Candy Circle Graphs

PART 1: How many M & M's are there in this mystery bag?

Teacher notes:
Hold up an unopened bag of candy and ask the students how many M & M’s are there in this mystery bag? How can we find out without opening the bag?

One way to find out is to do an experiment.

Divide the class into an appropriate number of groups. Give each group a bag of M & Ms. (Don't give out the mystery bag! You'll need that for later.) Ask them to first guess what they think the number of pieces there are in their bag. Write those guesses on the board.

Name of student	Guess

Have them open their bag and count them.

Write down their counts in a table on the board.

Name of student	Guess #1	Number of M&Ms

Have the students (in their groups) find the following "landmarks" for the class total amounts in their bag.

minimum
maximum
range
median
mean

Which of these landmarks will give you a good estimate for how many there are in the mytery bag?
Have the students revise their guesses based on their analysis.

Name of student	Guess #1	Number of M&Ms	Guess #2

Have the students explain why they revised their initial guesses.

Part 2