The key to doing this activity is teacher preparation. Each group should have
the following materials: aluminum foil, aluminum shot, water, scissors, a graduated
cylinder, access to a measuring scale, a ruler, and aluminum wire (an alternative
to aluminum shot). Students brainstorm how they could measure the thickness
of aluminum foil after the teacher proposes the following driving question:
With the materials in front of you, develop a procedure to measure the thickness
of a piece of aluminum foil (see Figure 1). What is the thickness of the aluminum
foil?