Investigating Volumes

By Anonymous -

With cubes, grid paper, measuring tools and challenging questions, fifth grade students investigated volume. Through the challenges they discovered two ways to calculate the volume of a rectangular prism. They discovered the formula lengthXwidthXheight and baseXheight as a way to calculate the volume of a prism. They then came to the understanding of what is cubic feet, cubic inches or cubic centimeters. Lastly, by measuring all kinds of items in our classroom, they discovered which tool was best for the job to measure a space, a box or a shelf.
Measuring the height of the room.

What is the volume of this white board?
How much space does this chair take up?
What is the volume of a locker?

Their final challenge was to design a box that could hold a variety of cube rectangular prisms. 



















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