Measurement is one of the most widely used applications of mathematics.
Measurement activities can simultaneously teach important everyday skills, strengthen students' knowledge of other important topics in mathematics, and develop measurement concepts and processes that will be formalized and expanded in later years. Teaching that builds on students' intuitive understandings and informal measurement experiences helps them understand the attributes to be measured as well as what it means to measure. A foundation in measurement concepts that enables students to use measurement systems, tools, and techniques should be established through direct experiences with comparing objects, counting units, and making connections between spatial concepts and number. They can determine who has more by looking at the size of piles of objects or identify which of two objects is heavier by picking them up. They can compare shoes, placing them side by side, to check which is longer.