Clip 4/13: Calculating Volume of Rectangular Prisms Lesson Part 1C
Overview
In the next step of the lesson on calculating volume, Mallory asks her students to “think about what would be a low estimate of how many sugar cubes would fit into this sugar cube container. What would be a high estimate of how many sugar cubes could fit into this container? And what would be a reasonable estimate?” The 5th-grade students return to their table group discussions, offering estimates and critiquing and building on each other’s ideas. Mallory moves through the classroom, engaging groups in questioning about their discussions.
Teacher Commentary
Teacher Commentary
A lot of the kids understand the concept that volume is the space inside of an object or how we find that total amount, but they definitely don’t yet understand the concept that volume is also base times height, in which there are layers within that volume taking place. It’s repeated addition, so having them try to see if they can come up with different strategies to find volume instead of plugging in a formula.