GAMES THAT LEAD TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF WEIGHT MEASUREMENT

Concept games

Before children begin to measure weights, they need to know what heavy, light, heavier than, less heavy than, as heavy as, etc. means, and their experiences need to be developed in such a way that they cannot confuse the size with weight. You could use stones of various sizes, small packages, books, pieces of wood, metal, etc. Each child must be given numerous occasions to have an object in each hand, to evaluate which is the heaviest or the lightest.

Objects can also be made to sort into two heaps, the "light" heap and the "heavy" object heap. Later, they will be made to decide between two objects of similar weight, chosen so that children cannot easily find the difference. As students become aware of the difficulty in deciding which object is heavier among objects of similar weights, they will be led to think that the use of an element is necessary for the weight of these objects.

Using the balance

The teacher can present an ordinary scale, with a faithful and two saucers arranged at equal distance from the center: it is used simply to compare the weight of two objects with each other and not to find out their absolute "weight". Before using it, children have to examine the balance, and they have to observe that when the saucers are empty, they are placed at the same level. The teacher then takes two objects that have the same weight and places one of them on each plate. Since the children will have weighed them before, they will know that they weigh the same as each other. They then note with interest that the two saucers remain in balance. Then two objects whose weights are very different are taken. Children are weighed beforehand and then placed on the weighing pan. Children observe that one of the cymbals is lower than the other. If they wish, they can be allowed to pick up the objects, and to realize that the lowest pan is the one containing the heaviest object.

Weight measurement. Arbitrary units

Different objects such as coins can be used to balance any object. An object is then placed on one of the scales of the balance, which then descends completely. Then coins are placed on the other plate, one by one, it is enough that the balance recovers its balance. The teacher will ask how many coins have been used and the children will agree that "so many" coins have been needed to balance the object, so that it weighs the same as the required amount of coins. You can continue this exercise using different objects and comparing.

Children are then asked to appreciate by eye how much to weigh any object, measured with coins. Initially, they can be allowed to hold the object in their hand, while at the same time they collect an amount of coins that they consider equivalent with the other; then the contents of one and the other hand respectively in the saucers of the balance, and watch what happens. If balance is not established, coins are added or removed as needed.