The Learning Journey

Learning Measurement- what are we trying to measure anyway?

My niece in grade2 attending a local Indonesian school is currently learning measurement conversion from meters to centimeters. My daughter who is also in grade 2 is NOT learning how to convert metres to centimeters, and she goes to an international school. ‘What’? My relatives say ‘Why is she not learning this important skill in grade 2, AND she goes to an international school’? I argue that first of all a 7 year old is still coming to grips with what a metre IS. What does a metre mean to the life a 7 year old? My daughter might be able to talk metres but to actually apply it to something that has meaning or relevance is another story. My feeling is that the local school, with all best intentions I’m sure, is teaching this skill without making connections between these measurements and the world in which we move about. This was clearly evident just by asking my cousin. All she really learnt was that by adding a couple of zeros to the end ‘converted’ the measurement from metres to centimeters. So what real significance is this process of memorization? I am generalizing here of course, I mean the teacher might have engaged the learners outside of the classroom and made real life connections with these units of measurements, but I very much doubt it. Her parents are quite proud of her that she knows how to convert metres to centimeters and when it comes to the test, she gets a perfect score. My question of WHY she learnt is never asked. I did not want to sound condescending.