Learning the Metric System
Metrics and tall buildings
Students at Peninsula Heritage School in Rolling Hills Estates built a replica of New York's Empire State Building, learning to compute measurements using the Metric System. Guests from the American Society of Civil Engineers assisted students and explained the wide usage of the system that is preferred in fields such as science, medicine and technology. The building profession uses U.S. customary units, though architects working internationally are increasingly adapting to the metric system.Students outlined a 5-by-15-meter version of the famous skyscraper on their playground and built colorful replicas using blocks. The event coincided with National Metric Week, which ended Oct. 12.