Lyrics

Chorus
Pump up the volume, pump up the classroom
Everybody’s sucking up skills like a vacuum
How big is the sun? How big is the moon?
Come on everybody let me here you pump up the volume
We’ve got three dimensions that we’re dealing with
Everybody feeling this? ‘Cause you know it’s not a myth
That we’re leaving flat shapes behind
Now we’ve got cubes and cones and cylinders on our mind full time

Verse I
When you’re measuring a cube you can’t measure it wrong
‘Cause every single little side of it is equally long
So to calculate the volume it’s pretty simple, you see?
Take any side of it and raise it to the power of three
A rectangular prism is just a little bit harder
We’re gonna stretch your knowledge of it just a little bit farther
First you wanna check the angles are right (90º)
And then you multiply the length times the width times the height

Chorus

Verse II
Next is the cylinder, but don’t be scared
It’s just the height times π times the radius squared
For the Volume of a cone, division is key
You take the height times πr² but then divide it by 3
Last but not least we’ll examine a sphere
Like the sun or the moon or the bubbles in your root beer
After our research, we must conclude
That it’s 4∕3 × πr³

Resources

Further Reading

Website: Math.com
Volume Formulas
This page provides the formulas to find the volumes of several different shapes.

Website: Math Open Reference
Volume of a Cube
This website explains how to find the volume of a cube.

Website: Math Open Reference
Volume of a Cylinder
this website explains how to find the volume of a cylinder.

Lesson Plans & Activities

Website: ABCTeach
Volumes and Areas (PDF)
This worksheet has formulas for finding the volume, area and surface area of various shapes.

Website: Education World: The Educator’s Best Friend
Investigating Volume
In this hands-on lesson, students “discover” the concept of volume. They will learn the concept by using math manipulatives to measure volume.

Website: Illinois Institute of Technology
Volume and Surface Area
This activity teaches students the difference between volume and surface area.