Classroom
Organisation Options:
- a packet for each group of three students under pain of death on
eating any before investigation complete
- a packet for the teacher ONLY who demonstrates tally systems and
eats the occasional M&M for effect :)
Use 'Create
a Graph' to graph the results of your investigation.
NB
Be sure to explore inappropriate graph types & why!
Possible
Question Stems:
-
What colour do you think will have the most M&Ms in the packet?
- What colour do you think will have the least number in the packet?
- What surprising results did you discover?
- Which colour was most prevalent?
- Which colour was least prevalent?
- There are about 1/2 as many Yellow M&Ms as Blue. True or
False?
- Which group has more than...?
- Which group has almost the same amount?
- How many more...?
- What is the total amount of M&Ms in this packet? How did
you arrive at this number?
Further
Investigations:
-
Is there a correlation between children's least favourite M&M
and the amount of that colour in a pack?
- Design a questionnaire that has your classmates rate M&Ms
from their favourite to least favourite colour. Graph the results
of this questionnaire. - What surprising correlations did you
find?
- Hook up with another school and compare results. The Internet
is a wonderful place!
Sensational
Headlines - "There are lies, damn lies & statistics"
-
Encourage your students to make up 'outrageous' statement based
on the results of this graph and discuss. - I'm thinking something
about 'boys' colours might be a nice place to start.
