Metric System

[hunter63]

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[randyt]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[WolfVanZandt]

Of course, y'know, NASA uses metric now - they have to a large extent since the early 90s. But then, we did put guys on the moon using the old "you have to use a different n-place decimal factor to change from any unit to any other unit". It does show our ability to work using extremely irritating unnecessary things instead of just getting rid of them.

[1stimestar]

Hahhaha where is that?

[crashdive123]

Of course, y'know, NASA uses metric now - they have to a large extent since the early 90s. But then, we did put guys on the moon using the old "you have to use a different n-place decimal factor to change from any unit to any other unit". It does show our ability to work using extremely irritating unnecessary things instead of just getting rid of them.

Which is exactly why they aren't going back t the moon any time soon.

[Rick]

They also did it using slide rules. Just sayin'.......

[hunter63]

There is more technology in a $5 buck Hallmark singing Birthday card, than existed in the world, in 1963...or so I been told.

I'm thinking that sign was from a world cup crowd.

[Faiaoga]

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2 types of countries:

1. Those who use the Metric System.
2. Those who fail to teach their students basic math and science concepts.

Actually, as a Peace Corps volunteer science teacher in Western Samoa long ago, I had to wrestle with THREE systems: metric (newly adopted as the official standard), old British Imperial (the system parents had grown up with), and USA customary (found on labels of some imported goods in stores, That made for some interesting confusion!

"Faiaoga, how can we learn your advanced, superior Western civilization when you papalagi (outsiders) cannot even agree on how to measure things?"

[Faiaoga]

Perhaps the USA can form a special non-metric international union, together with Burma and Liberia.

[Rick]

There is more technology in a $5 buck Hallmark singing Birthday card

There's more smarts in that card than some people I've seen too. Just today I watched a lady stand in front of a door waiting for it to open. DIRECTLY in front of her nose was a sign that said, Automatic Door. Push button on wall to open. After about 20 seconds she just gave the door a shove and pushed through. Gave me a chuckle.

[WolfVanZandt]

They also did it using slide rules. Just sayin'.......

Funny. School kids now "have to" know how to use calculators - when I was there I had to know how to use a slide rule. Ain't no comparison.

[Faiaoga]

Funny. School kids now "have to" know how to use calculators - when I was there I had to know how to use a slide rule. Ain't no comparison.

Calculator or slide rule, the big problem is that few students are taught to think and to use correct measurements. We constantly see people confusing work and power, mass and density - these are examples of sloppy thinking and not using correct terms. We also see people unable to give answers to the correct level of precision or to round off calculated values.

Attacks on the use of the metric system are only attempts to avoid using clear scientific terms and good reasoning.

[kyratshooter]

Oddly enough, all of our customary units used in the US are calculations based on the metric standards kept in Washington DC bureau of weights and measures.

Been that way since the Civil War.

The greatest confusion I run into is the UK gallons compared to US gallons. I used to think they were getting some fantastic mileage out of their vehicles over there until I realized they had an extra quart in their gallon.

[Faiaoga]

Oddly enough, all of our customary units used in the US are calculations based on the metric standards kept in Washington DC bureau of weights and measures.

Been that way since the Civil War.

The greatest confusion I run into is the UK gallons compared to US gallons. I used to think they were getting some fantastic mileage out of their vehicles over there until I realized they had an extra quart in their gallon.

Right On While living with a Samoan family, I was asked to bring home a gallon of kerosene - they were upset when I brought them a small USA gallon instead of a "real" gallon - Imperial gallon.

Faiaoga (washed up and worn out science teacher) :44:

[Batch]

I'll say this, everyone that says the metric system is hard, probably has no grasp of our fraction system.

I have to do fractions to decimal all the time. Then you have the guy that says he has a 66" X 5'6" cabinet. Those go down as 5.5' and 66 in software. But, yeah the metric system is way too consistent and logical to make sense.

[WolfVanZandt]

The difference between calculator and slide rule is, to use a calculator, you don't have to understand how it works. The same can be said for the slide rule but, in reality, the way you learn to use a slide rule, you know how it works and that includes things like basic arithmetic operation, logarithms, and scientific notation and scaling.

I'm an educator - I've been a job readiness teacher for several years and I've tutored informally for longer, and now tutor formally, and I don't like the current system of education. It primarily teaches by rote and it doesn't teach the basics. People think that reading, writing, and arithmetic are the basics but those are second tier topics. What needs to be taught are observational skills, problem solving skills, communication skills (and you can include reading, writing, and arithmetic in that as extensions), and survival skills (and by that I mean health - physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual - how to maintain one's own well-being and the well-being of those in their sphere of influence.) I'm also a peripatetic educator. Rote learning is boring and ineffective. Education should consist primarily of experiential learning supplemented by text materials. How much more effective and exciting would learning be if it were field trips, laboratory demonstrations, projects, and such? And how much more effective it would be if the basics of how to learn (observation, problem solving, communication, and fitness) were mastered first?

[Tokwan]

Hahahahaha..good one....Malaysia used the old British Imperial system till about the late 60s or early 70s. That was the inches, feet, yard, furlongs, acre, miles etc. After we start using the Metric System...being mm, cm, metres, kilometers etc..I remeber having a tough time mentally calculating 1 mile is equivalent to 1.6 km....so how do I adapt...remembering that 60 miles =100 km..160km =100miles...so that what made me a bike freak , speeding in the country and highways.
I am still confused about my weight and height in metric and imperial....I remember my height in imperial...being 5'11"....but my weight in metric..being 80kilograms....a bit confusing...In weight I use kg instead of pounds.

[WolfVanZandt]

I have a section on my website where I talk about naturally occurring standards, like pacing off distances and using a middle knuckle as a measure of length. The funny thing is that I'm a proponent of the metric system and I was working out standards for the regular old foot, gallon, pound stuff. I'll have to refigure things in metric.

[Rick]

So that's why folks keep givin' me the middle knuckle. They are just measuring stuff. Well, who knew?

[Faiaoga]

I have a section on my website where I talk about naturally occurring standards, like pacing off distances and using a middle knuckle as a measure of length. The funny thing is that I'm a proponent of the metric system and I was working out standards for the regular old foot, gallon, pound stuff. I'll have to refigure things in metric.

I hope you realize that a quality education should only be judged by how well students perform on standardized tests If something cannot be measured by NCLB. RTTT, SAT. ACT or some
other combination of letters and put on a bubble sheet with a Number 2 pencil, then that knowledge or skill is useless, At leastthat is what I have been told in many workshops by many consultants hired by school districts Faiaoga (worn out, washed up, misfit troublemaker schoolteacher)

Would you share with us the address of your website, please?