Mayfield Students Measure Up -- and Down

How is total arm length related to a person’s height? In mid-October, Mayfield Middle School science students investigated to find out. Having already measured their own wingspans and heights and formulated a hypothesis, the next step in their scientific exploration took them to nearby Hilldale Elementary School.

Using a centimeter tape measure, the middle school science students measured wingspan and height of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th-grade students.

After the measuring, students still had hard questions to ask and answer. How does elementary student data compare to previously gathered middle school data? Can inferences, predictions or conclusions be made using the data? Can a person’s height be determined by knowing his or her wingspan?

Ultimately, the point of the activity was not necessarily finding answers, but using the scientific process to look for them, says science teacher Paula Dyer.

"This is the essence of science. Students saw phenomena, researched it, formulated a hypothesis, devised experiments, predicted outcomes, compared and analyzed results and defended conclusions. If their hypothesis didn't turn out to be true, they had to analyze alternative explanations. The real point had not so much to do with arm length or height, but everything to do with understanding the process of science," Dyer says.

In case you're wondering, though, Dyer says students learned that at every grade level arm span is greater than height by no more than an average of 3 centimeters.