I am trying to teach my students to find the volume of a solid when they are given a picture. I have done lots of manipulative work and they are fine when they can hold and count the blocks. I am having trouble teachign my studnets how to find the volume of a solid when they are given a picture. Much like the one they would see on a test. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

For example, if you were measuring volume with unifix cubes, have the kids measure with manipulatives and then draw the unifix cubes onto the picture. Do this enough times to transfer into "Just draw the cubes."

Sounds silly but have them make the picture with the interlocking cubes (of many colors) then color the cubes on the paper differnent colors (just like the example they make). This will help them to notice you don't always see the back rows sometimes they are hiding.

I hope it helps. They are still using manipulative but it may be the next step before not using them at all.

teach them how to draw cubes first while using shading so you can turn it into an art project that way when they see the problems they can associate the problem with an art project and not so much like a math problem. It is a struggle I teach GED and this is the only thing that has worked.