Design-Build Challenge 02 - Marble-drop Madness!

Today's "Design-Build" challenge sees what we can do with the following equipment:
-14 straws
-10 toothpicks
-3 paper cups
-3 feet of masking tape
-1 round marble

Goal: release your marble onto a freestanding contraption of your own design located at the edge of your desk. The goal is for your "structure" to direct your marble into a cup on the floor. The winner is the team who's cup is located furthest (horizontally) from the edge of the desk.

Rules: You may only use the materials specified above. Your marble must end up in a cup positioned on the floor in order to earn a result.

Feedback: Score is determined by distance from the table. Your result will be compared against your classmates to determine ranked result (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.)


Points! Earn one point for each of the following:
1) Your place in the competition (1st Place = 1 pt, 2nd Place = .9 pt, 3rd Place = .8 pt, etc.)
2) Document your effort on your online portfolio. Include pictures and a bullet point summary of the goal, rules and results you achieved.
3) Clean up! Include an image of at least one of your teammates cleaning up your workspace.

"Fail Early, Fail Often"

You all have heard me say this a lot lately. Don't take my word for it, here's some data from the Marshmallow Challenge:




We've done a lot of "Design-Build" challenges in our classes, should we give this one a go?

Here's a screenshot from the video that cuts to the heart of the issue. If each marshmallow from the diagram is an attempt, why is it that the Kindergartner's end result consistently outperform MBA students by more than 100%?:

Tallest Tower Design-Build Challenge

We had some students really pushing the limits on this week's Design-Build challenge. With 2 minutes of planning and 4 minutes of building, who can build the tallest tower out of some straws, coffee stirrers, mailing labels and a few cups?

4th Period:


6th Period: