*Do people commonly have bread boxes? (I don't) *Is it reasonable to expect young kids to know how big a bread box is? *Is it unreasonable to expect high school kids to be a little more quantitative? *If you use breadboxes as units of measure, are they standardized in size? (not really)
Walmart sells some that are 15 - 20 L, but they also sell "breadkeepers" only slightly larger than a load of bread (2 L?, I didn't multiply out the dimensions). Would kids confuse breadboxes and breadkeepers? Now that I've asked a bunch of (very leading) questions, let me say it is an incredibly stupid standard that will NOT cause us to catch up with the rest of the world. It is like asking non-farming kids (or farming kids used to tractors) how much land you can plow in a day with a team of oxen. ________________________________ From: "mechtly, eugene a" <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Cc: "mechtly, eugene a" <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, June 10, 2013 6:39:42 PM Subject: [USMA:52909] Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) I stumbled on the NGSS topic while searching for STEM Standards. There are *thousands of words* in the recently-released NGSS, but they contain almost no units of measurement, either SI units or units outside the SI. The sponsors, however, the NRC, NSTA, and the AAAS are of good repute. In one section, the statement is made "... in order to identify something as bigger or smaller than something else - and how much bigger or smaller - a student must appreciate the units used to measure it ..." No units are mentioned, except nearby, the question is asked "Is it bigger than a bread box?" What do you think of the NGSS as a Standard for education of children K-12? How can science, engineering, and technology be taught without incorporating units of measurement? Has the NGSS deliberated evaded the question of SI as the preferred Standard for Units of Measurement in the US? Eugene Mechtly
