For some reason Volume and Capacity is one of the most difficult sub-strands in Primary Mathematics to both teach and learn. Too many Year 3 students are not able to answer Stage 1 questions in National or International Assessments.
- Yes it is a language problem.
- Yes it is a lack of whole class resources problem.
- Yes it is a messy water problem.
- Yes there may be more important strands or sub-strands to focus on.
But … that doesn’t mean we ignore Volume and Capacity. There are still important concepts for students to take with them into adult life. The ability to estimate amounts in a given container, to think about litres and millilitres, for example.
We have just uploaded How much water is that? for your Stage 2 students. It involves using real containers and water to establish the Volume concepts in real life. You then switch to 2D representations to help students internalise their experiences using the following 4 cards:
Your goal is for your students to use proportional reasoning to estimate how many cups of water they need to fill each container. It sounds simple, but only 52% of year 3 students in the Year 3 2016 NAPLAN Numeracy Paper were able to do this successfully.
This activity is also part of our STAGE 2 Mental Warm-ups.