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What is proportional reasoning? many word problems emphasize realworld situations, with the focus on a single variable. Word problems involving proportional reasoning situations are more complex. Solving these types of problems requires students to identify the two variables involved, then identify the relationship between these two variables. Helping students develop a true understanding of proportional reasoning cannot be accomplished with one isolated topic or situation. For students to use proportional reasoning skills, especially in situations involving rational numbers or unfamiliar story settings, several prerequisite topics must be mastered, including equivalence, fraction, ratio, and scale (Levin 1999; Weinberg 2002). Until these foundational topics are seen as interconnected concepts rather than as isolated skills, students may learn how to solve a single proportion item but fail to recognize the many proportional instances found in and out of the classroom.

Concepts relating to fractions and measurement are difficult for students in the upper elementary and middle school grades to grasp (Bright and Heoffner 1993; Coburn and Shulte 1986; Levin 1998; Thompson 1994; Thompson and Van de Walle 1985; Witherspoon 1993). As a first-year teacher, I learned the value of relating difficult concepts, especially abstract concepts, to students' real-world experiences. The “How Big Is Your Foot?” project grew out of a question that I asked my eighth-grade students during my first year of teaching. We had just finished studying conversions in the metric system and had begun working with conversions in the customary system. As a warmup question, I asked my students to describe the distance from my desk to the door of the classroom. I wrote their responses on the chalkboard as they called out estimates: 1 meter, 60 meters, 25 feet, 300 inches, 300 centimeters.