Sandia students take 'marshmallow challenge'

Having heard about a unique learning experience at Sandia Elementary, I dropped by the school to speak with fourth-grade teachers Gina Rubio and Faith Calvin.

Partially as a get-acquainted activity, partially as a team-building activity, teachers combined their classes the first week of school to try a powerful learning activity. Students were divided into about 10 teams with four or five students each.

Each group was given 20 pieces of uncooked spaghetti, one marshmallow, one yard of string, one yard of tape, and 45 minutes.

Using these tools, their charge was simple: build the tallest free-standing structure with the marshmallow on top.

This project, “The Marshmallow Challenge,” is an exercise in design thinking by a small group who have to learn to collaborate effectively in a short period of time. Developed by Peter Skillman and made famous by Tom Wujec in a TED Talk, the exercise is powerful.

Used across business, industry and education, an essential key is to begin with a strong base and the end in mind.

Sandia Principal Matthew Vetterly had participated in the challenge through “Principals Pursuing Excellence,” a leadership initiative by New Mexico Public Education Department.

Appreciating its value, he introduced it to his Sandia teachers shortly before students returned this year.

Rubio and Calvin described the experience. They said the adult groups were not very successful. They started out aiming to be as high as possible, but learned, most important, they needed a firm base.

Teachers also noted adults were not really supportive of each other; there were some tense moments.

When Rubio and Calvin did the challenge with their students, however, the results were pretty spectacular. Rubio shared, “The students were overwhelmingly supportive of each other and fearless about trying. They brainstormed with each other and other teams, tossing out ideas. This was the first week of school, so no one really knew each other. It was amazing how generously they worked with one another.”

Calvin offered, “The kids also found it so interesting that we teachers had done the same exercise and asked all kinds of questions.”

Apparently, the exercise with students was quite loud, but quite rewarding. Rubio said, “This was one of the happiest moments of my career; I have never seen my students as happy as they were in this learning process.”

Cindy Kleyn-Kennedy is the instructional technology coordinator for Clovis Municipal Schools. She can be reached at:

[email protected]