Amit Dhakulkar, Nagarjuna Gadiraju, Samir Dhurde
As a first exercise for middle or high school students in indirect measurement using physical and mathematical modelling, we present here a simple task where students are asked to find the average diameter of mustard seeds. The resulting observations lead to a simple linear mathematical model which has an accessible physical basis in the real world. This simple task also provides a rich opportunity and a context for learning several topics in measurement, modelling, use of graphs and statistics. We present this as a template to be used for developing a series of activities for learning indirect measurements and physical and mathematical models.