Monograph No. 3: METRIFICATION – ACTIVITIES, RELATIONSHIPS, and HUMOR

METRIFICATION – ACTIVITIES, RELATIONSHIPS, and HUMOR

June 1975

Publication of the Mathematics Council of The Alberta Teachers’ Association

EDITORIAL

“Why didn’t they wait until all of the old-timers had died off before introducing metric units.”

That statement has a negative aspect to it, but you’ll have to agree there also is a lot of humor in it, and humor usually creates a very positive atmosphere.

“I hear, and I forget,
I see, and I remember,
I do, and I understand.”

This statement also contains some negativism; forgetting is usually an undesirable attribute when it relates to teaching and learning. The positive aspect, however, is the development of understanding through activity.

“Your height in centimetres is approximately 100 units greater than your mass in kilograms – if you’re normal:”

If you are motivated to verify this final statement (and most people are — they usually say, “You mean that works for everybody?”), then you will have related unfamiliar metric units to your surroundings – and what could be closer to you than your own body?

The articles in this monograph are based on these three elements: humor, activity and relationship to one’s surroundings. If you are in the process of updating your own knowledge of measurement using metric units, or if you have the task of introducing metrication to your students, be sure to include these three most important elements. The authors have done an excellent job of helping to make your task just a little easier.

Good luck as you do your part to introduce metric units to some of the remaining ten percent of the world’s population.

K. Allen Neufeld

1 – 2

Front Matter

Editorial

K. Allen Neufeld

PART ONE General Considerations

5 – 17

Canada Goes Metric

Harold Don Allen

18 – 22

Teaching Metric Measurement