- Measurement is introduced rather late, usually in Class 5 or 6.
- It is not taught through sufficient concrete experiences.
- Measurement in science is not co-ordinated with related topics in mathematics.
- Spatial and geometrical concepts are neglected.
- In beginning with the metric measurement of length, too many skills are suddenly demanded: students have to learn how to hold a ruler, the difference between its centimetre and inch edges, alignment of the zero and the fractional decimal system. No time is provided for them to internalise the basic principles of measurement.
- There is an obsession with technicalities, for example, at one stage the formula for the least-count of the vernier callipers is taught without adequate time given to conceptual understanding. It is common to find students believing that this mysterious quantity called least count applies to only certain complicated instuments like the micrometer and the vernier callipers.
- The teaching of measurement is done in isolation, with no connection to other topics, even in science. Elsewhere in the curriculum there are few references to quantities. There are no occasions to practise measurement skills.