Making circle graphs: Exploring the distribution of flavors in a bag of Starburst
Purpose: To engage students in a fun, hands-on, inquiry-based activity that asks them to apply
what they have learned in the current math unit to answer a question and to introduce a way to
construct circle graphs with precision.
Instructional objectives:
Students will:
● apply their knowledge of fractions, decimals, and percents to explore the distribution of
flavors in a bag of Starburst candy.
● collaborate with classmates to devise their own procedure to explore/answer a question.
● create a table to organize the data they collect.
● present their findings by constructing a circle graph using the percent circle on their math
template.
● predict the distribution of flavors in the entire bag of candy based on their findings of a
subset of the bag of candy.
Assessment:
● Each group will complete a packet that requires them to record the question they are
exploring, their data, their predictions, and their findings.
● Individual students will construct their own circle graphs to be turned in.
● Students will mainly be assessed on their ability to recognize the necessary steps that
creating a circle graph requires in this context: determining the fraction of the whole that
each flavor represents and converting these fractions to percents.
● The students will turn in their completed worksheets which will be assessed more
formally with written feedback from the teachers.
● The teachers will informally assess students during the process while they circulate and
assist, looking at both how they are applying math knowledge and skills to the given task
and how they work in the groups with other students.
Materials: handouts, math templates, calculators, pencil, video from internet (SMART Board)
Activities:
Introduction/focus: 10 minutes
● To get the students thinking about questions they might have about the manufacturing
and packaging of bags of candy and to hook them into the lesson, I will show them a
video on the manufacturing and packaging of Jelly Beans.
● We will briefly discuss the following questions:
○
○
What did you find fascinating or surprising in the video?
What did you notice about the video and how Jelly Beans are made/packaged?
■ Each color is made separately and then the colors are mixed and put into
bags
○ Do you think each bag has the same amount of each color? Why or why not?
○ Do you think there’s an equal amount of each color in each bag?
Development:
● I will then present them with a big bag of Starburst candy and explain that we are
going to come up with and explore similar questions we have about the candy and the
distribution of flavors in this bag of Starburst.
○ Thinking about the video we just watched and drawing on your own interest and
ideas, what questions could we ask about this bag of Starburst?
● Is there an equal amount of each flavor in the bag?
● I will divide the bag into four groups so that each table can work with a subset of the
candy and handout the worksheet they will complete during class.
● As a table, students will work together to come up with a procedure to determine the
distribution of flavors in their pile of Starburst. (5-10 min)
● They will consider the following questions:
○ What are the steps you need to take to answer this question?
○ How can you organize the data you collect?
○ How can you present your findings to share with the class?
● In their groups, students will first brainstorm what pieces of information they need to
collect. Then they will agree on a procedure to collect this data and answer their question.
(30 min)
● Students should include the following information:
a. Total number of Starbursts in their pile
b. Number of each flavor in their pile
c. Fraction of the pile that each flavor represents
d. Percent of the pile that each flavor represents
e. They might also want to list the decimal equivalent of the fraction
Sample Table to organize the above information:
Flavor
# in bag
Fraction
Strawberry
Cherry
Lemon
Orange
Total
Decimal
Percent
●
●
Students will then work together to collect this data and fill out their tables.
Finally, students will present their findings by constructing a circle graph using the
Percent Circle on their Math Template (10-15 min)
● They will consider the following questions before they construct their graphs:
○ How many sectors must the graph have?
○ How should the sectors be labeled or colored?
○ What is the title of your graph?
Closure/follow-up:
● Once each group finishes determining the percentage of each flavor in their pile of
Starburst, we will come back together as a class to determine the percentage of each
flavor in the entire bag
● The students will make predictions based on their own findings (5 min)
○ How do you think the percentages your table found compare to the percentages of
each flavor in the whole bag?
○ They will sketch a circle graph of what they think the distribution of flavors is in
the whole bag based on their findings.
● We will then make a class data table. (5 min)
● Finally, students will construct a circle graph representing the distribution of the four
flavors in the entire bag. (10-15 min)
● Students can finish this for HW if there is not enough time in class.