Hands on Activity: Differential Equations with M&Ms
This experiment will show the effects of death and migration on a population. It uses M&Ms to represent the people in the population. Student will record how many M&Ms will be left after each step for 10 trials. The goal is for the student to learn how death and migration effect population. The student will also learn how differential equations can save time and effort.
It is important to engage your students, and this fun activity is the best way to intrigue your students in math. With a partner, students will use death and migration with their M&Ms to complete the activity. As a class the teacher will talk about plugging their data into Mathematica to show how differential equations can be easy and save a lot of time.