---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 15:04:39 -0600 (CST) From: Gene Mechtly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Sandy Berger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Article in SI
Dear Sandy, Thanks for your guidance of March 28 for an article emphasizing SI. I had not recently contemplated reposting in SI of NCTM Web pages of WLME Activities or examples from Standards 2000, but either would be a project I would undertake with enthusiasm if the NCTM is interested. > ... > Please understand that I personally can concur with you completely > and NCTM as an organization can address metrics as often as possible, > but we are not the final say on which unit of measurement will be taught > in the U.S. Understood, Sandy. Local school boards, and the fifty States have the legal authority of determination, but the NCTM has the power of persuasion by good example. SI should be in *first* place in accord with policy declared by the U.S. Congress; that SI is preferred. > Many of us in mathematics education agree with what you are saying. Great, if that means giving *conspicuous preference* to SI! > As long as teachers are accountable for preparing students for high > stakes tests that require a knowledge of the customary measurement > system, we will also be obliged to publish materials that support them > in their efforts. My understanding is that *highest* stakes international tests are in SI. How does the NCTM explain that few U.S. students do well in comparison with students from other countries? Do you have access to the actual problems which involve units of measurement? I have seen only a few, in public media. > Perhaps lobbying the government as actively as possible is the better use of time for all concerned. That is where the change must take place. *Mandatory* use of SI is already required in contracts for federally funded *building* construction. New York, California, and several other major states also mandate SI for *highway* construction. That is an *option* at the federal level. Many of us (myself and some colleagues) are already actively pressing federal agencies to comply with existing U.S. policy preference for SI and with the Executive Order by president Bush (the elder) implementing that policy. Unfortunately, many teachers of units of measurement are not even aware of the Executive Order. > ... > Again, thank you for your comments. I will be looking for the article. > If it is an opinion article, please label it as a submission for the > appropriate department of each journal. > If it is an example of a classroom activity that you have used and how > kids relate to it (infinitely more likely to be used by teachers) then > it should be submitted as a regular manuscript to the appropriate journal > (elementary, middle, or high school). Thanks for this guidance, Sandy. Some of my colleagues might want to submit articles as well. I intend to encourage them to do so. There might develop a set of many articles for your October issue. Which journal(s) in particular would be most appropriate? Do you sometimes print the same set of articles on a particular topic simultaneously in more than one journal? Gene.
