This webpage is created for EDUC 5324 - Integrating Technology Into Education Course.
Metric Mastery was a Division B event last ran in 2014, which tests the students' ability to quickly and accurately estimate and measure the physical properties of objects in metric units. Properties to be measured can include mass, volume, density, area, force, distance, time, and temperature.
This will usually be a station based event. In the first part of the competition, students will estimate the properties asked for of an object in or in less than 30 seconds, then move on when they are given directions to do so. In the second part, students will usually move back to the same objects with measuring tools, and accurately measure them. In the third part of the competition, students will be given 5 minutes to complete 5 metric unit conversion problems.
The following are the primary properties that will be used in this event. Other properties are possible (e.g. velocity) but these are the ones that will show up most of the time.
Metric Properties
Property
mass
distance
area
volume
density
force
time
temperature
Base Unit
grams (g)
meters (m)
square meters (
)
cubic meters (
)
kilograms per cubic meter (
)
newtons (N)
seconds (s)
degrees Celsius (
)
In the estimation part of the event, students must estimate the measurements of objects provided by the supervisor. There will usually be between 15-25 stations in this part. The estimations will vary among all of the different properties. About two-thirds of the stations should be direct estimation, while one third will require some sort of calculation.
Scoring system for the estimation section of the competition:
In the measurement part, students will physically measure the various properties of objects given. Like the first part, there will be between 15-25 stations, and they will be 2/3 direct measurements and 1/3 calculated measurements. Both students are allowed a non-programmable calculator for this section.
Ex. "Convert 3.598x10^3 picometers to kilometers."
Special Units
Metric Prefixes
Prefix
yotta
zetta
exa
peta
tera
giga
mega
kilo
hecto
deca (also deka)
---
deci
centi
milli
micro
nano
pico
femto
atto
zepto
yocto
Symbol
Y
Z
E
P
T
G
M
k
h
da
---
d
c
m
Multiplier
n
p
f
a
z
y
Make sure to:
Any of these violations will result in a 10 point penalty, each time.
Plastic vernier calipers can be picked up at many hardware stores. Instrument help online: There are many sites available to learning how to use tools such as a micrometer or a vernier caliper. If you use Google to search for a "vernier scale", you will find many usable sites.
A good way to practice this event is to just estimate and measure everything in sight. Make sure to give yourself units that objects wouldn't usually be measured in (e.g. a door in cm and a doorknob in km) and hard properties (e.g. density, mass, force, etc.)!