Yes, the "Measurement and Data" standards for grades K-5 seem to give
equal weight to metric and non-metric units. Interestingly, I saw little
in those about conversion between the two! Most (or all) "conversions"
had to do with inches to feet and centimeters to meters, or the like.
Jim
On 2014-05-16 10:24, mechtly, eugene a wrote:
Jim (Frysinger),
Do the “new” Common Core Standards award equal value to (1) SI Units of
Measurement and to (2) unit outside the SI which are now *defined* as awkward
multiples of SI Units?
We agree that this teaching of both (of "buggy-whip units” in addition to SI
Units) is a disaster for the education of youths in the US with respect to
competition with youths educated in other countries.
Years ago, I printed a copy of the original “Common Core State Standards” but I
have yet to examine the “new” Common Core Standards in detail. I begin that
examination later this morning.
Gene Mechtly.
On May 15, 2014, at 8:16 PM, James <[email protected]> wrote:
I've just taken a look at the background on the development of the new Common
Core Standards for education in the United States.
Contrary to myth, this is not a federal program being "shoved down the throats"
of the states and their citizens. Rather, representatives from 48 states devised the
Common Core; 44 states have adopted it so far. In fact, looking at a list of the
participants, I found -- in addition to states' representatives -- many professional
national organizations but not a single one from the federal government. If any of the
latter were there, I missed them.
Contrary to another myth, the Common Core provides no curricula. It is up to
each state, local education system, and individual teacher to devise curricula
to attain the specified standard knowledge for each grade and within each
domain.
Due to my military background, which involved many moves from one state to
another, I applaud a commonality among states in the standards for each grade
level. This avoids having the same standard being applied in one grade in one
state but a different grade in a different state. The latter greatly impedes
the education of students who move from one state to another during their
school years. That risks missing a concept entirely while being taught another
one for the second year in a row.
The focus of my detailed inspection was on the Mathematics Standards, in particular the
domain of "Measurement and Data". That is due to my interest in metrology. That
domain is specifically covered in grades Kindergarten through five. Of course, it is the
underlying basis for parallel domains and for domains addressed for grades 6 through 12.
I found the sequence of standards in this domain to be utterly logical and I deem them to be attainable.
Unlike some early "new math" reforms, this one is not what I would call "fuzzy math" nor
does it contain esoteric abstract concepts. Rather, it is well grounded with hands-on learning. (In math
education, the objects used to provide such grounding are called "manipulatives".)
The "Measurement and Data" domain can be seen, broken down by grade level, at
http://www.corestandards.org/read-the-standards/
See also:
http://www.corestandards.org/other-resources/key-shifts-in-mathematics/
My one concern is that we are still teaching two "systems" of units -- metric
and non-metric. On a positive note, though, the metric system is included in all of those
six levels (K-5). This is a greater presence of SI in education standards than I have
seen before. Lorelle Young and I spoke with a representative of the National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) years ago to encourage them to do this. We were not very
successful.
The good news is, the organization(s) behind this consider it a work in
progress. There is still time, once the US gives up its buggy-whip units of
measurement, to streamline the standards by omitting them and thus provide more
time for learning metric units. One cautionary note, however -- the concept of
common and vulgar (non-decimal) fractions must still be taught!
As a reminder, I looked specifically at the "Measurements and Data" domain. I
did not look (very deeply) at the other domains in the Mathematics Standards.
Jim Frysinger
--
James R. Frysinger
632 Stoney Point Mountain Road
Doyle TN 38559-3030
(C) 931.212.0267
(H) 931.657.3107
(F) 931.657.3108
