10/3/2016 Popcorn, Anyone?

Popcorn,Anyone?
STANDARDS: AUTHOR:

GRADE:68,912 JamieChaikin
Thislessoncanbe
Somerset,NJ
PERIODS:2 usedforstudentsto
discovertherelationshipbetweendimensionand
volume.Studentscreatetworectangularprismsandtwocylinderstodeterminewhichholdsmorepopcorn.
Studentsthenjustifytheirobservationbyanalyzingtheformulasandidentifyingthedimension(s)withthe
largestimpactonthevolume.

Instructional Objectives+ Materials Assessments+ Questions+ Related PrintAll

Plan Standards Extensions Reflection Resources

Thegoalofthislessonistohavestudentsconstructobjectsanddeterminetheresultingvolume.Thislessonmoves
thestudentfromafamiliarenvironmentwheretheysubstitutevaluesintoformulas,intoanexperimentbasedontheir
ownconjectures.Thisactivityisbasedontwoshapes,rectanglesandcylinders.Iftimeislimited,eitherpartofthe
activitycanbedoneindependently.However,completingallpartsoftheactivitystrengthenstheconnectionsamong
shape,dimension,volume,andformula.Considerthefollowingwhenchoosingwhichpartsofthelessontocomplete:

Rectangularprismsareeasierforstudentstomeasure.
Studentsdevelopanunderstandingofhowthevolumeformulachangesforasquareprism(versusarectangular
prism)andtheimpactonthevolumecalculation.
Cylindersareeasytobuildbutitisdifficultformanystudentstounderstandrelationshipbetweentheradiusand
circumferenceofthecircularbaseandthedimensionsofthepaperusedtocreateit.
Ifbothactivitiesarecompleted,studentscantransfertheknowledgethatasquareddimensionhasalarger
impactonthevolumefromsquareprismstocylinders.

RectangularPrisms

Studentsshouldworkinpairsbecausetheywillworktogethertocreatetheobjectsandinfillingtheobjectswith
popcorn.PassoutthePopcornPrismsAnyone?activitysheet,apieceofwhitepaper,apieceofcoloredpaper,tape,
andarulertoeachpairofstudents.Itishelpfultospendtimeshowingstudentssomemodelrectangularprisms,
reviewingthevolumeformula,demonstratingtheprismconstruction.Popcornshouldnotbeusedforthe
demonstration,butstudentsshouldbeabletoseehowtheprismsfitinsideofeachother.

PopcornPrismsAnyone?ActivitySheet

Circulatearoundtheroomasstudentsworkthroughtheactivitysheet.AfterstudentsfinishQuestion2,handeach
groupabowlofpopcornandacupfortransferringthepopcorn.Suggesttostudentsthatoneholdtherectangular
prismastheotherfillsthetallprismwithoutspillingthepopcornintotheshorterone.Ifavailabilityallows,watch
studentsduringthispartoftheactivitytoseetheirreactions.

Question6maybedifficultforsomestudents.Youmaychoosetoguidestudentsbyaskingthemthedimensionsof
theirrectangularprisms.Afterstudentsconcludethatthebasesaresquares,askfortheformulaforfindingthearea
ofasquare.Studentsshouldbeabletotransferthisknowledgetothevolumeformula.Askmoreadvancedstudents
howtorelatethesideoftherectangularprismtothesideoftherectangularpieceofpaperusetoformtheprismand
createaformulaforvolumebasedonthis.Theyshouldfind:

V=(w/4)2l
wherelandwarethelengthandwidth,respectively,oftheoriginalrectangularpaper

Question7canbeusedasenrichmentforstudentswhofinishearly.Havetactilelearnersusetheiroriginal
rectangularprismstodeterminethelengthandwidthbychangingthedimension.Encouragestudentstoplaywiththe
numbersandexplaintheirmethodsforsolvingtheproblem.Attheconclusionoftheactivity,modelthealgebraic
solutionifnostudentsfoundone.

PopcornPrismsAnyone?AnswerKey

Cylinders

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10/3/2016 Popcorn, Anyone?

PopcornCylindersAnyone?ActivitySheet

Thebeginningofthecylinderactivityshouldcloselymimictheprismactivity.Distributethesamematerialsandthe
PopcornCylindersAnyone?activitysheet.Again,modelthecylindersandhavestudentsfollowthesamestepsasin
therectangularprismactivity.Showstudentshowtomeasurethediameter,stressingitisonlyanestimate,andthe
lessonshouldrunsmoothly.

StudentsmaystrugglewithQuestion6.Directthembacktotheprismsactivity.TheexampleinQuestion6isvery
importantforhelpingstudentsseeconcreteexamplesbeforetacklingtheremainingquestions.Iftheycopythe
answerfromtheprismactivity,askthemwhytheycansubstituteradiusforsidesquared.Oncemostgroupshave
completedtheactivity,youshouldwritethefollowingformulasontheboard:

V=r2h
V=w2h

Provideinitialvaluesfortheradiusandtheheightandaskstudentshowthevolumechangesasyouincreaseeach
byoneunit.Duplicatetheactivityforthevolumeofasquareprism.Thisisagoodplacetoreinforcewhatthepatterns
impliedwiththeactivities.Forenrichment,providemodelsofsquareprismsandaskstudentstocomputethechange
involumeasthesidesandheightareincreased.

PopcornCylindersAnyone?AnswerKey

ComparingCylinders
Iftimeallows,theComparingCylindersactivitysheetisavailabletohelpstudentsunderstandtheconceptof
calculatingradiusgivencircumferenceandthatthecircumferenceofthepopcorncylinderwasformedfromtheside
oftherectangularpaper.Havematerialsavailableforstudentswhowanttorecreatethecylinders.

ComparingCylindersActivitySheet

ItissuggestedthatQuestions19beinstructorledwithstudentinput.Selectstudentsindifferentgroupstohelpwith
theanswersandquestionthestudentsastheybuildthecylinders.Thestudentpairsshouldbeabletocomplete
Questions10and11basedonthepriorquestions.

Tobringclosuretothisactivity,aclassdiscussionoftheresultsisimportant.QuestionsforStudentscanbeposted
ontheboardandgroupswalkaroundandaddtheircommentsfortheclassdiscussion.Duringthediscussion,
encouragebothconcreteexamplesandalgebraicreasoning.

8.511in.whitepaper
8.511in.coloredpaper
Popcorn
PaperPlates
Cups
Tape
Rulers
PopcornPrismsAnyone?ActivitySheet
PopcornCylindersAnyone?ActivitySheet
ComparingCylindersActivitySheet
PopcornPrismsAnyone?AnswerKey
PopcornCylindersAnyone?AnswerKey

AssessmentOptions

1.Providestudentsdifferentsizepaperandhavethemcomparethe2volumesforasquareprismandthe
correspondingcylinders.
2.Askstudentstowriteajournalentrycomparingtheshapes,dimensions,andvolumesofallthecontainers
createdduringthelesson.Whatwasthemostsurprisingthingtheylearned?

Extensions

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10/3/2016 Popcorn, Anyone?
1.Studentscancreaterectangularprismswherethepaperisnotfoldedequally.Thediagrambelowprovides
anexample.Studentscancomparethevolumeoftherectangularprismtothesquareprismmadeduring
thelesson.

2.Studentscancreatetriangularprismsandlookforvolumeimpactsbasedonrotatingthesideusedforthe
base.
3.Havestudentstrytofindthemaximumvolumeforboththeprismandcylinder.Sincethereisnotopand
bottomtotheshapes,thereisnomaximum.Withatoporbottom,however,thereisamaximum.Have
studentsexperimentwiththedimensionswhilekeepingtheoriginalpapersizeconstantandexplainthe
situationusingphysicalandmathematicalmodels.Note:Thealgebraicexplanationfortheinvestigationis
advanced.

QuestionsforStudents

1.Ifyouwerebuyingpopcornatthemovietheaterandwantedthemostpopcorn,whattypeofcontainerwouldyou
lookfor?

[Answersmayvarybeforetheactivity.After,itshouldbeclearthattheshortercontainersarethebetter
choice.]

2.Whatisthedifferencebetweenarectangularprismandacylinder?

[Rectangularprismshaverectangularbasesandcylindershavecircularbases.]

3.Howcanyoudeterminethecircumferenceforacylinderisyouareconstructingitfromrectangularpaper?

[Thecircumferencewillbeformedwithasideoftherectangularpaperthatyouroll.]

4.Howcanyoucalculatetheradiusofacylinderwithonlythemeasurementforcircumference?

[Solvefortheradiusinthecircumferenceformula:r=C/(2).]

5.Whydidthe"squared"dimensionshaveabiggerimpactofthevolume?

[Squaringadimensionisalmostlikecountingittwiceinvolume.Forexample,ifthesidelengthofthe
squarebaseinsquareprismis5andtheheightis10,thenthevolumeis5510.The5ismultiplied
twiceandtheheightismultipliedonce.Asimilarexamplecanbemadefortheradiusandheightofa
cylinder.]

TeacherReflection

Howdidyourlessonaddressauditory,tactileandvisuallearningstyles?
Howdidthestudentsdemonstrateunderstandingofthematerialspresented?
Didstudentsmaketheconnectionbetweenacircumferenceandthesideofarectangle?
Didstudentsmaketheunderstandhowfoldingorrollingtherectangularpaperindifferentwaysledtodifferent
volumes?Howcouldyouhavebroughtoutthisconnectionmore?
Whatweresomeofthewaysthatthestudentsillustratedthattheywereactivelyengagedinthelearningprocess?
Didseeingtheoutercontainerspartiallyfullhelpreinforceretentionforthisactivity.

LearningObjectives
Studentswill:

Performanexperimentbasedonaconjecture.
Createobjectswithvaryingvolumesfromsheetsofpaper.
Comparethevolumeofsimilarshapedobjects.
Comparethevolumeofdifferentshapedobjects.
Discoverwhichdimensionshavethelargestimpactonvolume.

NCTMStandardsandExpectations
Developstrategiestodeterminethesurfaceareaandvolumeofselectedprisms,pyramids,andcylinders.
Solveproblemsinvolvingscalefactors,usingratioandproportion.
Analyzepropertiesanddetermineattributesoftwoandthreedimensionalobjects.
Visualizethreedimensionalobjectsandspacesfromdifferentperspectivesandanalyzetheircrosssections.
Understandanduseformulasforthearea,surfacearea,andvolumeofgeometricfigures,includingcones,
spheres,andcylinders.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/Lesson.aspx?id=2927 3/4
10/3/2016 Popcorn, Anyone?
CommonCoreStateStandardsMathematics
Grade7,Geometry

CCSS.Math.Content.7.G.B.6
Solverealworldandmathematicalproblemsinvolvingarea,volumeandsurfaceareaoftwoandthree
dimensionalobjectscomposedoftriangles,quadrilaterals,polygons,cubes,andrightprisms.

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