Overview

In this lesson, students learn how to use graphs to communicate information as they investigate color distribution in bags of M&M's.

Candy is dandy

Lesson plan information

Teacher guide

Objectives

• Students will be introduced to the concept of graphing.
• Students will record color distribution in a spreadsheet format.
• Students will utilize information obtained through hands-on research and analysis to write a research report.

Prerequisite skills

• Ability to use Microsoft Office Word to create a document including formatting and editing text
• Ability to create a Microsoft Office Excel worksheet, including creating formulas
• Ability to create presentations using Microsoft Office PowerPoint

How to begin

1. Introduce students to the concept of charting, and discuss why some data collections are better represented by bar charts, while others may be easier to interpret as line charts or pie charts. Explain that while there are no sure-fire rules that state which chart type to select for a particular data set, it is important to select a chart type which gets a message across in the most effective way. Bar charts, for example, allow for a comparison of values within a category, line charts emphasize a progression of change, and pie charts show the relationship of a part to the whole. Tell students that this lesson requires them to work with several bags of candy of differing weights. They will be sorting the contents of each bag by color, recording the number of candies for each color, and representing observations in both a worksheet table and several types of charts.
2. Students can use Internet Explorer to visit the M&M's Web page and take a virtual tour of the factory. They can send electronic mail to the company, indicating which colors they like best and which colors they would like to see in future bags of candies.
3. Encourage older students to summarize their research findings in a letter to the Consumer Affairs Department, M&M/Mars, 800 High Street, Hackettstown, NJ 07840-1503. Students can use Microsoft Word's Letter Wizard to get started.

Resources and web links

• M&M's Web page

Student activity

Description

You are going to conduct some market research about M&M's. First, you will sort and classify the contents of several bags of M&M's, summarize your findings on a worksheet created in Excel, convert the numbers into charts, and make predictions about color distribution in other bags of candy.

Step 1: color distribution

• Software: Microsoft Office Word
• What to do
  Work in pairs to gather data from several small-sized bags of M&M's or from two larger-sized bags

1. Before opening any bag of candy, take a guess about the colors you expect to find. Ask yourself:

• Do bags of equal weight have an identical number of candies?
• Are all colors represented equally, or are some more popular than others?
• Does color distribution remain constant, no matter how small or large the bag?

2. Record your answers in a Word document and save for later reference.

Step 2: create a worksheet

• Software: Microsoft Office Excel
• What to do
  Create an Excel spreadsheet with the data you have gathered

1. Open a worksheet in Excel. In cell A1, type the title "Candy Is Dandy!"
2. In row 3, beginning in cell A3, type the following headings:

• Colors
• Bag 1
• Bag 2
• Bag 3
• Bag 4
• Average

3. Type in the weight of the bags of M&M's in a comment. Here's how: Click in cell B3. From the Insert menu, choose Comment. Then, type the weight in the yellow pop-up box. Now, any time you move your cursor over that cell, the weight will appear.

Cell notes pop-up box in an Excel spreadsheet

4. In column A, beginning in cell A4, list all of the colors of M&M's you found in your bags.
5. Sort the list alphabetically: Highlight the cells. From the Data menu, choose Sort. Type "Total" in the cell below your last entry.
6. Now, you can format your worksheet in a variety of ways. From the Format menu, choose AutoFormat and select the format of your choice!

Step 3: add formulas

• Software: Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Excel
• What to do
  Add formulas to your spreadsheet

1. Enter the number of same-color M&M's in the corresponding cells, beginning with Bag 1. Use the AutoSum function to total your columns. Highlight cells B10:E10. From the Edit menu, Choose Fill, and then choose Right.
2. Now you can automatically calculate the average number of each color per bag. Click in cell F4, then type the formula =average(B4:E4). Highlight cells F4:F10. From the Edit menu, Choose Fill, and then choose Down. In the Average column, format cells so that a whole number (that is, no decimal places) is returned by using the Decrease Decimal button on the Formatting toolbar.
3. Interpret your data. Are some colors more numerous? Do all bags have the same number of candies? Compare your observations with the findings of students in other groups. Are the same colors more numerous from one group to another? Is color distribution consistent in bags of differing weights?

Step 4: create graphs

• Software: Microsoft Office Excel
• What to do
  Create two charts and add your data

1. Use the Chart Wizard in Excel to produce at least two different charts.
2. Choose the chart types that best represent the data, such as bar chart or column chart. You might chart the distribution of colors in a single bag or the total number of candies for all bags in your sample.
3. Highlight cells A3:E9. From the Insert menu, choose Chart. Click the Column chart type, and then click Next. Click the DataRange tab, and be sure Columns is selected next to Series In, and then click Next. In step 3 of the wizard (Chart Options), click the Titles tab. Add titles for the chart and its axes. Click the Gridlines tab, and experiment with gridline options. Choose a gridline that makes it easier to understand the data. Click the Legend tab, choose a location for the legend, and then click Next.
4. Use Excel to place the chart as an object on the original worksheet, so that worksheet entries are visible as you examine the chart.

Step 5: writing the report

• Software: Microsoft Office Word
• What to do
  Analyze your data and use Word to write up your report

In your report, do the following:

1. Describe:

• The research project
• The procedures you used to sort and count the candies
• What the data reveals about candy colors and color distribution

2. Compare your initial hypotheses about the average number of candies per bag (in Step 1) and the expected color distribution with actual survey results. Copy and paste spreadsheet and chart data into Word where appropriate.
3. Discuss the advantages/disadvantages of representing data in spreadsheet tables, column charts, bar graphs, or pie charts. For example:

• When is it best to use one chart type instead of another?
• What is the value of using more than one bag of candy to conduct this experiment?

This content is reprinted with permission from Microsoft. For additional content, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/education/default.mspx.