Misconception on Capacity

       Many children come to school with some concept of length and some vocabulary associated with it.  But have very little idea on capacity.  While perceptual comparisons can be made between two containers, young children often make the comparisons on length ( to be exact, the height ) rather than on capacity.  When asked which holds more, the tall container or a short container, most children will choose the taller container even if the shorter one actually holds more.  Thus, it is best to begin the study of capacity by using direct comparisons.

          Eliminating mathematic misconceptions is difficult and merely repeating a lesson or extra practice will not help. Telling students were they are mistaken will not work either. Recognizing student misconceptions and immediately focusing a discussion on the misconception is important. Providing guiding questions using inductive reasoning is the best approach.

         The Tallest Container Always has the Greatest Volume

This a misconception caused by visual perception. Also they learn this from eating in fast food restaurants and similar locations that display cup sizes. The tallest cup always holds more, because of the way they are displayed.  Look at the picture below, sometimes even adult will also hard to estimate the volume of the container below.

                              These two kind of bottle will makes student have misconception on capacity

• The best way to eliminate this problem is to have students fill tall containers with water and then pour the water into a shorter container which has the same volume. This is a difficult misconception to break and even adults have issues with this misconception.  
• The most effective method of eliminating math misconceptions is to address them immediately when observed. This is imperative, so students do not carry these misconceptions any further and develop a better understanding of mathematics.

To make direct comparisons, we need some type of filler : water and sand are easy for young children.  Given a variety of container, children can fill one and pour it into the other to see which holds more.

Student are given 3 different types of glasses, and 2 different activities will be carried out, each for higher achiever and lower achiever student.  After the teaching activities, student are able to know which glass holds more water.