This is a fun lesson I do with sixth graders where students redesign the soda can. After reviewing volume of rectangular prisms, students determine the volume of a can of soda in cubic inches. They use this volume to re-design the soda can so that their can has the same volume.

Students will need to use the area of polygons such as rectangles, triangles, parallelograms, and trapezoids in the design of their new can. They begin by creating a net being careful to keep the volume the same as the cylindrical can.

As an additional “lesson”, students make predictions about whether the volume of a rectangular prism changes as that prism takes on the shape of a cylindar.

CCSS: 6. G.1; 6.G.2; 6.G.4; 7.G.6
TEKS: 6th grade: 4B, 6C, 8A, 8B

Vocabulary covered:
 Area: the number of square units needed to cover the surface of a plane figure
 Net: a 2-dimensional representation of a 3-dimensional object
 Prism: the cross sections of a solid are all the same
 Rectangular prism: a solid that is made up of six rectangular faces
 Solid: having volume and surface area; a 3-dimensional object
 Volume: the amount of space something takes up

PDF version of the video lesson can be found by clicking here then clicking the ‘Math Resources’ button.