Introducing Volume

 

Hello All and Happy Thanksgiving! While we're enjoying lots of yummy food and the company of family, I've decided to focus this week on the concept of volume. Learning about volume cane be difficult for students to learn due to the 3-D model of these shapes and actually understanding what volume is, conceptually. I found some great tips on how to teach about volume via the website:
(http://loveoflearningblog.blogspot.com/2018/06/5-tips-for-teaching-volume.html utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest&utm_campaign=tailwind_tribes&utm_content=tribes&utm_term=375253610_12165274_204676 ) 
According to the site, some tips to teach volume include:

1. "Teach all of the different ways to find volume and let students choose the one that works best for them." I  specifically liked the visual that it provided (below). 

2." Hands-on practice is a must!" The site exlapined how they went through the concepts of different dimensions - 1D, 2D, 3D- to teach about volume and then allowed students to figure out the differences by using unified cubes to fill different containers and figure out the volumes.

3. "Scaffold instruction when teaching volume of composite figures." Below is an example of how to scaffold instruction while teaching volume of composite figures. The teacher first had the students to figure out all the sides first, of each individual shape. This was because she noticed her students just tended to multiply whatever numbers they saw on the problem, without realizing if the numbers corresponded to the correct height, length or width. After this crucial step, the students could then add the figures together and find the volume of the composite figure. 

4. "Allow students to work in partners" This is great because it can encourage students to figire out different ways to arrive at the solution and generate conversation about the assuagement between classmates

5. "Have some fun!" The teacher provided a great way to make the lesson enjoyable. It's a coloring activity - who doesn't like coloring!?- by figuring out the volume of each section of it.

These were some very useful tips, that I can see myself incorporating in the classroom while introducing the concept of volume. For even older students, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, student could even figure out the volume the human body! Enjoy the break everyone!