The Ken and Barbie assignment requires students to determine what the measurements of the dolls would be if they were life-sized people. Students also compare Barbie's measurements with a composite measurement drawn from all the girls in six of Ms. Dunn's eighth-grade math classes, and Ken's measurements with certain measurements from the eighth-grade boys. This assignment requires students to measure accurately and to analyze, as well as to design a spread sheet and read a bar graph. Information about volume, proportion, and ratio are also taught. And, not insignificantly, the assignment challenges image-conscious eighth-graders to rethink their notion of appropriate body size: Barbie's feet are so small that a real person, with comparable dimensions, wouldn't be able to walk.