How to Measure a Liquid Volume Using Graduated Cylinder

INTRODUCTION




Liquid has no fix dimension. The volume of liquid depends on the shape or size of the container that used to hold it. It is always a challenging task for Year One (1) or Year two (2) students to comprehend and adopt the right method to determine the capacity or volume of liquid in their mathematics class. Many times, student would only make comparison based on the container’s height, size or shape rather than liquid capacity. These misconceptions are derived from their pre-school knowledge and limited experience with numbers or object’s capacity in their everyday lives. They are only able to differentiate the volume of object by visual and make conclusion with non-standard mathematical unit such as big, small, more, less and same. However, they are not trained to use logical approach or scientific method to measure the volume of liquid. These misconceptions will hinder their learning process and indiretly reduce their interest and confidence in later higher level of mathematical lesson. To overcome these misconceptions, it is imperative for teacher to provide tangible teaching experience, create practical teaching aids and develop some creative teaching activities to instill student with a right concept. It is also noted that providing guiding questions using inductive reasoning in activities is the best approach to correct their misconceptions.