Educator Guide: The Metric System Has Gained New Prefixes

January 14, 2023

A photo of six old fashioned golden weight in a line from the smallest weight to the left and the biggest weight on the right, all on a black background — To handle an exponential growth in data, the metric system is getting its first update in three decades Based on the measuring system's new prefixes, Earth’s mass is about six ronnagrams. That’s a six followed by 27 zeroes.

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About this guide

The metric system has gotten an upgrade! In this guide, students will learn about new measurement prefixes, work with those prefixes in metric conversions and create their own units of measure.

This Guide Includes:

New prefixes for the metric system

Students will answer questions about a Science News article that explores new prefixes for the metric system. A version of the article, “The metric system gains new prefixes,” appears in the January 14, 2023 issue of Science News.

Measuring up with metric prefixes

Students will review prefixes and their meanings, learn about the metric system’s newest prefixes and apply the definitions in metric conversions. Learning Outcomes: Proportion and scale, measurement and dimensional analysis, a deeper understanding of the metric prefixes.

Create your own unit of measure

In this quick activity, students will create their own unit of length to measure something in the classroom and use principles of dimensional analysis to convert their measurement to a partner’s unit. Learning Outcomes: Units of measurement, unit conversion.