Marshmallow Towers | 18-min Engineering Challenge

Overview

This is a super fun and popular challenge that can be used as an icebreaker during the first week or before an engineering project, such as The Paper Roller Coaster Project. The goal of this challenge is simple: build the tallest free-standing structure you can make that can support a marshmallow on top.

Materials

Per group: 20 sticks of spaghetti, 1 meter of string, 1 meter of tape, 1 marshmallow (I prep this by wrapping the string around the pasta and having tape ready from a table)

Resources

• Build a tower, build a team | Tom Wujec

• Marshmallow Challenge Presentation

Pacing

Suggested Pacing

Day 1 - introduce and do marshmallow challenge

Day 2 - optional: quick reflection on engineering process and failing/growth mindset

Pacing w/ Teacher Notes

Day 1 - To start this challenge, I have students get into groups of 3-4. This may be random or student-selected. I use the PowerPoint to have them read the rules and I answer any questions they may have. Once they start, I project a timer for 18 minutes and I let them design their marshmallow towers.

The most entertaining part about this is that most groups will follow the same pattern mentioned in the video: spend 16 minutes planning and building and use the last 2 minutes to test. I walk around to clarify any questions about the rules and to provide time updates and encouragements.

After the time is up, I measure the towers that are still standing.

Day 2 - As part of their warmups, I give them a few reflection questions:

1. In your marshmallow challenge, what are some things that you or your team did well?

2. Rank from best to worst which groups of people you think would do the best in the marshmallow challenge: Business school students, lawyers, kindergartners, architects+engineers, CEOs, CEOs+secretaries. Explain each ranking.

3. If you were to do the project again, what would you do differently?

Afterwards, I show them a video with others doing the challenges and which groups of people did best . The main takeaways for my students are the importance of prototyping and not making assumptions without testing (e.g. marshmallow being heavier than it looks). This shouldn’t take the entire period and can be transitioned to a discussion on growth mindsets/famous “failures” or into an engineering project.

Credits: Tom Wujec and my colleagues for sharing the resources.