 2 or 3 children to drive a car from zero to a given point. Sort the class into groups of about 4. Now you are going to take a metre ruler and a car to your space somewhere in the room and test each other to see how well you can drive from zero to any number you choose on the ruler.

Content addition facts beyond 10 addition facts to 10 complementary addition counting data: collecting, recording, displaying data: describing & comparing with statistics data: interpretation decimal calculations decimal interpretation decimal representation of a fraction equations: creating/solving estimating number mathematical conversation measurement, concept of measurement, length measurement, metres & centimetres number line - ordering, operations operations - whole number problem solving recording - calculator recording - written subtraction

7. While the children are challenging each other visit the groups and ask:
   If the front of the car travels 57 centimetres, how far does the back travel?
   Act it out with the car as you ask.
   

   The answer may be obvious to us, but, depending on the age and experience of the children, it is not necessarily obvious to them. Frequently, when the front has reached 57 (say), the answer given is the number on the ruler beside the back of the car.

8. Hand one person from each group a car card from the set above and organise the groups to come outside to a suitable starting point.
9. The group is now a car and have to move together. Choose one car group to challenge another group to 'drive' their car a given number of metres. The front of the car stops at the estimate. Then measure the distance to the front of the car and cheer each group's attempt.
10. The children soon start to either hold onto each other when they move, or move in step. This is an opportunity to raise again the question of how far the back of the car travels. Simply count steps. Then explore what happens to the car if the back child doesn't take the same number of steps as the front person.

11. Return to the classroom and ask children to get their journal and coloured pencils as they enter. They sit in their usual place.
12. About 20 minutes of an hour lesson will be left at this stage and the time will be used recording what has been done and learnt and setting the scene for the next lesson with a couple of What happens if...? questions.

	These examples of children's recording were prepared in about 10 - 12 minutes. Children were given time to finish them later in the day. However at this stage, they were encouraged to walk around and look at other people's work, then choose one and seek out the creator to compliment them and say why. To round off the lesson, gather the children at the central space again with the one metre ruler and a toy car. Compliment them on exploring the problem of being able to drive a car beside a number line. Then introduce questions that point the way to the next lesson. I want to finish this lesson with some questions a mathematician might ask. They all start with What happens if...? What happens if we turn the ruler over and then have to drive to 57cm? What happens if we put two metre rulers end to end? What happens if the car doesn't start at zero ... but still has to drive to 57cm?

When teachers were asked in a debrief what features of the lesson had led to its success they debated, then listed the following in agreed order of importance:

• playful
• practical / concrete material
• involvement of everyone
• variety - whole group, groups inside, groups outside, reporting, cliff hanger
• group activities
• documentation
• giving each other praise

Challenges that could keep the challenge fresh are:

• What happens if we use 2 and 3 part journeys, including ones with reversing?
• What happens if we tell the children that the car stopped at 57cm and ask them to design a journey that took it there?
• What happens if we ask the children to keep a record of how close they come when estimating their journey against a 'turned over' ruler. How can be record the class 'how close' data? How can we compare the 'how close' statistics from this week with the 'how close' statistics from last week?
• How can we use the calculator to record our journeys?
• ...

Extensions

• Maths300 Lesson 13, Estimation Walks, extends the same approach to decimals of a metre, such as estimating a walk of 3.75m (or 3³/₄ metres) and gathering and analysing the how close data.
• Task 52, Which Floor, sets challenges related to journeys up and down in a lift.

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