Which holds more: filling and pouring · Concept Studio

The idea

A container's capacity is how much it holds, found by filling it and pouring into another, and a tall container does not always hold more than a short one.

Safety card

Low riskAn adult supervises

Hazards

spilt rice makes floors slippery

Controls

work over a tray and sweep up spills at once

Note

No chemicals or heat are used, so the NSW Department of Education Chemical Safety in Schools package is not needed; ordinary classroom supervision under the school's usual risk management.

What you need

4 clear containers of different shapes: a tall narrow jar (about 250 mL), a short wide bowl (about 500 mL), a plastic cup (250 mL) and a yoghurt tub (1 L)
2 kg of dry rice in a large tub
a small scoop for filling, a funnel and a tray to catch spills

How to do it

Look at the tall jar and the wide bowl. Predict which holds more and say why.
Fill the tall jar to the brim with rice. Pour it all into the bowl. See whether the bowl overflows or has space left. Then fill the bowl and pour it into the jar.
Repeat step 2 for every pair of containers and order all four from holds least to holds most.
Say the order you found in words and name any two containers that hold about the same.

What you should see

Rice poured from the full tall jar fits inside the bowl with room to spare, so the bowl holds more although it is shorter. The tall jar and the cup (both about 250 mL) each nearly fill the other or only just overflow it, so they hold about the same. The final order is tall jar and cup (about equal), then bowl, then tub.

What changes

This activity lists no variables to change, measure and keep the same.

Common misconceptions

Each of these ideas is wrong, and the activity is a chance to test it.

The taller container always holds more.
The container that looks fuller holds more, even when the containers are different sizes.

Curriculum references

The NSW syllabus outcomes and Australian Curriculum v9 codes this activity supports. They are references, not a verified or complete curriculum alignment.

Mathematics K-10 Syllabus (2022), NSW Education Standards AuthorityMAE-3DS-02 MAO-WM-01
Australian Curriculum v9AC9MFM01

Sources

The pages the author read to write this activity.