Skittle Cores: Real-World Sampling

Teaching the Lab

How to recreate sampling in the classroom.

Lesson Plans

Complete instructions for the lab, for several grade levels.

Lab Sheets

• Word version PDF version2nd-grade lab sheet

• Word version PDF version5th grade and older lab sheet

• Word version PDF versionOptional worksheet, extrapolating to whole cake

• Word version PDF versionOptional worksheet, calculating median, mean and mode

• Download Adobe Reader

Extended Activities

• Word version PDF versionCalculating population density

• Word version PDF versionGraph sheet for population samples

• Word version PDF versionSample core data, based on Antarctic samples

Forams from the exercise

What do the Skittles represent?