A favorite candy of many, M&M’S were a tool of learning in AB Calculus classes this week as students learned a new concept that wrapped up on Thursday.

“It’s representing a different math concept where there’s something inside another something,” teacher Kathryn Schalla said. “So we use the chocolate, and the shell, and then the peanut that’s inside.”

Students were learning a concept called chain rule, where they had to solve functions that are within other functions.

“I think this makes it a lot easier to remember because M&Ms are a thing that most of us are familiar with,” senior Vanessa Jara said. “It helps us visualize a difficult and unknown concept and put it into something we’re familiar and comfortable with.”

Schalla thinks teaching this way is beneficial because it helps students remember how to approach the problems.

“Students usually forget this concept of chain rule,” Schalla said. “Giving the M&Ms and the peanut M&Ms and all of that help them remember to actually do it, rather than just skipping or forgetting that process.”

She said that it has helped students in the past and believes it will help the students this year as well.

“We’ve been teaching it this way for a while and other schools do it too. I would say it has definitely worked,” Schalla said. “Most students actually write shell and chocolate and peanut on their paper, even on tests and quizzes and things, so I would say that it has definitely been beneficial to them. I see it all the time- they love it.”

Senior Caleb Faulkner believes that using this method has changed his perspective on what he was learning.

“I liked learning this way, not only because we got to eat M&Ms, but also because it simplifies a concept that seems so difficult,” he said.

Jara appreciates the teachers taking a different approach to learning.

“I’m going to use it on the tests and quizzes that we have coming up, and it is something that I think I’ll remember even in several months from now like on the AP test,” Jara said. “I’m really happy they taught it to us this way instead of just writing down formulas on paper. Plus, we also got to eat M&Ms, so that’s always a plus.”