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Metric Menu |
Converting Within the Metric System- Some people find the metric system to be mysterious. That's probably because they aren't familiar with it, so they are afraid of it. A student will often say, "I understand feet and inches and quarts and pounds, but I don't understand grams and kilometers." Well, the metric system is much easier to use than the English system. The English system is arbitrary. The length of a "foot," for example, was derived way back in the past by choosing the length of a particular king's foot as one "foot!" And ever after the "foot" has been the good king's foot. How much sense does this make? None. It's totally arbitrary. But if you grew up learning the English system, you have become very familiar with the length of a "foot." That's why it seems easy to us. The metric system is different and much easier to work with. It uses prefixes in factors of 10 to convert from one unit to another. Once you know how these factors are related on the metric number line, you will easily be able to convert from one unit to another by simply moving decimals within the number. The PowerPoint tutorial in this section will help you understand the metric number line. You won't have to worry about which unit is larger or smaller, and you won't have to worry about whether you should multiply or divide. You will simply be able to move the decimal within the number to make your conversion. It's a very efficient way to convert and after going through the tutorial you'll understand how to do it. Click on the first link in the menu above, the "Metric Number Line Tutorial," to learn how to use the metric number line. When you think you understand it, go through the second item on the menu, the "Metric Dosage Tutorial." When you understand both the tutorials and all the problems on the worksheet, you will be ready to take the "Metric Number Line pretest." |