Math lesson: Introduce students to the metric system
For today’ s Math lesson, the MTB MLE teacher is supposed to introduce her students to the metric system. She wants to be sure that her students understand this new system so they can use it correctly.
The teacher realizes that her students already know about measuring because people in their community have had their own measuring system for a long time. The students have often seen people use their fingers, forearms, footsteps, pieces of bamboo and other things to measure objects of all sizes. They already know many of the MT words that people in their community use to describe different lengths, sizes and weights.
So the teacher does not start the lesson by handing out metric rulers and telling students to measure millimetres and centimetres. Instead, she divides the students into teams and assigns each team one of the traditional ways of measuring. She tells them to practice that way of measuring so they can demonstrate it for the rest of the class.
After all the teams have finished their demonstrations, the teacher asks questions such as these: In our community, what is the best way to measure things that are very small, like your fingernail? What word do we use to talk about something that small? What is the best way to measure things that are very long, like a vegetable garden? What words do we use to talk about something that size?
The teacher encourages her students to talk together and then share their answers. And then she introduces the metric system because now she can use the students’ knowledge about traditional ways of measuring to help them understand the new system.
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