M&M activity

To begin with each group will need the following;

1. A sack of Fun-Size bags of M&M's.
2. Small gummed labels.
3. Sharpie/Felt tipped pen.
4. Scissors.
5. Notebook
6. Pencil
7. Smart phone with a camera.

(1) Your sack of Fun Size M&M bags should have at least 10 small bags of M&Ms.  You will need at least 10 little bags for this activity.

If you cannot find Plain M&Ms, Peanut will do.  Be mindful if anyone in your group has a peanut allergy though.  If you can't even find Peanut M&Ms, then some other candy will work.  I've had students use Skittles, but the colors are different and the distribution of colors is different.  When you begin the process, you will need ten bags of the same type of candy and each bag of that candy must have a variety of colors.

(2) You will need gummed labels and (3) a Sharpie to number those gummed labels.

you will be using these labels to label 10 of your M&M bags as below:

You could possibly get by with masking tape and a pencil.  This would make it more difficult for me to read the picture your are going to take of this to prove that your group actually did the work.

You will also need (4) scissors to open each bag as below:

Yes, you could just rip it open. (WHY are you being so difficult?) If you rip it open, you might get carried away and spill the bag.  I know how you are under high-pressure situations.

Once you open the bag, you are going to sort the M&Ms by color, count them, and note the number of each color on a piece of paper like this:

The numbers along the top of the page correspond to the numbers you labeled each of the bags with.  The colors to the color of the M&Ms.  The first bag contains 1 red, 5 orange, 3 yellow, 5 green, 2 blue, and 2 brown M&Ms. You can read this off of the column labeled with a 1 at the top.  This is why you need the (5) notebook and the (6) pencil.  Yes, you could carve it in clay with a stick if you like, but isn't this way easier.

I would advise you to wash your hands before you start counting because you are going to eat them afterwards and if you don't wash your hands first you might catch something, but this is up to you.

Oh, yes, this will need to be done in such a way to document that you did it as a group.  Using a smartphone with a camera would be the easiest way.  Some of you Facebook funerals, for Heaven's sake, so you ought to be able to come up with a smartphone among you or your friends.

Your complete assignment will be the data that you've collected and some documentation that provides evidence that everyone took part in some way. I leave this up to you.