Enhance your student's understanding of the interaction between volume and capacity by playing this simple game. Give each student a large jug. Also give each student five different-sized glasses. Tell the students the volume of their jugs and glasses. They must calculate how many glasses of water they will have to use to fill up the jug a certain line. However, students must use each glass at least once and no glass more than twice. Make sure that each student has access to a sink. You may have to split sink access between your students. This is not a timed game, so they can take their time. Students are rated according to the accuracy of their calculations, with the player closest to the line being the winner. Before they attempt to fill the jug, they must show you their calculations so that you can verify their accuracy after the game is over.
Some students learn better when they work in groups. Divide your class up into groups of three. Hand out worksheets to each student, face down. Each worksheet should have 10 to 15 different volume and capacity questions. Set a timer for 2 minutes and start it after everyone is ready. Each group must finish as many of the problems as possible. Working as a team gives the students a few different options to finish the problems. For example, they could work together one question at a time to ensure it's correct or split up and try to answer separate questions. Once the 2 minutes have passed, collect one finished worksheet from each group. Correct the group's work and rate the students' performance based on how many they got correct. Give the winning group extra credit points.
Shodor is a free interactive learning website that offers many activities for teachers and students. It has a simple and free to use volume exercise that can give kids a chance to learn about volume firsthand. Kids start by deciding on a shape they would like to create. They can then make it see through or solid, including the color they would like the shape to appear. They can change the view from 3D to 2D to get a good look at how it looks. There are three different values that can be adjusted: width, depth and height. As the students change these values, the volume of the object will change accordingly. Experimenting with the shapes helps students get a feel for how volume is shaped by the size of an object. It makes a great game to play at home or to use in class.