PLASTIC RECYCLING THROUGH EDUCATION:

Plastic cups for introducing Calculus

By making the various stages of plastic recycling capable of utilized as educational tools,
this could encourage plastic recycling on a global level.

What is envisioned is using recycled plastic to teach Calculus.

This is done by means of using cleaned plastic cups and using them in classrooms to teach how
to determine the volume of the cup. This can be done by using plastic pellets from recycling,
heating them in water, and forming them in disks of radii matching the various radii of the cup,
as best shown in the diagram below. By placing the disks in the cup, students can visualize with
the manipulative that the volume is approximately equal to the sum of the disks added to the
key.

Examples of equations that could learned with this exercise as a foundation:

DV=Adz = πr(z) dz

V = π ∫ r(z) dz

∑ πr(z) dz