Finding The Volume of Laptops
How has the volume of laptops changed over time? You know you want to check out how huge those first lappys were!
Objective
Students will calculate the volume of laptops throughout history using the formula for the volume of a rectangular prism.
Students will:
- Find five laptops from across history (this Wikipedia page is a nice starting point) and jot down essential information using a graphic organizer like this.
- Calculate the volume of their five laptops, estimating them as rectangular prisms.
- Pick their two favorite laptops sketch them using this cool, triangular dot grid paper to create accurate, 3d scaled drawings.
- Explore shapes with equivalent volumes. That is, they're going to redistribute the volume of one of their laptops into a new, 3D shape. Same volume, different dimensions.
- Actually build two of their sketches: the laptop's original dimensions and then a model of the reconfigured dimensions with an equivalent volume.
Naturally, students can continue extending this idea by finding equivalent volumes of other items or building on the marketing of their "new laptop design."