Lesson 11Building 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?

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.)