Lesson 11Building a Trundle Wheel

Learning Goal

Let’s build a trundle wheel.

Activity 1: What Is a Trundle Wheel?

Problem 1

A picture of a trundle wheel.

A tool that surveyors use to measure distances is called a trundle wheel.

  1. How does a trundle wheel measure distance?

  2. Why is this method of measuring distances better than the methods we used in the previous lesson?

  3. How could we construct a simple trundle wheel? What materials would we need?

Activity 2: Building a Trundle Wheel

Problem 1

Your teacher will give you some supplies. Construct a trundle wheel and use it to measure the length of the classroom. Record:

  1. The diameter of your trundle wheel.

  2. The number of clicks across classroom.

  3. The length of the classroom. (Be prepared to explain your reasoning.)