Smarties

Pupils are given a selection of Smarties e.g. a tube, a box, a fun size box etc...

A good start is to ask pupils about the ‘Maths of a Smartie’ and see what ideas they come up with.

Suggestions include making tables of the different colours, average colours, comparing small with big, how long it takes to suck a Smartie until it disappears, how many calories in one Smartie, value for money....

The style of this task is very investigational and the students are left to get on to see what they produce.

They can display their findings in the format of a poster.

What Maths is involved? Sorting, Planning, Concluding, Explaining , Scale drawing, Displaying and interpreting data, Graphs and charts, Scatter diagrams, Averages skills, Fractions and percentages, Surface area and volume of 3D shapes (including an elliptical spheroid), Value for money / Proportion, Probability and expectation

Resources: A selection of Smarties and containers, Materials for display

Reflection: Make sure that the pupils have explained all their findings on their poster with step by step workings.

How do they know that they are correct?

How could they extend this?

Possible extension: A few pupils decided to investigate elliptical spheroids and find the volume and surface area. Pupils could then work out percentage changes.

This task can also be extended to different chocolate bars etc...

Possible support: The basic bars and charts using the different colours are great for support work and also finding simple averages.