Creating Popcorn Containers

I love taking boring problems from the book and turning them into fun learning experiences. A boring word problem was the beginning of this task.

The actual prompt (which I can’t seem to find anymore) gave two popcorn containers, one a cylinder and one a cone, and asked the relationship between the volumes.

I saw an opportunity to construct three-dimensional figures AND eat popcorn. Oh yeah, we could discover the formula for the volume of a cone and have some great mathematical conversations too.

I’ve been doing this project for quite a few years. I originally posted it on my Infinitely Teaching blog. I have updated the Google Slide I give to students and I now encourage them to begin with the cone and move to the cylinder. This simplifies the process significantly.

Here are some pictures of our recent process. My favorite comment overheard by a student was “This is so much fun!” I want math to be fun so this is a success.

Here is a link to the Google Slide I give students with instructions and a scoring guide. If you use this, please let me know about it. It makes my day when others find my contributions useful!