SUBJECT: Science, Art, Math
GRADE: 5th
TECHNOLOGY: Spreadsheet
BY: Heather Dancy

MEASURING YOUR BODY

Target Grade: 5th

Target Population: This lesson plan is a cross-curriculum lesson as it includes material relevant to science,art, and math, as well as incorporating technology. The students this year in science will be studying systems of the human body, and this lesson is meant to focus on proportions of the human body so that the children can understand why their bodies are able to perform the tasks that they are able to do. The particular class in which I am working is an inclusion classroom - it includes children with learning disabilities, students who are gifted/talented, students with ADHD. The use of the spreadsheet in this lesson, and the chart developed from the data will be extremely helpful for the students to see a visual representation of data and measurements they have collected. The lesson is basically one in which students will take measurements of their body in order to develop a valid range of proportions so that they can draw an accurate portrait of someone. The charts developed will provide an great visual of that range and the comparisons.

Objective:
Students will draw a portrait of a person consistent with the proportions of human bodies. Prerequisite skills would include work with fractions/proportions and previous use of scales (as on maps, etc.). Mastery of this objective will be assessed by collecting student drawings and determining whether the measurements are consistent with the range of proportions established in class.

Materials:
- spreadsheet program on classroom computers
- rulers
- tape measures
- paper and pencil

Lesson Procedure:
1. Introduce lesson by showing pictures of portraits painted by different artists like El Greco, Picasso, etc. Show the variation with which they painted or represented people. Tell students that for the purposes of this lesson, they will become realist artist and try to represent the true proportions of people in their art.
2. Put children into groups. Give each group a tape measure. Have them measure the following: full height, head height, head width, torso length, leg length, lower leg length, arm length, lower arm length, arm span, shoulder span, height of eyes from chin. The purpose of this particular activity is to establish a valid range of proportions, not an exactly “right” measurement, as human proportions always vary within that range. Have one student be the “recorder” who puts data in spreadsheet as measurements are taken. Each child should receive a printout, or a view on the computer of the chart for his/her own measurements for the purpose of comparing the different heights of different body sections.
3. Students should calculate specific proportions (either with a calculator or the calculator function on a computer): head height/full height; eye height/head height; head width/shoulder width; arm span/body height; torso height/ full height; leg height/body height; lower leg/leg height; lower arm/ arm length. Students should “record” their proportions on a class spreadsheet. The teacher should create a bar graph to show the students’ proportions. Students should compare the bars (looking at least and greatest) and establish a valid range, for the class, of human proportions.
4. Students should individually draw a portrait using a proper scale (i.e. 1 inch = 10 inches real height). They should draw their picture of a human within the proper range established by the class (using a ruler). On the back of their paper, they should list their proportion measurements and calculations (i.e. leg length / full height = 4 inches/7 inches = 0.571)

Evaluation:
Collect the portraits and grade for accuracy and consistency with range established by the class.

Modifications:
This lesson could be simplified in a few ways, depending on the special needs or available resources in the classroom.
1. Calculate fewer proportions, so that students have less calculations to contend with when drawing their portraits.
2. Have students draw the portrait as a team/group.
3. Use two days for the lesson so that students do not feel rushed as well as to give time for teacher to be recorder of data in Chart 1 and to print out charts for everyone. Lesson could be split by having measurements and Chart 1 activity on first day and Chart 2 and drawing on the second day.