|
M |
M e d i a n |
M o d e |
, M&M's and more! |
Mean, median, and mode are used on a daily basis in many different jobs and lifestyles. One place it can effectively be used in is the area of health and fitness. Have you ever looked at or used the data found on the food or drink that you consume? This is something that is becoming an important part of our lives. It is important to know what you are putting into your body and what the effects it may have.
In this webquest, yourself and two others will form a group and head out into the wilderness of make believe for a backpacking adventure. During this trip your group will be expected to eat, drink, hike, and of course be healthy. Before you start your trip, you will be asked to practice calculating mean, median, and mode. Please be prepared for each member of the group to show their own calculations and work leading to the calculations.
PART 1
Using the "M&M Site" website link record the number of calories, total fat (in grams), and total carbohydrates (in grams) for each of the following types of M&M’s: Milk Chocolate, Peanut, Dark Chocolate, Minis, Wild Cherry, Almond, and Peanut Butter. You can get to each type of M&M's nutritional information by clicking on its name or the button next to it.
Check out the following websites about mean, median, and mode if you need a reminder on what they are and how to calculate them.
Now calculate the mean, median, and mode for the calories of the seven types of M&M’s.
Repeat this process for the total fat and then the total carbohydrates.
Next you will be answering some questions that are about your calculated values.
M&M Questions:
DIRECTIONS: For the following five questions first identify what the question is asking for (mean, median, or mode) and then give the answer.
1. What is the most common value for the amount of total fat?
2. What is the average value for the amount of total carbohydrates?
3. What is the most common value for the amount of calories?
4. What is the middle most value for the amount of total carbohydrates?
5. What is the average value for the amount of calories?
PART 2
You and two of your friends have decided to go on a backpacking trip. During your expedition, you will obviously need to eat and drink. On this backpacking trip, which will last approximately 240 minutes (4 hours), you have decided to bring some water and homemade trail mix (made with M&M's, pretzels, raisins, marshmellows, Cheese Nips, and peanuts) for each person in your group. Your job will be to determine the largest amount of trail mix each group member can consume during this trip so that none of you consume more calories than you will burn.
Suppose that one of you weighs 110 pounds, another weighs 140 pounds, and the last weighs 170 pounds. As a group, decide who will take on the role of each person. This does not have to be determined based on your actual weight.
Click on the "Nutritional Facts" link below to see a list of the trail mix ingredients and their nutritional values. Using this link AND your calculated mean for the M&M's calories, compute the mean for the calories of all the ingredients used in the trail mix. Determining the mean for the calories of all the ingredients will give you the amount of calories in one serving of the trail mix. Bonus Question: Can you explain why this works?
Now, use the "Calorie Calculator" link below that calculates that amount of calories burned for various activities. Once you are there you will need to click on the “choose an activity” box, scroll down to backpacking, and click on it. Next, enter the amount of time in minutes that you and your friends will be backpacking. Once you have done that, your next step will be to enter the weight that you have chosen to use. Now click on the “compute” button to display the amount of calories burned. Record the amount of calories burned for each person.
Using the amount of calories in one serving of trail mix, and the amount of calories burned during backpacking determine how many servings of trail mix each group member can consume on the trip.
Good news! You have the hard work done. Now your group has to make a project that contains the following:
Your project can be a poster, book, brochure, or anything else your teacher approves.
Congratulations! You have just completed your webquest. I hope you enjoyed integrating math with fitness and health awareness. As you can see, math is and can be greatly beneficial to many other aspects of life. Health and fitness are two of the many common places we see and use math constantly. To learn more about how math and calories work in health and fitness, explore the Calorie Calculator and try using different activities and weights. By using math to monitor what you consume and what it does to your body, you will be able to determine, through numbers, a set goal or standard that you need to meet.