Overview

This part introduces key concepts of volume measurement and illustrates common misconceptions students have about what volume is.

Key Points

• The term “volume” can be confusing for students because its mathematical meaning is different from other meanings of the word used in everyday life.
• A true understanding of volume goes beyond the definition or formulas—it also involves a spatial-visualization component. When students’ 3-D spatial ability is not well developed, they often confound volume and surface area measurement.
• Foundational concepts of measurement include: understanding of the attribute, conservation, transitivity, equal partitioning, iteration of a standard unit, accumulation, origin, and relation between measurement and number.
  • Accumulation is the idea that the object being measured can be broken into pieces, the measure of each piece (e.g., the volume of each piece) can be found, and those measures (e.g., volumes) can be added together to equal the measure (e.g., volume) of the whole object.
  • The relationship between measurement and number is valuable. When learning about volume measurement, for example, work on volume is a good way to understand multiplication of three numbers, and work on multiplication of three numbers can help support an understanding of volume.