In response to Mike Wiggins’ Spotlight talk, some sections will complete the following collaborative design challenge in class. The Learning Studio has put together supplies for the exercise, so please come by on Monday or Tuesday to pick up your paper sacks.

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Before the Challenge

You and your peer leader should arrive a couple minutes early to complete the following tasks.

• Place one paper sack on each group table. Each sack contains 20 pieces of spaghetti and 1 yard of string. (*The marshmallows and tape are in the class sack.)
• Cut 3-foot strips of tape for each group and stick them on the side of each table.
• Divide students into groups of 4-5 as they come in. At least 4 per group is ideal but up to 6 can work.

One of you should read over the rules carefully beforehand and act as “director” and “referee” of the challenge if questions arise.

The Marshmallow Challenge rules

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During the Challenge

In 5 minutes or less, you or your peer leader will introduce the challenge to students. Read SECTION THREE aloud so rules are clear beforehand. Since we’ll announce a Cornerstone winner, help us ensure consistency across all sections.

• “Freestanding” structure means standing on its own without any other support. This means no taping its legs down to the table or any external surface.
• We’ll include scissors in your bags but don’t have enough for each group. Feel free to supplement if you have another pair or two in your office.

One of you will need to be the timekeeper: the challenge runs exactly 18 minutes. If possible, open this Online Stopwatch and project it on a screen in the room. Otherwise, just announce when students have 10 minutes, 5 minutes, and 2 minutes left.

Feel free to encourage teams as you walk around the room, but please don’t offer suggestions or hints.

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After the Challenge

When time is called, ask each team to step away from their table and begin measuring. Each structure will need to be stable for at least 30 seconds after the challenge, but you will want to measure and record results quickly.

Send the official height and list of participants in the winning group along with photos of the tallest or most unusual structures to learningstudio@groupmail.acu.edu. Then announce the top three results and give prizes to the tallest structure.

The value of the exercise depends on the processing after the fact. AFTER the challenge, we’d recommend showing the following TED talk by designer Tom Wujec who has thought a lot about the significance of the marshmallow challenge. The video runs 7 minutes but you can start at 1:05 since you’ve already explained the challenge.

Once the video is finished, be ready to lead a discussion reflecting on each group’s experience and lessons they may have learned about collaboration and how their groups worked together, experimentation and the value of prototyping, and what they might do differently if you ran the challenge again.

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