Introduction

            Misconception on capacity may arise among the students while teaching Volume of liquid especially when comparing capacity of two containers that can hold more. Students often make the comparison on height rather than its capacity. Through a video in the internet I would like to show how volume of liquid are measured.

Click on the link below to view the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPkZlce84ag&feature=related

Then, click on the link below to view the next video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYtNhNP69lk

           

            As you can see from the video, the little boy is comparing two glasses of milk. In the boy’s opinion, the taller glass holds more liquid compare to the shorter glass although in the beginning they were shown equal amount of liquid in two same size glasses. Therefore, we need to guide the young learners to understand the concept and at the same time teach them how to measure volume of liquid correctly. I have created a teaching activity for high achiever group and a teaching activity for low achiever group.

            According to the Curriculum Specification of Mathematics Year 2 published by Curriculum Development Centre, Ministry of Education (2003), emphasizes the acquisition of basic concepts and skills. For Year 2 pupils, the introduction to the topic of Volume of Liquid begins with the understanding of words related to volume of liquid: full, hall full, empty, more, less, same. For this, I have prepared a MS Power Point presentation slide as a revision. Beside that, I have created a teaching activity for low achiever pupils and a teaching activity for high achiever pupils.

Click on the link below to view the fullscreen of MS Power Point presentation:
http://www.scribd.com/full/44058568?access_key=key-21iqnz3c5eiqo39cur1f

Teaching Activities For Low Achiever Pupils

Learning outcomes:

To measure volume of water in different containers using non-standard units.

Materials:

Two bottles of mineral water (1.5 litres) and a beaker (for demonstration)

A bottle of mineral water (1.5 litres), a beaker and some cups (for pupils)

Procedures:

1. Show two bottles of mineral water to the class and ask the pupils a question.

      - Do they have the same volume?  ( predicted answer: Yes.)

2.   Then, pour a bottle of mineral water into a beaker and ask the pupils to compare

      the beaker and the bottle of mineral water.

3. Next, divide the class into groups of four students and have them work in their cooperative groups.
4. Appoint a student in the group to be the recorder.
5. Give each group a bottle of mineral water, a beaker and some cups.
6. Ask the pupils to find out how many cups can a bottle of mineral water fills. This is done by pouring water from the bottle into the cups. The pupils have to write down the findings in the worksheet given.
7. Repeat the same steps with the beaker.
8. Have the pupils record their findings in the following table:

Container	Number of Cups
A bottle of mineral water
A beaker

9. Discuss the misconception of height of containers and their capacity with the pupils. 
10. As a conclusion, the capacity of the bottle and the beaker are of the same volume although their water level looks different.

Teaching Activities For High Achiever Pupils

            High achiever pupils can learn and understand the concept better than the low achiever pupils. Therefore, teacher can ask them to create their own measuring instrument.

Learning outcomes:

To measure volume of water of the basin using different measuring instruments.

Materials:

Cylinders, marker pens, reusable containers, water, worksheets, online quiz and game.

Prior Knowledge:

Pupils have known that the standard unit for volume of liquid in the measuring cylinder is 1 litre.

Procedures:

1. Divide the class into groups of three students and have them work in their cooperative groups.
2. Appoint a student in the group to be the recorder.
3. Pupils bring some reusable containers such as bottle of cooking oil, soft drink, shampoo, dish wash etc. Make sure all the containers are transparent, so that the pupils can see the water level.

    4. Use the 1 litre measuring cylinder.

    5. Fill the cylinder with water.

    6. Pour it into the container.

7. Use the marker pen to write the mark of 1ℓ on the container.

            Eg:

8. Continue to pour water into the container and mark the water level until it is full.

      Eg:

9. Then, use these handmade measuring instruments to start the measuring activity.

10. Teacher distributes worksheet. Pupils guess and write down volume of liquid in the worksheet before measuring activity.

Measuring Activity Worksheet: Use your own handmade instrument to measure the volume of water in the basin.       An empty basin prepared by teacher                                                                                                               Estimation: ___________ litres         Actual      : ___________ litres Eg:

  11. Pupils use the handmade measuring instrument created to measure volume of liquid in the basin.

  12. Discussion and check the answers together.

  13. Click on the link below to go to the quiz and online game.

        http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/measures/capacity.html#Capacity

Conclusion

                  Based on the teaching aids and activities which I have created, I hope it can help the Year 2 pupils to understand better the concept of capacity of liquid. We also teach the pupils the knowledge of environmental protection by using reusable containers to make their own measuring instrument.

                   Estimation is a very important skill that we must apply in our daily life. So, we must start to teach our pupils when they are in primary school. By doing this assignment, I learn how to create a blog through the internet for the teaching and learning activities. 

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