How many licks does it take to get to the tootsie center of a Tootsie Pop?
One of my absolute favorite lessons in AP Statistics was the Tootsie Pop Lab. This lab emphasizes how to estimate the ACTUAL average amount of licks it takes to get to the center. Will this question ever be answered!? Non-Statisticians would tell you "nah", but the real Statisticians would use inference mathematics. In this realm, we can get pretty close to the actual answer by providing a range of possible answers that could be true - what Statisticians call a Confidence Interval.
A big idea running through the veins of Statistics is the idea of an unknown parameter - the ACTUAL population value. Example questions we could answer that have these unknown parameters would be...
- What proportion of the world is covered in water?
- What is the average life expectancy in the United States?
- What is the average number of books teens read?
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| Clearly they were into it! |
Clearly, it would be a challenge to find the ACTUAL percentage of the world covered in water or the actual average life expectancy, but we can get reallllllly close by taking sample measurements and drawing conclusions from there - i.e. finding a statistic!
In Statistics, it's about getting on the dart board - not the bull's eye!
This lab teaches students this very idea! We may never really know the answer, and THAT'S OKAY! Using inference to draw conclusions is what mathematics can yield - and even better, we can provide plausible answers! It's a rare glimpse into the power and insight that only mathematics can provide.
Activity: Tootsie Pop Lab
Essential Question:
How can I estimate the true average amount of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?
Materials:
- Tootsie Pop Presentation - Google Slides (click Use Template for your own copy!)
- Tootsie Pop Analysis - Padlet (click Remake if you want to use it!)
- Student Notes - Google Sheet (click [Make a Copy] and now it's in your Drive!)
- Flipgrid - create 1 topic in Flipgrid where students can post their reflection asnwers
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| Possible Student Google Sheet |
Provide students with the directions about licking their lollipop and remind them to lick in the SAME SPOT. You'd be surprised how into it your students get. I recommend putting them in partners, especially if you have a student who doesn't like lollipops.
As students begin to find their center, have each student enter in their number of licks on the Google Sheet. I highly recommend using Google Classroom to help you share information with students. You'll be sharing the Sheet, Flipgrid, and Padlet with them.
PRO TIP: In Google Sheets, type "=" to get the formulas to work. For example, "=average(...)" and then students can select all the trials at once. It works similarly for the others.
As students begin to find their center, have each student enter in their number of licks on the Google Sheet. I highly recommend using Google Classroom to help you share information with students. You'll be sharing the Sheet, Flipgrid, and Padlet with them.
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| Teacher Presentation (other slides included) |
PRO TIP: In Google Sheets, type "=" to get the formulas to work. For example, "=average(...)" and then students can select all the trials at once. It works similarly for the others.
Take-Aways:
- The "homework" for the evening is not practice problems at all! It's all about reflecting on what they discovered in class. Students recalled previous information to see how it fits in to their new content.
- Students LOVE candy (surprised about that?)
- Students enjoyed working with REAL DATA! It's not made-up numbers from a textbook or internet. It was personal. They were the data.
- Putting them in partners helped them find formulas in Google Sheets quickly and allowed them to process their ideas out loud.
- Why I used Padlet: helps students collaborate all at once in an easy way. Students can add voice notes, drawings, text, links, and photos for everyone in the class to see. This allows students to express their learning in a variety of ways that best fits them.
- Why I use Flipgrid: Students can post their reflection questions after the lessons and hopefully hear from other students. This way, students can respond to each others questions and really utilize peer feedback. This develops a community in the classroom, because we are all learning together.
Interested in the answer my students found? Check it out!
Before my district had Chromebooks for every student, I used Fathom to gather all of the data from my classes last year. Here is what we've discovered!
My students were really surprised that both classes had an average close to 330 licks.
My students were really surprised that both classes had an average close to 330 licks.
Our Class Average amount of licks: 333.629 licks
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| My Class Data (2016) |
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