Work together to practice several design mindsets: Radical Collaboration, Bias to Action, Build to Think, Failing Fast, Test and Iterate.
The Spaghetti Marshmallow activity is designed to get learners working together to build and test their designs with an emphasis on radical collaboration and bias to action.
This exercise is a great way to push students to build, test and iterate. This activity also encourages critical thinking by asking students to synthesize what they learned quickly to create new designs. Students must also demonstrate resilience in the face of challenges or frustrations.
This material is adapted from Tom Wujec's excellent activity. Watch his Ted Talk about this project.
How does it work?
This activity gives groups of 3-4 students an opportunity to experience what it's like to build together. The downloadable facilitator guide includes instructions on building/prototyping a structure using really basic materials as well as debrief questions to draw out lessons on how students work as a team to build together. The activity is planned to run for 30 minutes but can be trimmed shorter.
LICENSE: CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-NONCOMMERCIAL-SHAREALIKE 4.0 INTERNATIONAL