Metric Conversion

Objective
Students will be able to use their understanding of metric conversions to

correctly create solutions to questions related to basic physical quantities.
Big Idea
Metric conversions are convenient because they use powers of ten.
Warm Up
5 MINUTES
Dimensional Analysis is one of the most common stumbling blocks for high school
students in physics science. In this lesson I give students an opportunity to interact with
a tutorial that demonstrates two methods to address metric conversions: the metric
ladder and the general formula for conversions. I also explain that scientists use
multiple methods to address the same problem based on the constraints of a specific
task.
At the beginning of each lesson, I have a quick Bell ringer Activity to get students
focused on the tasks for today's lesson. There is a slide with the date, the objective and
an additional prompt projected on the interactive whiteboard with a red label that says
"COPY THIS" in the top left hand corner. Sometimes the additional prompt is a BIG
IDEA for the lesson, or the Quote of the Day or a Quick Fact from current events that is
related to the lesson. The red label helps my students easily interact with the
information as soon as they enter the room and avoids losing transition time as students
enter the classroom.
The BIG IDEA for today is that metric conversions are convenient because they use
powers of ten. I choose this type of starter activity because it is aligned to positive habits
of work and mind. The BIG IDEA helps students to make connections between the
properties of powers of ten they have learned in mathematics and the metric
conversions they leverage in physics class. I am concerned with the level of ownership
that students take over their learning outcomes, and believe that students should have
access to the enduring understandings within a unit of lessons.
Bell ringer Activity Metric Conversions

COLLAPSE
Video Notes with Pause Points

15 MINUTES
Reiterating the Importance of Units
Within this lesson, I introduce two methods for metric conversions. I have included a set
of notes that I lead at the interactive whiteboard in the front of the room for this section
below. This part of the lesson focuses on using powers of ten to convert from one unit to
another. For the first ten minutes, I play the notes at the front of the room on the
interactive whiteboard for the entire class and pause at the pause points
described here.
Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.
During the first ten minutes students take notes in their notebooks. I ask
students if they have any questions or concerns about the methods discussed
in the video and have a whole class discussion for 2-4 minutes. During the
last minute of this section of the lesson, I email these notes to the entire class
so that students can watch, pause and replay these notes at their desired
speed outside of class. During the next section, students will be given a set of
practice problems to complete in pairs.
Sample Pause Points for Metric Conversion Screencast

Metric Practice
45 MINUTES
Independent Work Stations
For the first five minutes of this section, I lead an Example Problem related to
metric conversions on the interactive whiteboard. I illicit student responses for
each step in the problem then add annotations to explain each step in the
solution. I then circulate the room while students copy the steps and the
annotations into their notebooks. While I do so, I ask students to make
connections between the annotations of the solution steps and the method of
their choice for completing the additional practice problems.
After 10 minutes have elapsed or I have circulated my entire classroom,

whichever comes first, I ask the class if they can identify other units for
physical quantities. For example, I ask them to describe distances; many
students respond by saying that city blocks serve as a unit of measurement.
We then talk about the limitations of the metric ladder for converting between
city blocks and meters, which circles back to why scientists develop multiple
ways to solve problems. In the case of converting between city blocks and
meters, the general formula for conversions can be used for converting
between metric units and non-metric units.
Making sure to tease out the idea that while metric units are more convenient
because of how easy it is to manipulate powers of ten, many professional
fields within the United States use English units that have to be converted
when communicating to other scientists around the world.
In this section, I give students 25 minutes to complete the Station Work

Practice Activity that gives them the opportunity to make connections to metric
conversions and the English units from their everyday lives (MP4). I circulate
and provide additional problems from the Metric Conversions Packet to give
students at different levels of understanding the opportunity to practice both
methods of metric conversions. I also have Quick Checks available in the
extras bin at the front of my room for students who complete all of the
problems provided during this activity before the 25 minutes have elapsed. I
have shared two examples of student work here and here that show two of the
ways that students are assessed during this lesson. To ensure that students
have a basic structure for this activity, I ask that groups of students be no
larger than four and that students remain on task during this activity because
the choice of location and team make-up is entirely up to the students.
Example Problem Metric Conversions
Student Work on Metric Prefixes
Station Work Practice for Metric Conversions
Metric Conversions Student White Board.jpg
Metric Conversions Packet
Physics Quick Check on Metric Conversions

COLLAPSE
Student Perspectives on Metric Conversions
10 MINUTES
I want students to consider multiple viewpoints on topics within physics and to
use the information they gather from their peers to broaden their
understanding of a topic. I focus on collaboration and include a peer editing
process within this unit to encourage students to use mathematical thinking
and logic to make decisive claims. I want students to learn to ask themselves
questions like, "Can I prove it?", "Who cares?" or "Who says so?" to extend
their current understanding beyond standard questions.
While students are not necessarily asking these particular questions here in
this lesson, I do ask them to seek out the significance of metric conversions
and look at how we know what we claim to know about them. I do not want
students to follow steps, box a solution and stop exploring alternative routes to
attaining the same or similar results. Students instead ask their peers to
explain how to move from one step in their solution to another, making certain
that their logic is aligned to the mathematical reasoning I demoed in the
guided video notes.(SP2)(MP3)
Students discuss their practice problems with their station partners and edit
their peer's work using a Rubric. I keep these rubrics in an organizer drawer
labeled "extras" in the front of the room. I typically distribute them while
students are answering their practice problems, but I also allow resource
managers to grab them from the front of the room. Students use the
communication and representation rows of this rubric. They are quite familiar
with this rubric because it spirals out for all of the courses in physical science
that they take throughout their four years of high school.
Rubric for Physics Assessments

COLLAPSE
Closure
10 MINUTES
I provide students with an Exit Slip with a set of writing prompts for a routine called
compass points, where students are tasked with identifying key ideas, enduring
understandings, challenges, puzzles and suggestions associated with today's topic. I
chose this routine because it helps me to visualize the underlying challenges behind
gaps in student understanding of conversions. I find that while conversions are taught
much earlier in students' academic careers, conversions sometimes remain challenging
to students regardless of proficiency level.
To wrap up the lesson, I remind students that I will return the exit slips and review the
feedback from their exit slips at the beginning of our next class.
Exit Slip:Compass Points Metric Conversions

Metric Conversion

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Objective

Students will be able to use their understanding of metric conversions to

Bell ringer Activity Metric Conversions

Video Notes with Pause Points

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

Sample Pause Points for Metric Conversion Screencast

After 10 minutes have elapsed or I have circulated my entire classroom,

In this section, I give students 25 minutes to complete the Station Work

Example Problem Metric Conversions

Student Work on Metric Prefixes

Station Work Practice for Metric Conversions

Metric Conversions Student White Board.jpg

Metric Conversions Packet

Physics Quick Check on Metric Conversions

Rubric for Physics Assessments

Exit Slip:Compass Points Metric Conversions

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