Over twenty years ago, an article by Richard Phelps addressed the benefits of the United States (US) educational system carrying out a complete adoption of the metric system of measurement. Today we find that the US is still in the same position in teaching both measurement systems in schools, which is a financial drain. This study sought to…

On November 16, 2018, at the 26th meeting of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), a resolution was adopted that introduced historical changes into the International System of Units (SI). This decision, effective from May 20, 2019, established that the SI units of measurement will be defined by means of a set of seven fixed…

The aim of this study was to examine prospective science teachers' knowledge of and difficulties with the metric unit conversion. The participants of the study were 73 prospective science teachers. In this qualitative study, a measurement test with 14 questions was administered to the participants to examine their knowledge of and difficulties…

The United States is one of only three countries in the world that remain uncommitted to the metric system. Perhaps to policymakers the decision to hang on to miles, pounds, and gallons is one of tradition. However, as a physics teacher I have seen firsthand how growing up with U.S. Customary Units (commonly called by the pseudonym "British…

Plans are under way to redefine the International System of Units (SI) around 2018. The new SI specifies the values of certain physical constants to define units. This article explains the new SI in order to provide a resource for high school teachers as well as for advanced students already familiar with the pre-2018 SI.

In CSCL studies, language is often foregrounded as the primary resource for engaging in collaborative learning, while the body is more often positioned as a secondary resource. There is, however, a growing interest in the body as a resource in learning and collaboration in and outside CSCL. In this paper, we present, analyse, and discuss how two…

Vignette design has been largely neglected in anchoring vignette studies. This study aimed to contribute to the science of vignette design by developing and evaluating vignettes for measuring vision in rural China. Cognitive interviews were conducted among 36 participants in a Chinese middle school. The respondents either directly evaluated vision…

Since much of SI is based on physics and mathematics, physics teachers have the background to teach SI. We present this review and summary in a series of SI notes in order to help teachers answer many questions about the SI that often are, or should be, asked (for example, in workshops for teachers). SI should not be considered a jargon to set…

This paper reports results of a design experiment regarding young children's concepts of mass measurement. The research built on an earlier study in which a framework of "growth points" in early mathematics learning and a related, task-based, one-to-one interview to assess children's understanding of the measurement of mass…

This study examined students' accuracy of measurement estimation for linear distances, different units of measure, task context, and the relationship between accuracy estimation and logical thinking. Middle school students completed a series of tasks that included estimating the length of various objects in different contexts and completed a test…

Following a sociocultural perspective, this study investigates how students who have grown up using the SI (Systeme International d'Unites) (metric) or US customary (USC) systems of units for everyday use differ in their knowledge of scale and measurement. Student groups were similar in terms of socioeconomic status, curriculum, native language…

This article reviews the history of the metric system, from a proposal of a sixteenth-century mathematician to its implementation in Revolutionary France some 200 years later. Recent developments in the metric system are also discussed.

Business discusses the practicalities of metrication. (Editor)