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The Marshmallow Challenge
Mrs. Schonbeck's Geometry classes kicked off the year with a Build It! -The Marshmallow Challenge in the Smith Engineering Lab.
Across the BBA Campuses, classes have been getting a sense of what Together:Inspire-Create-Grow might mean. In Katy Schonbeck's Geometry classes this week, students explored a variety of ways to learn mathematics together, asking "What could this semester look and feel like?". Students engaged in get-to-know-you activities and small group challenges. Students reflected on what being in the flow with a group feels like and how norms of engagement can help a team get there sooner and stay longer. Students brainstormed lists of norms they felt would support excellent math teamwork.
Armed with a Norm List Prototype, the classes went to the new Smith Engineering Lab to test the norms in a novel situation- The Marshmallow Challenge. Teams of three to four students were given tape, string, spaghetti, and 18 minutes to build the tallest free-standing structure that would support a marshmallow. In addition to trying out the norms, this classic team-building challenge gave students the opportunity to make observations about geometric shapes and stability and consider the value of prototyping.
Back in the classroom, students reflected on their experience. What worked? What could have gone better? Why were some teams more successful than others? Over the next few days students used that experience to edit and then adopt the set of classroom norms for productive mathematical teamwork and discourse to be used throughout the rest of the semester.
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