Geometry – the moment you read this word, you visualize shapes, formulas, and terms like area, surface area, volume, etc. To discern these concepts on their face value solely may not be an effective way of learning for all. The playful approach where you do things to learn facts offers you a pretext to learn by deeper participation and self-correction.

That is why doing activities using manipulatives or playing online games works awesome when you want to teach about volume and surface area to geometry students.

In this post, let’s talk about what role manipulatives play in teaching volume and surface area. Also, to help you have a handy list of the best manipulatives to try, we will walk you through the options available. These manipulatives require nil to minimal supervision and are best suited for classroom sessions as well as self-learners and homeschooled children.

Role of manipulatives in teaching volume and surface area

When young learners encounter the terms like formula, equation, properties, etc. they find it difficult to establish their relevance in the life to come. Naturally, they display an aversion to learning such concepts. Teachers need to trick them into learning by bringing a more tangible element in the process of concept-building. A great service is done by a multisensory approach that uses manipulatives (for learning by touch and vision) to blur the line between theoretical and practical learning. In addition:

• Manipulatives help grasp practical meaning of geometrical terms like volume and surface area
• These offer exploratory approach of learning the concepts
• Playful appeal ignites intellectual curiosity
• Collaborative learning becomes possible to achieve

Which manipulatives should I pick? While teaching kids the geometrical concepts, the challenge I faced was to ensure that kids shouldn’t get carried away by the gamification element. Also, the manipulatives had to be easier to handle and store and genuinely contribute to the concept-building. I found the following manipulatives the aptest options to try.

Best manipulatives to learn volume and surface area

1. Folding 3D GeoFigures

3D foldable geometry figures help leverage STEM Education’s positives to reinforce the understanding of surface area and volume. These 3D foldable figures are accompanied by plastic covers that explain tangibly what surface area means. A variety of shapes included in the collection allow the students to familiarize themselves with their distinct attributes.

This 3D shapes collection helps teach the concepts like surface area and volume in a practical manner. It is designed to complement the tactile and visual learning styles. The visual-spatial learners also relate to this manipulative comfortably.

Since the books don’t display the third dimension quite clearly, a lot misses the learners’ radars. This manipulative fills the missing information and provides clear visualization of 3D shapes. Thus, the measurable attributes like volume and surface area become easier to explain.

2. Linking Cubes

Linking cubes can be visualized as the unitary parts of any shape. In the visual-spatial style of learning, the students tend to learn as a whole first and then move to break the figure into parts. While doing activities using linking cubes, the teachers can encourage the students to make the 3D models first. By the act of simple counting of linking cubes making up the surfaces of the model, the students can understand how the surface area is calculated.

They may also break the models into linking cubes to talk about concepts like space occupied or volume. Linking cubes offer learning by the way of doing. Students may also be given boxes of different shapes to stuff those with the cubes to give a more relatable explanation of concepts like volume and surface area. With a practical approach, these shape manipulatives help build geometrical concepts with a far-reaching impact.

3. 3D transparent shapes

A collection of geometric solids in different colors helps employ visual and tactile teaching methods such as color-coding and manipulating. The students get in this collection the solids in two sizes. In this collection, the smaller ones measure exactly half of the bigger ones dimensions-wise. Thus, by doing activities like measuring sides, or filling these with pre-measured liquid, the students can understand how the volume changes with dimension.

The difference in the holding capacities of 3D half-spheres, triangles, cubes, and cuboids becomes quicker to grasp with this manipulative. Relational volume knowledge is essential for understanding the type of vessel one needs to fill a pre-defined quantity. With the help of a measuring flask, the students can play-act and understand what does the value of volume actually signifies. In addition, you can also teach the concept that liquids change their shape as per the shape of the container by using this manipulative.

4. Geosticks

Play method of teaching about the volumes and surface areas becomes possible to achieve with Geosticks. These sticks can help understand the measurement of figures. Introduce the concepts of length, breadth, and height once the kids are done with the model-making process. You can stuff linking cubes inside the models made to talk to kids about the concept of volume. Self-learners may find these sticks quite useful in learning about volume and surface area by making the models in different combinations.

Keeping children engaged, driven to learn, and stimulating their minds to think deeply about the measurements are some of the purposes this geometry manipulative can help achieve. How different structures vary in volume and surface area with the change in measurements can be learned to perfection by doing activities with these Geosticks.

5. Magnetic Building Blocks

How to introduce beginners to concepts of volume and surface area? If you have this question in mind, this magnetic tiles set offers a perfect solution. Designed on the pattern of STEM education, this manipulative helps demonstrate these concepts with ease and in an engaging manner.

Teachers can employ this manipulative to help kids learn these concepts by doing interesting activities. Using a ruler, ask the child to measure the sides. When they join various tiles, such as rectangular tiles to make a cube, or triangular pieces to make a pyramid, etc. they can calculate the surface area and volume by using the dimensions measured.

These magnetic tiles help the students apply the concepts of volume and surface area to bigger figures that have rectangles, triangles, etc. as integrating units. By making different models and calculating these figures, students can understand how these values change as per the shape. Also, they can learn concepts like balance, symmetry, etc., and appreciate their utility in solving real-life situations. This manipulative promotes active learning and enhances problem-solving skills to help students groom into visual thinkers.

Conclusion

Learning about surface area and volume need not be a pain. Playful methods of internalizing such concepts help dual way. First of all, these methods offer active learning. Secondly, the learners can also understand how to apply concepts in real-life situations.

Manipulatives and virtual learning solutions offer the perfect tools that help achieve both outcomes effortlessly. All you need to do is explore, understand the working of manipulatives and pick the ones that complement your learning style. Results will surely be appreciable!

Pratiksha Bhatt

I am Pratiksha Bhatt, Bachelor of Life Science, and Masters in Management Studies. I have done certification courses in early education counseling. I am a writer, a mother of a child with spelling difficulties which drove me to alternative resources of education like manipulatives and participatory activities. My areas of expertise are learning difficulties, alternative learning methods, and activity-based learning.

The post 5 Manipulatives For Introducing Volume And Surface Area Concepts appeared first on Number Dyslexia.

Be it the number of ingredients in a dish, or the amount of detergent needed to wash clothes, the knowledge of volume is pivotal. We use many objects in different shapes and sizes that account for different capacities. All these make us appreciate the significance of volume in our day-to-day life. 

Volume, as we know, is just ‘LengthxWidthxHeight’. But it is not easy to make young learners of 5th grade grasp it. This is where interesting activities come into the limelight, making learning entertaining and leaving a long-lasting impact. To realise more about this, you can check out this post adorned with our favourite picks for volume learning activities. 

Volume learning activities- How do these add value?

There are numerous ways to know more about Volumes— the traditional way and learning through activities. When students of the 5th-grade are introduced to this topic, activities become the pick of the bunch due to many reasons; some of which are –

• These activities will make students understand the concept through the practical implications of the formulas. It becomes a tedious task to explain certain concepts to young learners through theoretical approaches to students. When students would indulge in practical activities, they would comprehend their usage and utilization.
• Indulging in activities makes the child more creative and imaginative as they brainstorm hard. Moreover, these are small activities that can be done with minimal things or even the things you can find around yourself. 
• Students can improve their calculation skills by learning about Volumes and how to figure them out, which can positively impact academics. Gradually, students would start developing a love for such concepts that only benefit them in their life ahead. 
• As students start implying these formulas in the form of activities, they will get more interest in learning about more subjects. By running activities regularly, students will be curious about doing similar in other subjects. 

SImple volume learning activities for 5th graders

Let us have a look at a few activities that will help students have a better and clear concept of Volumes:

1. Lego Volume Test

Lego is ideally a toy for kids, but it has more than one use. From being used by architects to contractors, teachers too can make the use of legos to teach about volumes to the children.

For 5th graders, Lego means infinite possibilities. In this activity, you need many Lego bricks and a time of at least 45 minutes. This activity can be conducted solo or in a group. Build a random object through lego and apply the formula to find out the object’s volume. You can start by building a simple rectangle or square. Children can learn calculating square units. For this activity, all you require is Lego, ruler, and calculator. 

2. Rectangle Mural 

Starting with something straightforward— take cardboard, tell the students to draw different shapes on the cardboard. After students complete drawing the figures, they will line up to find out the volume of the shape drawn by another kid. This way, they can challenge their mind to force upon critical thinking and apply formulas whenever necessary. After this activity, a Mural can be prepared for decoration as well. This activity must be conducted in a large group of kids for better results.

3. Empty Container Volume

Again with the use of Lego, you can conduct another group activity. This activity will require an empty container, lego/Unifix cubes, calculator, and volume formula. Take an empty container— In the next step, children can fill the container with lego or Unifix cubes to figure out the volume of the object. Once the container is filled, take out the cubes to determine Length, Width, and Height. This short experiment can be done with a small group of children. Through this experiment, children can learn about how many layers are required to fill the container and what is the best way or the shortcut to determine the volume. 

4. Volumes of two different objects together

Sometimes students will come across an incident where they will have to measure the volume of two different objects simultaneously. For this activity, take a hollow Cone shape object and a hollow cylindrical object. Both the objects must have the same radius. Fill the Cone with Salt till the top, pour it in the cylinder, repeat the same until the cylinder is filled and the cone is empty. This will determine how many times the cylinder is more significant than the volume of the cone. It is a simple activity with minimum things required and children gain maximum knowledge.

5. Different Volumes of Different containers

Every solid object possesses a different volume. Measuring a rectangle, square, or circle can be different, and measuring a sponge or balloon can be altogether different. In this activity, take a sponge or part of the sponge and measure its volume when dry. After this, dip the sponge into the water and let it absorb water. Take it out and measure the density of the sponge. Compare both the results and discuss them with the teacher. With this activity, students can learn about the same object having different volumes with changes in density. 

Every object has its length, width, and height. Use the right tools to measure and have the calculator handy to get the result. This will sharpen the mind of the young genius and can help focus on studies. With academics, it is essential to challenge the mind now and then. Keep conducting such experiments and you can learn new concepts.

Golden rules for engaging students in activities

Be it concepts of English like fluency and phonics, or mathematical concepts like statistics— activities help profoundly with all the concepts which are otherwise a task for educators to inculcate. But, how do you make sure that these activities do not lose their essence, and children really learn while engaging in them?

Here are some golden rules to follow so that you can be assured that the activities are going to be a sure shot success!

1. Making the activity meaningful and full of engagement will ensure that students perceive it the exact way you intend. To set the seal on this, you can pay more attention and use the child’s previous knowledge about the concept, which is volumes in this case. Later, you can get into more detail as you go deeper into the activity. Moreover, when activities are crafted to make a child believe that they are mimicking a real-life situation, they will get more ardent and passionate about it, which would lead to better learning.
   
2. Being around peers generates a sense of competitiveness; thus, when an educator involves more students, each student is vying to be the first one to finish it. This not only helps the student to understand better but also faster. However, if the child is performing the activity alone, the competition can be the child himself. The educator can ask the child to finish the activity in a shorter time than before or in a better manner; this way too, a sense of competition will be the invigorating factor.

3. Being supportive and open to receiving new ideas by the students can act in a much positive manner. For example, if while introducing the activity, the student points out a fun addition to the same, the teacher must find a way to integrate that suggestion in the activity. This way, the student would feel included, and this will ultimately show in their performance. Moreover, students feel valued and more enthusiastic about the activity.
   
4. Teachers, parents and mentors should be open to helping the children in between, especially when they are stuck in between. If they are puzzled and jammed somewhere, they will somehow lose out interest, and the rest of the activity would lose its essence. This will also establish a positive educator-student relationship.

5. Keep the students motivated by introducing new twists and turns in the activities. When one activity is repeated and performed regularly in the same pattern, the children can lose out interest. Moreover, new twists would keep their curiosity levels high, which will eventually help them become masters in volumes and all related concepts. 

Conclusion

So, do you still think that Maths and especially Volume is not your cup of tea? After going through the various activities, you will definitely get a clear perspective as to how to really deal with your worst nightmare to date. Perform these activities at your home, school, or class, observe how other students perform the same experiment, and learn if they have a better technique. Did you find this article appealing? Give your feedback in the comment section below. Share it with people around you and help them master Volume.

Manpreet Singh

An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having  just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’, 

The post 5 Engaging 5th Grade Activities For Learning Volume Concepts appeared first on Number Dyslexia.

How activities can give a better idea about volume to early learners?

Is there any way using which I can help my students to learn volume with a practical approach? I come across this question quite often. The good news is doing activities can help them understand the practical applications of the volume concept. Activities can act as promising teaching support to engage the students deeper in the learning process. Doing activities helps improve learning in the following ways:

• Instead of working with numbers, more tangible settings are created for disseminating the concept of volume among learners.
• The charm of doing something drives curiosity towards solving volume-based problems.
• Activities promote strategy-driven learning.
• New revelations during activities allow children to understand and connect volume with various other concepts. For example, area and volume or surface area and volume can be understood in relation to each other by doing activities.

Thinking of what activities can ease the learning of volume? Am sure, you are! So, here I bring you some engaging activities that you can do with early learners to befriend them with the concept of volume.

Learning-driven activities to teach volume to solid geometry beginners

1. Fill the measuring flasks

Give children measuring flasks of different shapes such as a rectangle, a cylinder, etc. Ask them to fill them to their capacity. Children can be taught the concept of holding the capacity (or volume) of various solids by this activity. Further, they can understand the formulae of calculating the volume of these shapes by finding height, width, and length by using a ruler. This activity helps the students understand that volume is the space that a liquid takes up in a container of any shape. You can start with symmetrical figures like cubes and then move on to cylinders etc., to help them progressively learn volume.

2. Create a tabletop models’ pie chart

You can pick a table and paste a chart paper on it. Collect some 3-D models like a ball, cylinder, Rubik cube, etc., which children see around them. Show them how to measure the length, width, and height of these models with rulers and calipers. Design a pie chart with slots to paste these 3D models and write their respective formulae below the figures. It can be placed at an easily accessible location in the study room for frequent referencing.

3. Fit cubes in a big cube

Give children cubes with 1cm x1cm x 1cm measurements. You can have lots of these collections to distribute to students. Now, ask them to fit these cubes in bigger cubes having multiples of these measurements. By counting the cubes that fit the cube, one can arrive at the volume value of bigger cubes. Giving one cube of 1 cm³ gives a tactical understanding of the concept of a unit of volume.

4. Play the length, width, and height game

It is a simple game where children make structures using connecting rods and spheres with holes. By making different shapes using these manipulatives, they internalize the process of finding length, height, and width. Further, they can stuff the structures made with some filling to see what the volume of any figure looks like in form. This game allows to understand the practical presentation of the formulae like the volume of cuboid = l x b x h, and others.

5. Do origami

In some volume activities, the students need to find the length, width, and height of the structures provided. In this activity, they go the other way round. They are given the dimensions and based on that information, they cut the chart paper and name those as l, w, or h. Then, they join these pieces with glue to get the desired structure. It helps them understand the rationale behind the formulae used for calculating formulae.

6. Make various structures with Unifix cubes

First, students are given the idea of how to calculate the volume. Then, they are asked to apply this process in making towers by joining Unifix cubes. They calculate the volume of the resultant tower achieved in this process. Students can be asked to go creative, make other structures, and find their respective volumes. Thus, this activity provides students a platform to build their understanding of dimensions and apply formulae in the volume calculation process.

Wrapping up,

Doing volume activities eases the process of learning about this basic 3D geometry concept with better retention. While by learning formulae, students strengthen their conceptual understanding, by doing activities, they understand what the formulae mean in a real setting. While taking a break from bookish learning, students apply and implicate their knowledge to solve problems based on the concept of volume.

Manpreet Singh

An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having  just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’, 

The post Easy And Simple Volume Activities To Learn appeared first on Number Dyslexia.

Best outcomes of playing games to learn surface area and volume

Take a cube or sphere in hand. All the surface that you can touch or paint is actually the surface area. Also, suppose there is an inlet in these 3D figures to fill in the air. The quantity of air or water that you can pump into it is equal to its volume. These are the practical explanations of the terms surface area and volume. How about the ways that help you get a visual demonstration of these explanations? Actually, games do precisely this!

Apart from offering you a more practical approach for handling calculations involving surface area and volume, games can help the learners in the following ways:

• Games provide an engaging platform for practicing surface area and volume-based calculations. They are a great add-on to teaching via volume and surface area manipulatives. 
• By playing games, you can understand how to apply the concept of surface area and volume in practical situations.
• Games with an attractive scoring method encourage learners to practice more and refine their calculation skills
• By the way of forming teams, games offer situations conducive to a participative or collaborative way of solving problems involving surface area and volume. In a classroom or a homeschooling environment, the chance to start a discussion on strategies is best provided by the games.
• To add further, games offer a variety of problems to solve. Thus, the students get all possible combinations and situations to apply the learning achieved by the concepts of surface area and volume.

If we sum it all together, the games transport the students from the book’s world to close to the real one. These let them understand how math is going to apply in practical ways in daily-life situations. Don’t you want to know about the best games available online that support teaching surface area and volume in a more comprehensible manner?

If yes, take a look at the list of games to solve problems based on surface area and volume. These games can help you understand how to apply and find values like the amount of paint required to color that ball or the amount of water that can fill the cylindrical water tank, etc.

Games to learn and apply surface area and volume concepts

1. Calculate the Volume Quiz

Simplify the process of learning how to calculate the volume of complex shapes with this quiz game online. The quiz takes you through a variety of figure shapes that are composed using cubes or other basic 3D figures. The faster you calculate, the more questions you get to solve. Thus, you get better with the calculation of volumes every time you repeat this game.

This quiz places a varying number of cubes in different arrangements, allowing you to utilize your spatial sense apart from calculating capability. The easy part lies in the fact that the game teaches you about calculating volume by adopting the counting method. A brilliant game for a geometry starter!

2. Surface Area and Volume Interactive Quiz

Once you have understood what surface area and volume mean, you can address the problems related to these in a variety of ways. This interactive quiz does a lot more than make you a pro in calculations. It utilizes your spatial reasoning abilities and helps you pick various orientation options.

You can select the view, and also, the options like outlined polyhedron or filled grid to suit your visual imagination capabilities. Further, you can choose from a rectangular prism or triangular prism options while selecting from ‘explore’ or ‘calculate’ actions. While exploring helps you learn how results change with measurements, calculating allows you to apply your mental math and formula application skill. To start the easy way, you can visualize and count surfaces in your head to arrive at the values of surface area or volume.

3. What is the Surface Area?

Designed for grade 7 and grade 8 students, this game is actually a series of questions. The student is given a cuboid whose length, width, and height vary in each question. The purpose of this game is to teach you the units in which surface area is expressed. The measurements are expressed relatively in the form of a diagram to give you a vague idea of how the final figure will look with these values.

You can utilize the formula surface area of cuboid = 2(lw+wh+lh) to solve the questions of this game. Since the measurements are mostly in single digits, it is recommended to apply this formula mentally to extract the best benefits of this game.

4. Volume of Cubes and Rectangular Prisms

An amazing game for geometry beginners! This game keeps the cubes and rectangular prisms in focus. You can work up your brain to apply the volume’s formula and yield results as fast as you can. This game is quite on the lines of a finding surface area game. So, it completes the learning of basic calculations applicable in the geometry of solids.

The time-pressed gameplay of this activity allows you to check your proficiency in calculations. In addition, the visual presentation of the figure connects you more closely with solids and enhances your understanding.

5. Length, Area, and Volume Quiz

You will be able to do calculations fast when you are well-versed with the formulae of the surface area and volume of solid figures. While games based on calculations provide you proficiency in the application part, this surface area and volume quiz game strengthens your conceptual knowledge. So, you get several formula options to select the right one.

It can become tricky at the start, which is why it requires more practice. The captivating gameplay engages you in more practice easily, which is precisely what you need. When you need something to complement formula anchor charts, this game offers a perfect addition to your learning tools.

6. Surface Area Challenge

One of the difficulties students face when solving surface area and volume questions is that every shape is unique, with different numbers and lengths of sides. This online game allows players to practice their concepts by presenting questions related to different solid shapes in nine segregated levels. Each level focuses on only one shape, leaving no room for confusion.

The questions are in word format with relevant diagrammatic representations to assist students in comprehending the problem. Each question has a separate space to work out the answers that can be filled in the blue boxes provided. As this resource is not time-bound, students can take their time to solve and find answers to the given questions.

7. Interactive Cubes

Be a cube specialist with this Interactive cube game. This game, useful for learning surface area and volume, engages the students quite interestingly. The learners need to click on color-coded flaps and these align to yield a cuboid. So, beginners can acquaint themselves with the diagrammatic presentation of solids.

Further, they can use either counting or formula application to arrive at the surface area and volume values of the solid cube. Starting with smaller measurements, the learners can move up higher in the challenge scale and perform more complex calculations.

8. Volume and Surface Area of Spheres

The last game on our list is great for learners who are yet to master the concepts of volume and surface area of spheres. It includes a total of ten questions related to the topic and offers different answering formats. Some questions have a multi-choice answer format, while others require players to do their calculations and fill in the correct answer.

The game challenges players to strive for success and do the best they can. But there is nothing to worry about if things do not go very well in the first instance. Players can always brush up on their conceptual knowledge of the volume and surface area of spheres and try the game again!

Wrapping up,

Games for learning volume and surface area of solids are available online, which allows students to practice anywhere, anytime. The use of mobile phones and gadgets^[1] in learning solid geometry has become more meaningful with these games. So, when you want a break from books and worksheets, you can switch to games and make learning more exciting.

Reference

[1] IPAD INFUSE CREATIVITY IN SOLID GEOMETRY TEACHING. (2013). Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 12(2), 177–192. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1015420.pdf

Manpreet Singh

An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having  just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’, 

The post 8 Interesting Online Surface Area and Volume Games appeared first on Number Dyslexia.