The purpose of this activity is to engage students in estimating and comparing the capacity of objects with different dimensions.
This activity assumes the students have experience in the following areas:
The problem is sufficiently open ended to allow the students freedom of choice in their approach. It may be scaffolded with guidance that leads to a solution, and/or the students might be given the opportunity to solve the problem independently.
The example responses at the end of the resource give an indication of the kind of response to expect from students who approach the problem in particular ways.
One of these glasses is tall and skinny. The other is short and fat.
Which of these two glasses would you choose if you wanted the one that holds the most liquid?
Note to teacher: Any two cups or glasses could be used. Ideally, they should have different dimensions but similar capacity. A staffroom mug and a paper cup could be used.
The following prompts illustrate how this activity can be structured around the phases of the Mathematics Investigation Cycle.
Introduce the problem. Allow ākonga time to read it and discuss in pairs or small groups.
Discuss ideas about how to solve the problem. Emphasise that for now you want ākonga to say how they would solve the problem, not to actually solve it.
The most likely approach to choose is to fill one glass with water and pour it into the other. Students may suggest physically placing one glass inside the other. The glasses chosen should make that approach difficult.
Allow ākonga time to work through their strategy, and find a solution to the problem.
Allow ākonga time to check their answers and then either have them pair share with other groups or ask for volunteers to share their solution with the class.
The student uses visual clues to compare the dimensions of different objects and to uses these observations to estimate possible differences in capacity.
Click on the image to enlarge it. Click again to close.
The student considers the shape and/or dimensions of different objects and to use these observations to estimate possible differences in capacity.
Printed from https://nzmaths.co.nz/resource/i-want-big-glass at 1:19am on the 4th May 2024