The M&M Project

 

 

So, here’s my next project…

 

So, I’m standing in the checkout line at Meijer looking around at the various distractions. And there, hidden among the Kardashian magazine covers and “Buy One, Get One” packs of gummy worms, I see candy… and math.

Apparently M&M’s have two sizes the “milk chocolate” ones (known ’round these parts as “regular” M&M’s) but also the “MEGA” sized ones that, according to the package are “3x the chocolate per piece” as the regular M&M’s.

Oh yeah. This is just ASKING for a classroom full of students to test this claim.

But, it’s one thing to have an idea. It’s another thing entirely to design the teacher and students moves that will do what we need to do.

I unleashed this conversation on my Facebook page and here’s what happened:

 

 

So, we couldn’t decide on a couple of issues: A. mass vs. volume, B. What to do with those colorful candy shells? (3x the chocolate was the claim, after all…)

So, now I ask you: Help me design a lab to test this claim with a classroom of high school students. The school year is coming up soon and activities like these help to not only help students apply their problem-solving procedures to something a bit more tangible, but also, it is activities like these that make the math class something students can look forward to.

I look forward to your input.