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Teaching the metric system
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here to see our selection of Teaching the metric system.
 Aside
from taking measurements and converting them over to the metric
system the teacher can move on to other ways of teaching
the metric system.
For temperatures, the school nurse may be able to provide sterilized
thermometers for your class. Have your students read the Celsius
room temperature and record it both inside and outside. Have your
students write in words how the different temperatures feel to them.
No matter what age group, when teaching the metric system, this
rhyme is helpful as a frame of reference for temperatures:
Thirty is hot
Twenty is nice
Ten is chilly
Zero is ice
· Suggestions for lessons in teaching the metric system
that can fit any subject matter or level of study. Here are some
examples:
· Teaching the metric system in Mathematics:
From a unit on decimals reproduce two arithmetic problems. Have
your students add the columns. Then discuss which problem is easier
for them to solve. Have your students explain their answers. –This
could also evolve into a writing assignment. Develop problems which
demonstrate computation with decimal fractions as opposed to vulgar
fractions, and the ease with which this can be done.
· Teaching the metric system in Language Arts/English:
Write stories using metric units to describe daily activities. Create
a glossary for your students of metric units for the average person
working with metric units. List some things that can be found in
the home/marketplace that display metric units. Have the students
write essays on the advantages of using the metric system, these
they can submit to the school paper. Have the essays include economic,
social, educational, and psychological aspects of the metric system.
Hold class competitions for the best metric poems, slogans, jokes,
or limericks.
· Teaching the metric system in Art:
Design posters that show the advantages of the metric system, or
that list rules for metric usage, etc. These posters can be posted
in class to reinforce teaching the metric system. Another idea is
to have the students create a metric logo for the United States.
Have the students design a mobile, integrating metric units and
sizes in the design.
· Teaching the metric system in Social Studies:
Teaching the metric system in Social Studies class is easiest if
you first make a time line that shows significant developments in
the systems of weights and measures throughout history. Then describe
major figures in history that influenced the development of metric
weights and measures. Then as you teach them the metric system,
have the students research the uses of the metric system in different
industries and professions such as medicine, architecture, science,
construction, the Global Positioning System, and so on. Have the
students choose one of these as a topic and write essays on how,
for example: medicine relates to the metric system. With these essays
you will be able to assess how well your students understand the
metric system.
Discuss teaching ideas, lesson plans, classroom
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