A SWEET WAY TO TEACH STUDENTS ABOUT THE SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF THE MEAN

In this article, eve describe a hands-on, in-class demonstration using M&M's(R) candy to illustrate the concept of the sampling distribution of the mean. With the class serving as the population, each student r eceives a small package of M&M's. The instructor draws samples from th e population and constructs an actual sampling distribution. Students in two statistics courses received either the M&M demonstration or a c omparable demonstration using a textbook example. They rook a quiz on their knowledge and rated their attitudes toward the demonstration. Re sults indicated that students who participated In the M&M demonstratio n answered more questions correctly on the quiz believed they had lear ned more, enjoyed class more, and had fewer negative feelings toward t he demonstration than those who received the textbook example demonstr ation.