Bethel Park students meet the Marshmallow Challenge as part of technology education
Students in Todd Richert’s eighth-grade technology education class at Bethel Park’s Independence Middle School take the Marshmallow Challenge.
Students in Todd Richert’s eighth-grade technology education class at Bethel Park’s Independence Middle School take the Marshmallow Challenge.
Jordyn Read, left, and Courtney Davis, students in Todd Richert’s eighth-grade technology education class at Bethel Park’s Independence Middle School take the Marshmallow Challenge.
Jordyn Read, left, and Courtney Davis, students in Todd Richert’s eighth-grade technology education class at Bethel Park’s Independence Middle School take the Marshmallow Challenge.
Students in Todd Richert’s eighth-grade technology education class at Bethel Park’s Independence Middle School take the Marshmallow Challenge.
Students in Todd Richert’s eighth-grade technology education class at Bethel Park’s Independence Middle School take the Marshmallow Challenge.
Students in Todd Richert’s eighth-grade technology education class at Bethel Park’s Independence Middle School take the Marshmallow Challenge.
Jordyn Read, left, and Courtney Davis, students in Todd Richert’s eighth-grade technology education class at Bethel Park’s Independence Middle School take the Marshmallow Challenge.
Students in Todd Richert’s eighth-grade technology education class at Bethel Park’s Independence Middle School take the Marshmallow Challenge.
Students in Todd Richert’s eighth-grade technology education class at Bethel Park’s Independence Middle School take the Marshmallow Challenge.
Students in Todd Richert’s eighth-grade technology education class at Bethel Park’s Independence Middle School take the Marshmallow Challenge.
Students in Todd Richert’s eighth-grade technology education class at Bethel Park’s Independence Middle School take the Marshmallow Challenge.
Harry Funk / Staff Austin Cortopassi works on The Marshmallow Challenge.
Give groups of students 20 pieces of uncooked spaghetti, 36 inches of string and 36 inches of masking tape, and see what happens.
In Todd Richert’s technology education class, what emerged were mini-towers, up to 20 inches high, built with the intent of being able to support a single item: A marshmallow.
It was the Marshmallow Challenge at Bethel Park’s Independence Middle School on Aug. 27, as Richert provided the exercise to introduce his eighth-graders to a unit on structures, addressing the engineering behind what makes buildings, and especially bridges, stand.
Working in groups of two or three, the students assembled the raw materials to reach for the sky, or at least part way to the ceiling. What Richert hoped was that they’d find the key shape to structural support, which is the triangle.
“It’s all about experimenting, and it’s all about communicating,” Richert said, promoting the teamwork aspect and also the opportunity to do some work away from the computer screen. “Sometimes it’s nice to take a break and use your hands.”
Later in his course, students will use the principles they are learning to design bridges on the computer, and then construct 18-inch models using balsa wood. The bridges will be tested for sturdiness.
“The record weight held is just over 280 pounds,” Richert recalled. “Some will hold more weight than others. Almost every one holds over 100 pounds.”
Bethel Park School District’s technology education program begins with fifth-graders at Neil Armstrong Elementary School and continues through high school. Along the way, students learn about potential careers in engineering.
“They’re going to have to start making life decisions soon,” Richert said.
As the introduction-to-structures project wrapped up, he took a look around the room at the state of the fluffy, white pillows of confection that were at the heart of the challenge.
“I have students all the time asking, can I eat the marshmallow?” he said. “Really, after everybody’s had their hands on the marshmallow?”
His class of 2015 seems to have resisted.