In Algebra 1 the students partook in the Marshmallow Challenge, which I described in yesterday's post. After stalling about 10 minutes to allow for late students and some group introductions, I explained the challenge...
Build the tallest freestanding structure which supports a marshmallow on top in 18 minutes. Provided materials are 20 sticks of spaghetti, 1 yard of masking tape, 1 yard of string, and 1 marshmallow.After thoroughly explaining the rules and answering questions, the groups got going. Some fun appeared to be happening, some looks of boredom, but overall, most students were engaged.
After measuring the standing structures (6 groups of 9 had successful structures), I handed out the reflection sheet (link in yesterday's post). Shortly thereafter, the bell rang.
The Plan for Tomorrow's Class...
Tomorrow the groups will reconvene and we'll have a whole-class discussion of the reflection questions. Hopefully the students will begin to engage in questioning and reflection, and it'll go for the full hour.The purpose of my giving the Marshmallow Challenge is to provide a first common experience in
- group dynamics and the effects on the group working
- how mistakes leads to learning
- how feelings affect performance
- how time pressure and competition can affect performance
- what good work did groups do
A good first day!
No comments:
Post a Comment