BP8_RILS Publication

A Student's Project

Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario

Jessica Kellogg

Brief Overview: Take your students on a ride through an M&M filled statistical journey. In groups they will analyze bags of M&Ms to see if the proportions that the company claims for each color are really true. Then they will present their fun findings using Glogster.

1. Target Audience- Ninth grade students ages 14-15 at Brush High School (18 total).
2. Materials–

·       Computer with Internet access

·       Medium sized bags of Original M&Ms (one bag for every 3 students)

·       Small bathroom paper cups (6 for each group)

·       Food serving disposable gloves (a pair per student)

·       Pencils

·       Calculators

·       M&Ms Worksheet for Students

·       M&Ms Fun Fact sheet for teacher

3. Objectives At the end of this fun activity, students will be able to…

·       Describe the probability of each color of a bag of plain M&Ms.

·       Convert fractions to percents.

·       Construct a visual representation using www.chartgizmo.com

·       Compare and contrast their findings with the M&M factory claims.

·       Create a Glog.

·       Explain their findings about their bag of M&Ms to the class.

·       Critique themselves in reflection about the whole process and the outcome.

4. Procedure–

a)      Opening Activity:

1.     Students will enter the room and draw a card from a deck of cards.

2.     Then students with the same number card will form groups of three.

3.     In each group will be a student with a card that is of the diamond suite. And that student will come collect a worksheet for their team and a bag of M&Ms.

4.     The person with a card that is of the club suite will get gloves for everyone and 6 cups for their team.

5.     The person with a card that is of the heart suite will be the scribe of the group.

6.     Each team will come up with a team name and put everyone’s names on the paper.

b)     Body of the Class:

1.     I will start by asking each team to put their supplies (except the worksheet) in the center of the group’s table so that nothing is a distraction.

2.     I will review Probability with the students as they have seen it before in Algebra class.

1.     We will use real data and find the probability that a boy or girl in our class would get called down to the office.

3.     Students will practice finding the probability and converting it to a fraction, decimal and percent.

4.     Then a student will read the M&M scenario

1.     “Today your team will be analyzing a bag of M&Ms. Recently there has been some complaints about the amount of each color that comes in a bag of regular M&Ms. People have been saying that the colors are unfairly proportioned. Your team has been called upon to research this claim in an unbiased manner. To do this your team must wear gloves while handling the evidence, not eat the evidence, and present the findings in a professional manner. Follow the steps below. Good Luck!!!”

5.     All students will wear their gloves before opening the M&Ms and they are not to eat anything until the activity is done.

6.     Students will follow the order of the steps on the worksheet that will take them through their M&M adventure.

1.     Step One: Students will each pick two colors to be in charge of and they will count how many there and then add them all to find out the total so that the scribe may record this.

2.     Step Two: Then students will create a pie chart of their data by going to www.chartgizmo.com It is a free account that they already would have made and only one person needs to log in while the other students help by reading aloud the data values. Then they will save and minimize that window.

3.     Step Three: Students will use their calculators to find the probability of getting each color. They will each find the probability of the same two colors they counted in the beginning. They can use the calculators to convert this into a percent so that the scribe may record them.

4.     Step Four: The students will go to www.glogster.com and open one of their Glogster accounts to create a virtual poster that has their team name, their pie chart, their findings, probabilities, and a final conclusion statement. This will be used to present to the whole class at the end of the activity. 

c)      Closure

1.     As each group is presenting their Glog I will be recording the values into a Google doc so that they can see all of them at once.

2.     After each group has presented their Glog I will put up the google doc and read aloud the M&Ms fun fact sheet, which gives the breakdown of the colors in each bag.

3.     Students will then add a paragraph to their Glog where they will compare their findings to the actual break down and their findings to the class’s findings. This will give them a chance to reflect on what their experiments gave them. They will have to include a reason for why the experiments were not all of the same and reflect on anything that they could have changed to get better results next time.

5. Web 2.0 Tool– My students will be using Glogster to make online posters to present their findings. This program is great for having students work together to create an exciting and unique presentation piece that they can all access from anywhere since it is on the Internet. If you would like to see how amazing it is for yourself visit here: www.glogster.com
6. Social Participation/Social Learning– The students will be working in small groups of three. Each person has a job to do in order to have the group run smoothly. They are all participating in the whole process of the activity. After they collect data, the students will be working together to create their Glog. In their groups they will be creating a visual representation of the breakdown of each color in the M&M bag. As a team they must come up with unique ways to present their findings and combine their ideas into one professional Glog to present to the class.
7. Making Connections– This activity is made to bring together a variety of knowledge and connections. The point is to use what they know to make real life connections that will go well beyond the classroom.

a) Previous Knowledge: Students have already worked with percents, fractions and decimals. They were able to use this when they were finding the probability of each color and converting it into a percent.

b) Relevance: This is relevant because a lot of companies, including M&Ms, give their data in percents. If the students did not know what it meant or how to compare the data that was given, they would not be able to interpret it or use it in any meaningful way.

c) Local/Global: Students will know be able to interpret what a certain statistic means when they read it on a label. They will be able to make the mental connection with the experiment that they did today and realize how the probability was found. They will also get a real feel for theoretical versus experimental probability.  This will be of great value when they outside of the classroom analyzing a situation on their own.

8. Create/Produce – Each group will have a Glog that will document their whole experimenting process. It will also include multiple representations of data such as a pie chart, tables, and calculations. The final part of it will be their reflection so that anybody looking at their Glog can get a full picture of what they learned.
9. Assessment:

Making A Poster : Glogster M&Ms
Teacher Name: Mrs. Kellogg
Student Name:     ________________________________________
CATEGORY	6			4		2			0
Collecting Data	Used time well during class. Got all of the M&Ms counted and divided in a timely manner. Never distracted others.			Used time well during class. Got most of the M&Ms counted and divided in a timely manner. Never distracted others.		Used some of the time well during class. Only some of the M&Ms were counted and divided in a timely manner. Occasionally distracted others.			Did not use class time to focus OR often distracted others.
ChartGizmo Pie Chart	Pie Chart included all of the M&M colors and labels. Chart was made in ChartGizmo.			Pie Chart included most of the M&M colors and labels. Chart was made in ChartGizmo.		Pie Chart included some of the M&M colors and labels. Chart was made in ChartGizmo.			Pie Chart did not include M&M colors and labels OR Pie Chart was not made.
Probability of the Colors	The probability of all 6 colors has been found and converted to percent form.			The probability of at least 4 colors has been found and converted to percent form.		The probability of at least 2 colors has been found and converted to percent form.			None of the probabilities were found OR none of them were converted to percent form.
Create a Glog	Create a Glog that presents what you found about the M&M claims. Include your pie chart and any comparisons.			Create a Glog that presents what you found about the M&M claims. Includes your pie chart but no comparisons.		Create a Glog that presents what you found about the M&M claims. Does not include your pie chart or comparisons.			Did not create a Glog.
Creativity on the Glog	Several of the graphics used on the poster reflect a exceptional degree of group creativity in their creation and/or display.			One or two of the graphics used on the poster reflect group creativity in their creation and/or display.		The graphics are made by the group, but are based on the designs or ideas of others.			No graphics made by the group are included.
Presenting to the Class	Group can accurately answer all questions related to facts in the Glog and present their findings to the class.			Group can accurately answer most questions related to facts in the Glog and present their findings to the class.		Group can accurately answer about 75% of questions related to facts in the Glog and present their findings to the class.			Group appears to have insufficient knowledge about the facts or findings used in the Glog.
Grammar	There are no grammatical mistakes on the Glog.			There is 1 grammatical mistake on the Glog.		There are 2 grammatical mistakes on the Glog.			There are more than 2 grammatical mistakes on the Glog.
Reflection	Group was fully able to reflect on the process and compare and contrast with the whole class' findings. This was written in a paragraph at the end of the glog.			Group was mostly able to reflect on the process and compare and contrast with the whole class' findings. This was written in a few sentences at the end of the glog.		Group was barely able to reflect on the process and compare and contrast with the whole class' findings. This was written in a sentence at the end of the glog.			Group was not able to reflect on the process and compare and contrast with the whole class' findings OR did not write at the end of their Glog.

10. Reflection:

a.     Learner Reflection: The students will reflect in their groups. They will discuss what their overall results were and compare them to the company’s claims. Then they will add a blurb on their Glog explaining what they found through the overall process. They will also write about what they felt while using the Web 2.0 tool Glogster.

b.     Educator Reflection: The teacher will look over the Glogs from each group. After grading and assessing them the teacher will consider if Glogster really enriched the lesson or if it was just used for technology sake? The teacher will compare how well the students got the concepts by reading their reflections as well. Finally the teacher will journal about what could be changed and what went well.

I THINK THAT THE RILS SCENARIO WENT AMAZING. MY STUDENTS LOVED IT EVEN THOUGH WE WERE WORKING IN A CLASSROOM DURING THE SUMMER WITH NO AIR CONDITIONING.