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Show ite alir Salt akf tribune Hands Across The Valley' Needle Pointers W-- 8, W-1- 0 W-- 9 birk Section Sunday Morning, March 5, 1978 Art of (jiu'ssin" Ann Panders W-- 1 W-l.- Post Office's TIIK Place W- -l 1 Page One A Learn metrics from your kids By Ann Kilboum Tracy Crookston, metric specialist, is pictured here with different metric tools she uses in metric class. Lifestyle Writer Like it or not, eventually you are going to have to learn the metric system. Schools have always had mathematics lessons dealing with metrics. Today, a more conceited effort is being made to teach children about the metric system. Granite School District has had metric specialists at individual schools for several years. During the 1977-7- 8 school year, two women have been assigned to teach only metrics to both students and teachers. Tracy Crookston, with an elementary education degree, and Judy Marlin, with a secondary education degice, were asked by the district to work out a program to introduce metrics in the schools. Ms. Crookston explained that the Granite School District applied for and received a federal grant that financed the hiring of individuals to teach metrics. Funding For Year The funding, available for one year, started in August and will continue through the school year. Ms. Crookston and Ms. Marlin were asked to develop a metric format. The women spent one month compiling lessons and completing their teaching program. They then started working with teachers and in classrooms throughout the district. Ten hour workshops for teachers are given on Fridays and Saturdays. During teacher workshops, Ms. Crookston and Ms. Marlin announce the days they will be available to give presentations in school classrooms. One teacher from a school can request the women to present an introduction to metrics to his or her classroom. Or, several teachers from a school can arrange for the women to give their presentation in several classes, Ms. Marlin explained. For a kindergarten class, Ms. Crookston said that basic information on the metric term for mass is given. In higher grades more information is presented to the students. The children catch on very quickly, Ms. Crookston said. After a class one day, we heard a young boy trying to estimate the height of a teacher in metric terms. , He Was Right The boy said he figured the teacher was about two meters tall. And he was right. In developing their teaching program, the women had the help of three We just sort of math consultants. worked out what we thought would be the best way to teach students about metrics, Ms. Marlin said. The four basic metric measures the women discuss in class are length, capacity, mass and temperature. The U.S. is supposed to convert to the metric system in 1980, Ms Crookston said. I doubt if everyone is going to know how to use metrics by then." In high school classes, more specific uses of Bonnie Horne, daughter of the Robert Hornes, checks weight on metric scale. Ms. Crookston helps. metrics are presented. Homemaking classes use metrics for measuring recipe ingredients and baking temperature. Ms. Crookston and Ms. Marlin stand by to offer their assistance. Teacher attitudes can determine the students response to the metric system, according to Ms. Marlin. Many teachers are apprehensive about the metric system, she explained. Foreign Language I can understand their apprehenIt is much like sion, she said. learning a foreign language. And you find that, as in a foreign language, it is much easier for children to learn than it is for adults. One concept the women stress to both teachers and students is to use estimation when working with metrics. We try to avoid mathematical conversions, Ms. Crookston said. As in a foreign language it is much easier to think in that language, rather than trying to translate everything from, say, French to English mentally. Good Response All instruction materials are available to teachers, Ms. Marlin said. And she said she and Ms. Crookston are good. they give to teachers at their workshops. The kit includes metric measuring cups and spoons, a 150 centimeter measuring tape, a 30 centimeter ruler and a celcius thermometer. Teachers also get a handbook compiled by Ms. Crookston and Ms. Marlin. Included in the handbook are suggestions from the women and information taken from other sources of metric instruction. In some cases, after the workshop teachers ask us to come and talk to their classes, she continued, we get to the school, and find that the teacher has marked his or her classroom bulletin board with metric measurements. They are eager to help the children learn about metrics. Ms. Metrics are much easier, Marlin said. Everything is based on units of 10. It is easy to adapt one metric unit to another. There are no fractions to worry about. Ms. Crookston and Ms. Marlin have what they call a survival kit that Games, Activities The handbook has games, activities, work sheets and hints on teaching 1 . metric basics. is of the that One everyone problems is apprehensive about the metric system, Ms. Marlin said. They dont want to try to learn. But, if the concepts are presented correctly, people feel better about learning metrics. If they can see how it works, it is much easier ; for them. she And it isnt that difficult, concluded. 5 to available to help in classrooms throughout the school year. Teacher response to the metric workshops has been good, the women said. The workshops are usually filled. When they come to a workshop, some of the teachers know nothing about metrics, Ms. Crookston said. We give them a test before the workshop starts, and another when it is over. Improvements on the tests are !lllHIIllljllli llll 4 14 13 i ifi rawrwi.f,' fiM ol little finger. According to the specialists, a good way to learn the width of a centimeter is to compare it to the width |