Helping students to learn, but most importantly, visualize and retain the concepts of the metric system was the goal that author, Donna Scott-Nusrala set out to accomplish when publishing her first children’s book.
The Morphing Metric Family takes a dull subject and makes it fun and interesting. “U.S. students have struggled with learning metric measurement for some time, proven by poor results on standardized tests.” stated the former-teacher. “Educators, as well, have been challenged with conveying relevance. Many textbooks are so dry and present the information in a manner that doesn’t clearly show the logic.” Scott-
A math and science instructor for 16 years, Scott-Nusrala came up with idea of using a family of superheroes to represent the different units of metric measure when she was faced with teaching metric concepts to her own students. “When I was reviewing the metric material that I needed to teach, I realized that I wasn’t retaining it. I knew I needed to come up with a creative method that my students could get their arms around,” revealed the author. Using the concept of the family unit to make it relevant, a family of superheroes was born and began to evolve in her classroom. Not only are the characters different sizes and named after the varying units, but there are common examples that give the reader a reference by which to remember and relate measurement to every-day life. For example, a kilogram is the mass of a textbook and a centimeter is the width of a finger. “There is no other book out there that presents the metric system in such a clear, concise, visual manner,” added Scott-Nusrala. “My book teaches the names of metric units of measure, abbreviations, order, estimates benchmarks for size and shows several measuring tools.”
The author admits the book’s first concepts began years ago when she started teaching. In 2006, she started the book and has spent the past few years revising and refining it. “This book was quite challenging to write,” admits the author, “because not only was I dealing with a complex, dry subject to begin with but then it also had to be concise. Rhyming was the most difficult part, but that made it succinct.” The Morphing Metric Family is only one of twelve complete manuscripts written by Scott-Nusrala. “I chose this particular book to publish because of the positive feedback I have gotten on it from students, educators and publishers. I definitely feel there is a need out there for it.” In fact, the President of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Henry Kepner, recently stressed the importance of students learning and becoming comfortable with the metric system (NTCM News Bulletin May/June 2009). “I feel my book directly addresses many of the recommendations talked about in his letter,” added the author. “The Morphing Metric Family will help kids of all ages learn and retain the metric system. There is an emphasis on the importance of learning foreign languages in schools. Metrics is the global language of measurement. It crosses most areas of business. As our society becomes more global, it will be necessary to become fluent in metric measurement. They younger we can get kids familiar with it, the better.”
Donna Scott-Nusrala has a B.S. in Elementary Education and an M.A. in Science Education. She has received several teaching awards including the Crystal Apple award from Cleveland’s Plain Dealer Newspaper and special recognition from the Ohio State Senate. The author currently resides in Ohio with her husband, Patrick and their three sons Aaron (18), Dillon (15) and Adam (9). Donna’s son, Aaron, was the Graphics Editor for her book.
