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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
CCSS: 6. G.1; 6.G.2; 6.G.4; 7.G.6
\nTEKS: 6th grade: 4B, 6C, 8A, 8B<\/p>\n
Vocabulary covered:
\n\uf09f Area: the number of square units needed to cover the surface of a plane figure
\n\uf09f Net: a 2-dimensional representation of a 3-dimensional object
\n\uf09f Prism: the cross sections of a solid are all the same
\n\uf09f Rectangular prism: a solid that is made up of six rectangular faces
\n\uf09f Solid: having volume and surface area; a 3-dimensional object
\n\uf09f Volume: the amount of space something takes up<\/p>\n