When I am teaching Physics or Active Physics, I usually begin my very first class with The Marshmallow Challenge. Even before they know each other, I have them group up in some weird way (for example, line up by hair length then count off), and attempt this. I do this because it's hilarious to watch (many people don't know just how HEAVY a marshmallow actually is, which can screw up a lot of careful building), it's a fun icebreaker, it sets an upbeat and active tone for the class, and there are a couple Physics concepts that I can touch on and call back to later when we reach those topics, most notably center of mass. However, another reason I have them do this is that it's an interesting insight (and discussion opportunity) into leadership and group dynamics.
If you watch the video, one of the more interesting findings from research on this activity is that Kindergartners do better than many adults because instead of sitting around and discussing it, or deciding who's in charge, they begin to play around with the materials and learn as they go, by doing. This is an interesting lesson with insight into leadership, collaboration, and the value of experimentation (for the science angle).
The other leadership example involving Marshmallows, of course, is from the movie Ghostbusters. Ray effectively takes charge by speaking for the people of Earth, but it doesn't work out so well, at least at first.
This week's activity, designing a rubric to assess blended learning programs, has me reflecting on marshmallows, or I guess leadership. I would like a marshmallow now, though.
Anyway, this was a group project, with a very limited set of instructions and a lot of freedom. I was struck by an answer given by Dr. Hathaway to a different student on the class message boards, noting that part of the point of the course was to model quality, but not all of it good quality. I suspect the way this assignment was set up was at least partially to show people that more structure can be helpful.
Anyway, one of our group members was sick, and the rest of us sat around, I guess waiting for someone else to start, until the sick member came back and kind of took charge. I know that I personally was wondering if I needed to do it, but it's a little uncomfortable to take charge in a group of adults, and I'm a last minute worker anyway, so I was content to wait.
It worked out okay, I think, but it could have been worse. I guess we figured out how to cross the streams in time.
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