The Case of the Gummy Bears
Elena gifted Ms. Shemo a pack of Gummy Bears because Ms. Shemo likes to eat them. However, there were too many Gummy Bears for one person!!
Ms. Shemo said we can share the bears if we can estimate, measure and use what we have learned in Math to solve the problems she provided. The students agreed.
First, we estimated how heavy the packet of Gummy Bears were. Each student shared their best guess.
We needed to compare the weight of another object to see if we can improve on our estimation.
We weighed a pencil. It was 4 grams. The students held the two objects in their hands to compare the weight of each object.
Then, they decided to change their initial estimate (blue) and shared a new estimate (red).
Then, we weighed 1 bear.
It was 2 grams, 3 bears were 7 grams and 5 bears were 10 grams.
Next, we weighed ALL the bears in the packet. They weighed 200 grams!!! Steve had the closest estimate (150g)
We wondered how many bears were in the pack.
We estimated how many bears there might be. The students agreed that if 1 bear was 2grams, then 200grams would be 100 bears.
If this was so, the students decided that they will share the bears equally:
- each student (17) will get 5 bears
- each teacher (3) will get 5 bears
Unfortunately, there were ONLY 90 bears!
We had to rethink our plan.
After much discussion and problem-solving (+, x, ÷), the students agreed on the following:
- each student will get 4 bears
- Mr. Mike, Mr. Matt, Ms. Shemo, Ms. Jennie and Ms. Cindy (as she helped us with the memory book) will get 4 bears each
- Mr. Snyder will get 2 bears
The students were happy to chew on their yummy treat after all the thinking and problem-solving they had done!
