4 ms·
How about measuring distance using the metric system. How tall are you? How long is your hair? (in metres) How big is this room? How far is it to your house?
by dxjones 17y ago
How about measuring distance using the metric system.
How tall are you? How long is your hair? (in metres)
How big is this room? How far is it to your house?
They should be able to convert from being 127 cm tall
to being 1.27 metres tall, and then be able to run around
measuring things that are a fraction of a metre
and multiple metres.
A good concept to add would be understanding things in multiples of ten. For instance, once they know it is 1.5 kilometres (1500 m) from their house to the school, they can use their understanding of decimals to tell them it would take roughly 1000 kids like them laid end-to-end on the sidewalk to cover the distance from their house to their school. ... They know this just from shifting the decimal point when comparing 1500 m to 1.27 m. If you are lucky, they will even think about this lesson on their walk home!
(roughly 1000 is a better estimate than 100 or 10,000
and in many situations, that kind of estimate is good enough)
- stcredzero 17y agoGetting the order of magnitude right is actually a problem for some folks. I remember a pilot in Eve thinking that his 10,000 km/s speed in real-space could actually make a significant dent in distances measured in parsecs. (Not in under a minute!)
- rkowalick 17y agoThe problem with using the metric system in the US is that it really isn't applicable to most real life situations and feels quite artificial. I recall having that feeling as a child while being taught the metric system. It's funny that they show you the superb benefits of the metric system very early and when it is most apparant while doing basic arithmetic, yet you live in a country where regular use of the metric just can't happen.
- skwiddor 17y ago> it really isn't applicable to most real life situations the irony is that as 1 liter of water weighs 1 kilogram estimates of various things is made much easier. I've often used that relation to my benefit.
- ken 17y agoI don't disagree that the metric system is simpler, but that's maybe not the best example, because the U.S. system has a similarly simple water volume-weight equivalence, and it even has a catchy saying: "A pint's a pound, the world around". :-)