Volume of liquid can be measured by non-standard units and standard units. For Year 2 primary school pupils, the introduction of the topic Volume of Liquid, non-standard units for measuring such as cups, plastic glass, milk carton, bottles are being used before using standard unit which is litre by using graduated cylinder or jugs. The standard units involve for Year 2 pupils are only in litres.
The videos on how to measure volume of liquid using graduated cylinder and various glasswares can be viewed by the following link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDYWetAUTIE&feature=related
The videos shows how to measure volume of liquid by using standard units. The cylinder must be put on a flat surface to get the correct reading. Using different colour of liquid enables pupils to observe even better. As mentioned earlier, for Year 2 pupils they will be taught the units of litre only.
Sometimes misconception happen especially when the pupils compare capacity ot two containers when the containers are different in sizes. This is because the process of conservation. Conservation refers to an ability in logical thinking according to the psychologist, Jean Piaget who developed four stages in cognitive development. Conservation refers to the idea that a quantity remains the same despite changes in appearance. During the third stage, the Concrete operational stage, the child of 7-11 years old masters this ability, to logically determine that a certain quantity will remain the same despite adjustment of the container, shape or apparent size.
Piaget’s most famous task involved showing a child two beakers, both of which were the same and which contained the equal amount of liquid. The child was asked whether the two beakers had the same amount of liquid in both. Then liquid from one of the glasses was poured into a taller, thinner glass or bigger glass. The child was then asked whether there was still the same amount of liquid in both glasses. A child who cannot conserve would respond that the taller or bigger glass holds more liquid. The following video shows how a child was being tested on conservation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pH35cBLQJ24&feature=related
The boy in the video points to a thinner containers which he taught holds more water than the other container.
In the curriculum specification Mathematics Year 2, the pupils will be intorduced to the vocabulary such as full, half full, empty, fill up, more, less, much, holds more than, holds less than, hold about the same as, level and capacity. The terms are mentioned in the curriculum specification.
Year 2 pupils will be taught using non-standard units first before moving to standard units such as a litre. Using non-standard units the teacher could introduce the term full, half full and empty to the pupils easily as they will ignore the exact capacity of the volume. This is to ensure that the pupils understand the terms effectively before moving to exact measurement.
The learning objectives are as follow:
1. Understand and use the vocabulary related to volume of liquid.
2. Measure and compare volumes of liquids by direct comparison and by using uniform nonstandard units.
3. Measure and compare volumes of liquids using standard unit.
The sequence of learrning objectives have been carefully prepared by Curriculum Development Centre, Ministry of Education as it ranks from easy to complex. The pupils will be taught through these stages in order to acheive the objective being set.
TEACHING AIDS AND TEACHING ACTIVITIES
Teaching aids followed by teaching activities that I have been created to help the pupils learn better are as follow:
1. Liquid Wonderer
In this activities, the teaching aids use are real object such as plastic glass, mineral water bottles, plastic containers, and cups. The teacher prepare the object which are the same in size. For examples, when using plastic glass, all the glasses must be equal in size. Explanation on the term empty, half full and full must be done earlier so that the pupils will understand the term before they start playing the game. Liquid Wonderer is a fun learning activities whereby pupils will experience the measuring activity and the concept of empty, half full and full. The class might be a little bit wet but it is suggested that the activity could be done as an outdoor activity. The pupils will be working in groups and the groups will be provided with objects mentioned earlier. They fill up the containers to match the concept being taught by the teacher.
For each group, the teacher prepare a kit entitled "Liquid Wonderer". The kit consists of three mineral water bottles with caps on, some juice, a task sheet, and three word card ( full, half full and empty) and picture cards for low acheiver learners. The purpose of having the caps on the bottles is to avoid spilt of the juice. Juice is uses because at the end of the lesson the pupils are allowed to drink the juice as a reward for acheiving the lesson objectives.
For high achiever learners, the teacher uses inquiry learning styles whereby the pupils explore on their own the terms and check their finding with the teacher and as for low achiever learners, they will be given picture cards to guide them. For example, the term half full is shown in a picture card. The pupils look at the picture card before measuring the liquid accordingly.
2. Power Point Slides
The slides helps with explanation on the concept of full, half full and empty to the pupils. The slides can be use as class presentation or individual navigation. The teaching slides explain the concept clearly and several slides have been inserted with hyperlink whereby the pupils could click on the link provided to get immediate response to their answer. Immediate response is crucial as it helps and motivate the pupils to learn better. Making mistakes is the process of learning thus teacher must be patient especially when dealing with young learners.
For high achiever learners, the slides could be explore individually or in pairs as they are excellent pupils. More slides must be prepared by the teacher and a few link to the internet must be provided to help the pupils surf more information after going through the slides.
For low achiever learners, the teacher will guide them all the way as not to divert their attention on achieving the objective. These learners need more attention from the teacher not only because they are slow but at the same time they might get confused with the concept.
3. Worksheet
A very simple worksheet for low achiever pupils, are drawing and colouring. For example, the pupils need to draw and colour to indicate the concept of full, half full and empty. Drawing and coloring will help the pupils to master the concept as it is a fun way of learning Mathematics. It is an integrated learning whereby the teacher intergrated art in the process of learning.
For high achiever pupils, despite from doing the same thing, questions posed could be in multiple choice questions. Many worksheet could be downloaded from the internet and the process will help the teacher to save time on creating own worksheet.
The following link show a worksheet whereby the pupils estimates the volume and then measure the accurate volume. This worksheet is suitable for high achiever pupils. Making estimation will enhance the process of learning for these learners.
CONCLUSION
The teacher must be creative in order to attract the pupils attention to the process of learning. Using low cost teaching aids and easy to get objects are suggested to be used in the classroom as the pupils themselves could experience the same situation in their real life. Teaching Mathematics is not only for preparing the pupils to get ready for formal examination but instead to prepare the pupils to deal with real life situation.
