Provide each of your students with a handful of multicolored candies. Make sure that the students have at least one of three or more different colors.
Instruct the students to divide the provided candies by color. They should have three or more groups.
Instruct them to draw a chart with two columns and the number of rows that corresponds with the number of color groups. Ask the students to write the colors in the first column with one color in each row. Ask the students to count the number of candies of each color and record the number in the second column.
Instruct your students to add up the total number of candies and divide the number by the number of color groups. This is the mean -- or average -- number of candies in each color group.
Instruct your students to review the information from the chart that you created during the mean calculation.
Have the students list the number of candies in each color group at the bottom of the piece of paper.
Ask the students to arrange the numbers in order from lowest to highest. Instruct the students to find the number in the middle of the series. If there is no true middle in the series, you will need them to identify the middle two numbers. Subtract the lowest number of the two from the highest number; divide this amount in half and add it to the lowest number. This is the median -- or middle -- number in the series.
Instruct the students to review the data from the column that they created in the mean section.
Ask the students to determine if the number of candies in a group is the same for more than one color.
Instruct the students to write down the number that occurs most frequently. This value will be the mode of your data series.