STEAM Team Marshmallow Towers

The rain held off on Wednesday and allowed us to spend another stretch of time together outdoors for games with Frank, Nature Lunch, and this week's STEAM Team activity. 

This week's objective was for students to collaborate within their STEAM team to engineer a self-supported structure using only marshmallows, tooth picks, and a paper plate. This activity taught students the following:

• Some shapes were stronger than others
• Even weak materials can be made stronger with good design techniques, and distribution of mass is an important consideration when building a tower
• Compression and tension affect the stability of a structure
• Comparing different models helped us understand why some structures were stronger than others
• Engineers consider tension and compression forces when designing a building or structure

Congratulations to STEAM Team A who “engineered” a free-standing marshmallow structure with 100 marshmallows and 50 tooth picks that stood at 23 cm tall!