This activity has students collect QUALITATIVE and QUANTITATIVE DATA about the candy in a mixed pack, such as Skittles or M&Ms. There are many candy activities out there, but none quite covered the quantitative and qualitative skills I wanted my middle school students to practice, so I designed my own! This lab is designed to be simple so that students can master beginner lab and data collection skills.

In this activity, students will:

• READ an article about the differences between qualitative and quantitative data, then answer follow-up "check for understanding" questions.
• PRACTICE basic lab skills such as following step-by-step directions and measuring mass.
• GRAPH their data in a bar graph.
• CALCULATE averages and percentages (with help and examples provided).
• ANALYZE their data and compare their results with peers.

Teacher Notes:

• Answer key provided.
• Please note that this resource is not editable.
• The only supplies you'll need are small packs of mixed-colored candy (we use Skittles), calculators, and balance or (preferably) digital scale.
• You may also be interested in our activity to Practice Identifying Variables.

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