Stage 1 -measurement – volume
Students need experience in filling containers both with continuous material (e.g. water) and with discrete objects (for example, marbles). The use of continuous material leads to measurement using the unit’s litre and millilitre in later stages. The use of blocks leads to measurement using the units’ cubic metre and cubic centimetre.
Strategy
Students can:
- count the number of informal units in a prism
- visualise the hidden units in a pictorial display
Activities to support the strategy
Activity 1
Using concrete materials (blocks), students build three-dimensional structures such as these below.
A B
Ask students
- How many blocks were used to produce these objects?
- How many blocks are missing from diagram B?
Ask students to state the number of cubes that cannot be seen in each stack.
References
Australian curriculum
ACMMG037: Compare and order several objects based on volume and capacity using appropriate uniform informal units
NSW syllabus
MA1-11MG: Measures, records, compares and estimates volumes and capacities using uniform informal units
NSW numeracy continuum
Aspect 7: Unit structure of length, area and volume - Multiple units.
Teacher resources
Student resources
- Studyladder - counting the number of cubes in a stack (Building Blocks)
