The Marshmallow Challenge

6rounds separated into four groups to compete against one another. What were we doing? Building the tallest free-standing structure we possibly could. Oh, and in only 18 minutes! Not to mention it had to hold the weight of a marshmallow at the very top. Now take a look at the tools we were asked to do this with…

As our team soon found, this really is not an easy task. The Marshmallow Challenge is used by organizations and corporations far and wide. It is also used in kindergarden classrooms. So do you think the results would be more successful at a Fortune 500 company or in Miss Honey’s classroom? This seems reminiscent of an “Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader” episode, but yes the kids solutions are a lot more successful. Here is Tom Wujec, the creator of this exercise, explaining how it works and why the results are this way:

 
Lets take a look at how our 6rounds teams did:
 

Group 1

As you can see Group 1 went for a triangle base, but that was about as far as they ever got.
 

Group 2

Group 2 went for a more vertical approach and aimed high!
 

Group 3

Group 3 opted to use the triangle base also, but their structure progressed a lot faster than the others.
 

Group 4

Group 4 hoped that a strong and fastened base would beat out the tall structures in the end.

Does anyone want to guess which team got the marshmallow to balance on the top? Well if you guessed none of the groups, you should have more faith in us… but you were also right! Waiting until the last minute to add the marshmallow sent all of the structures toppling over.

Give this experiment a try and let us know how it goes for your group! Just remember if you do better than us, we already gave you a strategy!