The Marshmallow Challenge

Ingredients:

20 pieces of spaghetti

1 yard of masking tape

1 yard of string

1 marshmallow

4 team members

Object:

Create the TALLEST freestanding structure out of these materials with the marshmallow on TOP.  This is a TEAM project.  Every person of the team needs to be a part of the solution.  You need to listen to everyone’s thoughts and give everyone a chance to participate. 

Before getting supplies, teams met and discussed a game plan.  They chatted, sketched, erased, debated, and wrote about their plans.  They did a great job listening to one another, recording their thoughts and getting their ideas down on paper. 

Next up…supplies.  Each team received their supplies and were set loose.  They had to create the sculpture on a table or the floor and had 30 minutes of building time.  Working as a team was an essential part of this activity.  The groups that had a hard time working with one another didn’t fare as well.  Groups who listened to every member and allowed everyone to contribute ideas did well. 

Wow.  It was such an amazing process to watch.  They learned so much!  The highest structure was 25 inches tall.  Followed by 17 inches, 16.5 inches, and 6 inches.  Two teams had towers that wouldn’t stay up.  When we shared our structures with our first-grade reading buddies, I asked them a very simple question…”Are marshmallows heavy?”  Not one first grader thought a marshmallow was heavy.  When I asked my fourth graders the same question, every single fourth grader said “YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!”  As it turns out, a marshmallow is super heavy when it’s the top of a structure built with spaghetti.  Although the 25-inch structure was the tallest, it didn’t last very long.  Soon, it was leaning nearly all the way to the desk surface.  In the end, this made for a better discussion.  If tallest was the goal, it was met, albeit, for a short time with the 25-inch structure.  If, on the other hand, you needed to LIVE in one, you would choose the 16.5 inch or 17 inch structures.