Teaching Sequence

30 minutes	Part A: Group Challenge: What is Learning?
20 minutes	Part B: Understanding Learning: Connor’s Experience
40 minutes	Part C: My Approach to Learning: 16 Personalities
20 minutes	Part D: My Learning Strengths
10 minutes	Reflection

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Part A: Group challenge: What is Learning?

Step 1.

Ideally, set up the classroom before the class arrives. Move tables to create workstations, and remove all chairs from the area so that students are encouraged to stand. Put an instruction sheet and the materials on each table, but when the class arrives, let students know that they can’t start until everyone is ready.

As students enter the classroom, ask them to form groups of no more than four and stand around a workstation.

Step 2.

Set a challenge for students to work in teams to build the tallest tower using only spaghetti, masking tape, and a marshmallow. Emphasise the parameters for the challenge (as described below), but don’t give too many hints or tips. A general understanding of the challenge will suffice, as groups should work together to overcome it. If required, print one copy of the The Marshmallow Challenge instructions for each group.

The Marshmallow Challenge
Time Allowed: 20 minutes

Objective: To construct a tower as high as possible using only spaghetti, masking tape and a marshmallow. The marshmallow must be placed on the top of the tower. The tallest tower which stands unassisted wins.

The rules:

Teams may only use the materials provided. This includes one metre of masking tape, 25 sticks of spaghetti, and a marshmallow.
Teams may not use any other materials to assist in the construction of their tower.
Teams will have only 20 minutes. The marshmallow must be on the top of the tower when time is called and the tower must be standing unassisted.
Measurement is a vertical measurement from the table top up.
Teams may stick masking table tape to the table top - however the amount of tape is limited!
Spaghetti may be broken into smaller pieces. However, once broken, pieces may not be replaced.

Step 3.

Once students have begun, monitor the teams' progress and remind tables of the parameters, if necessary. When two minutes remain, give an announcement, then also at the one minute mark.

Step 4.

When time is called, measure the height of each teams’ tower and declare a winning team. Remember to celebrate the efforts of all members of the class! Invite students to quickly clean up any mess and move the tables to the sides of the classroom (they can keep the towers if they want to). Invite students to grab a chair each and sit in a circle so that they are facing each other, ready to listen and communicate effectively as a group.

Step 5.

An effective debrief discussion will ensure that students understand the learning purpose of this activity. Remind students that their opinions are all legitimate; there are no wrong or right answers in this situation. Ask your students to grant you permission to encourage them to extend their answers if you think they could be saying more (but don’t push too far if you perceive that your students are feeling embarrassed or threatened).

Start the debrief by informing students that thousands of groups have completed the challenge and there are some interesting statistics that have emerged:

One of poorest performing groups on average are university graduates with Business Majors (an average of 50 cm) The reason…they have learned that problem solving is a linear solution where you plan, and then execute a plan. Most worked to the very end, place their marshmallow on top and have either an “aha moment” or more often an “oops moment”.
One of the best performing groups is another group of graduates…graduates from Kindergarten. Kindergarteners average 75cm. Why? Because they have a natural instinct to try new and different things, and often they start with the marshmallow and build up. Plus they don’t have the natural power struggle within their teams that adults tend to develop.

Use these questions to guide a class discussion around what learning is and how it occurs:

What did you learn during this activity?
- Responses to this question could vary. They could pertain to how groups constructed their tower; they could refer to how they worked together as a group; they could even be around not participating to avoid failure! Encourage students to scrutinise where they were ‘at’ before they built their tower, and where they are ‘at’ now - what do they know now that they did not know before?
What can learning look like? Does it always have to involve completing a school-based assessment, such as a test?
- This question aims to challenge student’s perceptions of learning, and help them to consider their everyday experiences and the challenges they regularly overcome as learning. This discussion could also help students to understand the learning situations that school provides them with as their version of ‘everyday learning’- something that will enable them to succeed in their everyday lives, not just a things to ‘get done’ so that they can get on with their lives.
What is the purpose of learning? What can it help you to do?
- Guide students to consider this question in relation to what they would do differently next time- now that they have experienced the Marshmallow Challenge once, they have learned a thing or two that would help them to approach things in a different (or better) way next time…and that’s what learning is all about!

Group discussions are a really great way for students to consider the perspectives of others, and incorporate that perspective into their own understanding of the world. However if your students are better suited to individual reflection, you could invite students to summarise the understanding they gained by the completing the questions on the Student Worksheet.

Once this section of the lesson is complete, ask students to arrange themselves in a way that allows them to work individually for the next part of the lesson.

Part B: Understanding Learning: Connor’s Experience

Step 1.

As a class or as individuals, watch the video that details Connor’s experience volunteering with the Country Fire Authority (CFA).

Aspire: Connor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTAzry_S5vY)

Step 2.

Invite students to make connections between the understanding of learning from Part A of the lesson and Connor’s experience by writing a short paragraph in response to the two prompts below. There is space provided on the Student Worksheet for them to do so.

The video shows some of the learning experiences of Connor. Recount where you saw learning in the clip, and describe what you think Connor learned.
Describe a situation in your own life where you experienced learning in a similar way.

Part C: My Approach to Learning - 16 Personalities Online Test

Step 1.

Start this section of the lesson by asking the class to reflect on whether they usually think about their own ‘learning’ and how they do it. Students may reflect that they don’t usually think about it, and that it just happens.

Follow on from this by informing students that by being aware of our own approach to learning, we can identify and play on our strengths, and find ways to improve in areas in which we’re not so great.

Introduce the concept of a personality test as one way that we can be aware of ourselves, our approach to learning, including our strengths and the areas that may require improvement. You could include the following points in your introduction:

A personality test asks a set of questions, the answers which point to certain personality traits.
The results are an indication of how a person is likely to behave (they aren’t 100% accurate, nor are they a guide around how to act).
Knowing a bit more about our traits can help us to capitalise on our strengths, and work on things that can help us to do better.

Let students know that generally, people’s personalities are fluid and may change…especially up to the age of around 20.

Step 2.

Invite students to open their device and complete personality test online. 16 Personalities - https://www.16personalities.com/

Step 3.

Once complete, the online test will give students a description of their results. Encourage students to read, summarise, interpret and share their results - there are a set of guiding questions on the Student Worksheet to facilitate this.

Some of the vocabulary used in the online test may be more complex than what your students are used to. Support students to create a class list of words that they would like to better understand by sticking a piece of paper up in a highly visible place. When students come across a word they are unfamiliar with, encourage them to open a new tab in their web browser, look up the meaning of the word as well as a synonym, and then add onto the vocabulary list what they have discovered. The whole class will benefit from this collaborative literacy activity.

Part D: My Learning Strengths

Step 1.

Ask students to respond in writing to the following prompts on the Student Worksheet:

How can I use my strengths in my approach to learning?
What weaknesses do I need to overcome and what ideas do I have around how to do so?
Set one goal based on your new knowledge about yourself and you learning preferences.

Reflection

Extend students' understanding beyond concrete knowledge and encourage them to think abstractly about a complex concept by encouraging students to complete the Colour-Symbol-Image Visible Thinking routine. Students should think about a colour, a symbol and an image that represents what learning means to them, then write a short explanation underneath each.

Extension/Homework

Extension

Encourage students to apply their new understanding about learning to a different part of their life. They should choose home/school/work and write a paragraph to describe how life-long learning can ensure success in one or more of these contexts.

Provisional Learning Support

If students are especially challenged in describing their learning resulting from the Marshmallow Challenge, allow them to use images to illustrate the understanding of learning before and after the activity.

Assessment

Students will reflect on the skills and knowledge developed throughout this lesson in a Career Portfolio that showcases their learning and skill development. This assessment task can be introduced at either the beginning or during the unit. Alternatively, it could be set as summative assessment at the end of the unit.

Considering Social Action

The Aspire Generation is a community of young people connected by their aspiration to make a difference through community service and leadership. They are the givers, the dreamers, the doers and the leaders who passionately pursue opportunities to address the big issues of their time. They think boldly and act responsibly and strive to leave a lasting impact on the world.

Students currently in Years 9, 10, 11 or 12 and have a passion for giving back, are eligible to be part of the Aspire Generation. Encourage students to give back by working in groups to plan and deliver an action project to make positive change in their community. The Aspire Generation: Work Studies Year 9 & 10 - Social Action lesson facilitates students to drive change through community engagement, volunteerism and leadership opportunities.

Aspire Generation - Learning to Learn

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