(Old) Bottled Water

What’s the best size of disposable water bottle?

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(Old) Bottled Water

What’s the best size of disposable water bottle?

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A newer, better version of this lesson is available! Explore all updated lessons here, or read more about the updates in Our Community.

2023-2024 Versions

In the fall of 2024, Citizen Math released updated versions of every lesson in our library, plus a few new ones! We know you may have already prepped an earlier version or planned a repeat of last year, so we're continuing to make these earlier versions available through Thursday December 5, 2024.

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What’s the best size of disposable water bottle? Bottled water is one of the best-selling drinks on Earth. While disposable bottles offer a convenient way to stay hydrated, they also require a lot of plastic that can be harmful to the environment.

In this lesson, students use the volume and surface area of cylinders to compare disposable water bottles and consider environmentally-friendly ways to stay hydrated.

REAL WORLD TAKEAWAYS

  • Millions of tons of single-use plastic water bottles have ended up in the oceans and are wreaking havoc on wildlife
  • Our daily consumption habits, like what size and material water bottle to use, affect the well-being of the planet and a host of creatures living on it.
  • We can slow the flow of plastics into the oceans when we: (1) reduce, (2) reuse, (3) recycle, (4) repair, (5) rethink, (6) refuse.

MATH OBJECTIVES

  • Use the formulas for volume of a cylinder and volume of a sphere to solve real-world problems.
  • Model with geometry.
  • Reason about the surface area of a real-world object. (No formulas required.)

Appropriate most times as students are developing conceptual understanding.
Grade 8
Cones, Cylinders, Spheres
Grade 8
Cones, Cylinders, Spheres
Content Standards
Mathematical Practices

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