To write this post I wanted to know since when kilmeters (km) and kilograms (kg) were used and where the definition came from ! I learned a lot ! I tell you Blogging enlarges your general knowledge ! First I learned that both are "SI"s and is an abbreviation of " International System of Units". Kilograms and Kilometers were used already from 1791 onwards and today the whole world uses it except the USA. In the UK miles and pounds is in a form of transition, the elderly people still use miles, while the young generation learns km and kgs at school.
My son of course learned it too. Unfortunately he was the victim of a school teaching reform, which made everything more complicated. One day I realized that he didn't know what a km or a kg meant except the two letters k and m and k and g. To him one kg rice and one kg sugar were two different things, one was sugar and one was rice that the weight was the same was another thing. The school didn't use a visual teaching but only an "abstract" one.
I was horrified and angry ! I complained to the director but was told that yes before they showed children sugar and rice and weighed them on a balance so that they could see that a kg was the same weight for sugar and rice.
What did we do ? I took rice, sugar, flour and whatever I could find in my storage, and let him put it on a balance so that he realized that all of the products showed 1 kg !
It was the same with the kilometers ! Mr. G. put his son in the car and drove 1 km from our house to the bakery. Then two km from our house to another point he knew. So he learned that a km was a thing to measure the distance.
I probably wasn't the only parent who complained because the teaching reform was reformed again and today the children have a visual teaching again !
more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday
I am old school so I can work in both. My kitchen scales show pounds, ounces and grammes and kg's. My tape measure shows inches and cm's.
ReplyDeleteI don't worry about distance I just go here there and everywhere and not too far anywhere.
Yes kilometers/kilometres are used since the Napoleonic time.
ReplyDeleteThe way you taught your son the meaning of kilogram and kilometre is great. Good on you.
Have a great week, Gattina!
Wil, ABCW Team
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ReplyDeleteWe went metric in 70's. I learned it quickly because I had to teach it. You did well teaching the right way...Hands on is the best way to learn anything.
ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting as you and your son grew up with metric. Today I listened online to an Australian who is living in New York. He is young and has no knowledge of Fahrenheit and he gets so annoyed at the stupidity of Fahrenheit.
ReplyDeleteI am a 'tweenie had both in my education and living in different parts of the world helps or confuses whichever way you look at it! Good job for Grandparents that what I say!
ReplyDeleteWren x
I wish I was taught (here in the US) how to measure in kilometers because visiting different countries is so confusing. I definitely need a visual guide, like a map! {:-Deb
ReplyDeleteI'd be lost if I had to measure anything in grams...
ReplyDeleteEverything ... in education and elsewhere ... seems to go around in circles.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Canada measures in kilometres and kilograms but it is confusing when we travel to the United States where they do not.
ReplyDeleteIf you think about it, our system here in the US is really pretty ridiculous with its pints, quarts, ounces, pounds and miles! I wonder why we didn't changes to metrics long ago!
ReplyDeleteGood way to teach your son! Many people, myself included, need to actually see something to understand, rather than an abstract definition!
Good method to help children understand weight and distance. Not sure how the teachers thought young children would understand abstract ideas.
ReplyDeleteComing from Canada did help me some in nursing school in the states where we had to learn the metric system. Using both can be kind of confusing!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I do like my miles and pounds. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's all Greek to me!
ReplyDelete=)
I explained early on to my children that a cup of milk was different from a cup of flour. My husband still doesn't get it!!
ReplyDeleteI still think in inches and pounds. Hard to change.
ReplyDeleteMy knowledge keeps expanding too from blogging... I never knew the metric system dated back to 1791.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important for kids to have things broken down visually for them!
Thanks for linking to the letter "K".
A+