August 30, 2012
In K-12 assembly on Wednesday, August 29, Mounds Park Academy’s students, faculty and staff experienced the “Marshmallow
Challenge.” This design thinking exercise is aimed at further developing innovative
thinking, problem-solving and collaboration skills.
Teams of four had 18 minutes and the following supplies:
20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one
marshmallow. The goal for each team is to build the tallest freestanding structure that can support the
marshmallow on top for at least 10 seconds.
While most classrooms at MPA use design thinking as a process
for problem-solving already, this assembly further emphasized to students
and their teachers that there is great value in collaboration, failure and
revision, putting forth effort and having a growth mindset. MPA administrators
Renee Wright, director of professional development and third-grade
teacher, and Renette Stinson, director of admissions, recently participated in a design thinking training for
educators at Stanford University Institute of Design. See https://dschool.stanford.edu/ and https://designthinkingforeducators.com/ for more
information about design thinking. MPA parents Jim and Pam Toole introduced faculty to the Marshmallow Challenge last year as part of a faculty workshop. See more photos of the MPA Marshmallow Challenge here.
