Teaching MC=MR with M&M’s. Winner of the best M&M’s graph – 2025

On Friday we had our annual Yr 13 M&M’s graph competition. Having just completed Perfect and Imperfect Competition with my Year 13 class I used a couple of packets of M&M’s to drum home the concept of marginal analysis MC=MR. It has always been something that students have struggled with but I am hoping this experience of creating graphs with M&M’s might help their understanding and when to use the concept. There is a three way process for learning about this theory:

• Students complete worksheets / multiple-choice questions that test their knowledge of the curves that make up the graphs.

• Students draw the graphs on A3 size whiteboards

• Students construct graphs using M&M’s

Profit is maximised at the rate of output where the positive difference between total revenues and total costs is the greatest. Using marginal analysis, the firm will produce at a rate of output where marginal revenue equals marginal cost. Below are a few of the graphs done using M&M’s. The winner was Redd Scampion and Ben Moutter’s oligopoly kinked demand curve graph. Special mention of other graphs by Harry Power, Tabitha Snowsill, Breanna Randell and Hermione Holdsworth.

For more on MC = MR and Market Structures view the key notes (accompanied by fully coloured diagrams/models) on elearneconomics that will assist students to understand concepts and terms for external examinations, assignments or topic tests.