{"id":17731,"date":"2014-10-22T11:54:45","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T15:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/?p=17731"},"modified":"2014-10-22T11:54:45","modified_gmt":"2014-10-22T15:54:45","slug":"munching-the-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/2014\/10\/22\/munching-the-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"Munching the Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Debra Schleef’s students got a sweet assignment this fall.<\/p>

\"Debra<\/a>
Debra Schleef, professor of sociology, turns her Quantitative Research Methods and Analysis course into the tastier “Candy Lab” each October. Photo by Norm Shafer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

And, if you don’t think learning about univariate statistics sounds sweet, think again. Chocolate changes everything.<\/p>

“I’m pumped to get started on this,” said senior sociology major<\/a> Lauren Boyle, who tore into a bag of M&M’s in a late-morning lab in Monroe 114.<\/p>

Each October Schleef, professor of sociology, turns her Quantitative Research Methods and Analysis course into the tastier “Candy Lab.” M&M’s add color to the curriculum and whet students’ appetites for concepts, like random probability sampling, that might otherwise seem tedious.<\/p>

Working in pairs, Boyle and her classmates ripped open bags of the button-shaped morsels and set aside 50 pieces. Schleef let them slurp up the extras – with one caveat.<\/p>

“Randomly eat them,” she said. “Don’t eat only one color, or you’ll ruin the results.”<\/p>

They counted the green, red, yellow, brown, orange, and blue M&M’s in their bags, while Schleef drew equations on a whiteboard at the front of the class. The students then used the numbers to calculate mean and standard deviation.<\/p>

The most difficult part? Not devouring the data.<\/p>

\"Photos <\/a>
Photos by Cristina Pellegrino ’15 <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"DSC00140-(2)\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"DSC00149-(2)\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"DSC00132\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>

A computer can crunch the numbers in seconds, so those who took time to do the calculations by hand – and fully understand the concept – got extra credit. Later, Schleef explained how their results could be used to illustrate the central limit theorem and predict how often each color might occur in any given M&M’s package.<\/p>

It’s a mouthwatering exercise that lets students touch and taste theories instead of just reading about them in textbooks.<\/p>

“It’s a little bit goofy, but unique and fun,” said Schleef, who promises a pay-off at the end of class. “And [the students] get to eat the M&M’s after.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M&M’s give sociology students a taste for statistics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":17761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"umw_cb_additional_links":[[]],"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_advisory_expires_time":"","_advisory_meta_include":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,81],"tags":[66,89,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-17731","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-show","8":"category-umw-home","9":"tag-bio","10":"tag-dschleef","11":"tag-sociology","12":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMunching the Numbers - Great Minds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umw.edu\/greatminds\/2014\/10\/22\/munching-the-numbers\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lisa Chinn Marvashti\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/22\\\/munching-the-numbers\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/22\\\/munching-the-numbers\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lisa Chinn Marvashti\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/eab3b9dd084c2488474792f0c391b8e7\"},\"headline\":\"Munching the Numbers\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-22T15:54:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/22\\\/munching-the-numbers\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":344,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/22\\\/munching-the-numbers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/20\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/MM-Class-4_HP.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"bio\",\"Debra Schleef\",\"Sociology and Anthropology\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Show on Great Minds\",\"UMW Home Page\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/22\\\/munching-the-numbers\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/22\\\/munching-the-numbers\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.umw.edu\\\/greatminds\\\/2014\\\/10\\\/22\\\/munching-the-numbers\\\/\",\"name\":\"Munching the Numbers - 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