My school’s second grade measurement unit began last week. By the end of the unit students are expected to be able to measure objects in metric and U.S. Customary units of length. The students are now starting to measure items in the classroom to the nearest centimeter. One of my colleagues in a school nearby mentioned that their classroom was having a challenging time measuring different objects. Students were performing consistent errors, such as measuring using the wrong side (cm vs. inch), not starting the measurement at zero, measuring with the ruler at an angle, not lining up the ruler and object, using the ruler as a helicopter propeller (okay … maybe not the last one). Anyway, students were getting all types of different measurements and my colleague was getting a bit flustered over the issue at hand. The teacher continued to teach the concept over the next few days and then decided to assign a brief formative checkpoint to assess student understanding.
We ended up discussing the possibility of using Showbie and InstaCollage app (free version) for this project.
Students were given two minutes to find an object in the classroom that was less than 30 centimeters in length and bring it back to their desk. They then opened up the Instacollage app and took a picture of the item with a ruler. The text feature was used to label the measurement.
The ruler needed to be lined up correctly to measure the object to the nearest centimeter. Students were asked to add their name and the measurement to the photo. Once the students edited their projects they saved the project and imported it into Showbie.
Once everyone was finished, I reviewed the different projects to assess understanding. Some students were asked to redo the project. Most were able to immediately identify the error, correct it and resubmit the project within a few minutes.
I’m planning on showing the students their projects during the next class session. Not only was this an opportunity to assess learning, but it will also be available in a digital format for retrieval. I’m looking forward to sharing this with other colleagues.
Student content creators is a blog post series. Click on the links that follow to find additional posts related to how Educreations, Instacollage, Haiku Deck, Playback and Prezi can be used in the classroom.
Educational Aspirations 
Hey Matt!
Can you explain the technology piece regarding how you view the files and how you share them with the class. I’m curious about where digital files are stored and how they are retrieved. Seventh grade won’t be iReady (get it?!) until the fall. I had a project where students used Doceri on the iPad and it was cumbersome having to view each file through the respective iPad. Thanks!
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Hi Mary, I’m using the Showbie app this year to review student created digital content. The app was downloaded on all of the school iPads in September. I think of Showbie as my digital turn-in bin. Once a project is complete, students can login to their personal Showbie account and add add their file. You can then view the file on your own iPad or computer at a later time. More information can be found in the second paragraph at
http://educationalaspirations.com/2013/09/07/contentcreators/ Let me know if you have any questions.
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