The Power of 10s
second clue can be found at the large
object on the quad that is about 7 meters tall.” That clue might be followed
by another sending students to a 1-liter
drink container in the cafeteria.
Closest to the pin. A representative
from each grade uses a golf putter
to get as close as possible to a flag
or cone. The distance is measured
in centimeters instead of the more
traditional inches.
Marshmallow toss.
Students toss mini
marshmallows into
large coolers, and
whoever gets the
most marshmallows in the cooler—
measured in grams—is the winner.
Countdowns. This year, install a countdown to 10/10/10 widget on the
school website and download free
u.S. National Metric Day is cel- ebrated every year on October 10. After all, what better day
than 10/10 to celebrate the international
decimal system. This year, the holiday
is taken to the power of 10, so to speak,
because the year tags on an extra 10.
Each year I begin my eighth grade
physical science class with a unit on
measurement. We introduce the metric system to our students in elementary school, but because the system is
rarely used in the United States, most
students have forgotten it by the time
they reach middle school. I think it’s
important that students understand
the metric system because it is the
language of science. So, with creative
inspiration from some metrics websites (see Resources on page 37), our
science department has tried to raise
metric awareness. Here are a few
of our favorite schoolwide and
classroom activities:
Guess the metric mass of a
giant jar of jelly beans. Instead
of counting and estimating
the number of beans or can-
dies in a jar, we tell students
the approximate mass of one
jelly bean and ask them to estimate
the total mass in kilograms and grams
without going over. The winner is
named Metric Ruler and gets all the
candy in the jar and a paper crown at
an all-school assembly. Amazingly, the
winner usually comes within 10 grams
of the actual mass.
Metric scavenger hunt.
All the clues in this
unique scavenger hunt
involve a description in
metric units. For example,
the first clue might say
something like: “The
apps and widgets on classroom com-
puters and laptops. You can also show
students how to download free count-
down apps on their mobile devices.
is TOCkPHOTO.COM/iMabase is TOCkPHOTO.COM/Cglade is TOCkPHOTO.COM/luCielang is TOCkPHOTO.COM/ sannie32 is TOCkPHOTO.COM/exi5
Powers of Ten. Show students the 1968
short documentary film The Powers
of Ten, which depicts the scale of the
universe in factors of 10. Find the
original 1968 version at www.powers
of10.com.
By Joanne Barrett
