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Institute Inquiry Questions Institute Topics and Leads Institute Outcomes

1. How can I help my college establish,
advance, and sustain a campus network
that supports the success of our students,
especially those who are underprepared
for learning in college courses?
2. How can I collaborate with other BSI
coordinators in my region to create a
learning network to develop and sustain
leadership capacity and support student
success?
3. How can we work together to
establish such networks among
community colleges in California to
support student success throughout the
state?
Thursday, 6/17: Framing the Issues
around Student Completion
Friday, 6/18: Goal Identification and
Interacting Factors Framework Application
Saturday, 6/19: Building Your Campus
Network (Rose)
Sunday, 6/20: Evaluation and Logic
Models (Tina and Michael)
Monday 6/21: BSILI 1.0 & 2.0
Tuesday, 6/22: BSILI 1.0 & 2.0
Wednesday, 6/23: Framing the Issues
around Student Completion
Thursday, 6/24: Goal Identification and
Interacting Factors Framework Application
At the end of the Basic Skills Initiative Leadership
Institute (BSILI), each participant will have
 an articulated student completion goal for his/her
campus
 an inquiry plan that includes organizing a team
to identify gaps (using the KMO model) that
impede achievement of the goal
 a regional inquiry theme that is tied to campus
projects
 evaluation skills and tools to guide and transform
(as necessary) the campus-wide inquiry process
 technology skills and tools to develop campus
and regional networks to help him/her complete
campus student completion goals

Guests
Tina Christie: Sun & Mon

Rose Asera: arr Ontario Friday, 3:35pm;

dep Sunday, 3:00pm

Barry Russell: Sat & Sun, 6/19&20

Kay McClenney: Monday, 6/21

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Pre-Institute Homework

All Institute Attendees (BSILI 1.0 – New Participants and BSILI 2.0 – Returning Participants)

In preparation for a post-institute project on your own campus, gather as much of the following information as you can prior to attending the
Leadership Institute:
1. What efforts are already being implemented on your campus to help students achieve their academic/career goals? (This may include
efforts such as those outlined in your BSI action plan, grant based initiatives or learning communities such as Puente, Umoja, or first-
year experience programs…)

For one of the above efforts you have identified, please write a brief statement including the following information:

 What are the stated goals of this initiative?

 How is success defined? What are the program’s outcomes?

 What data have been collected?

 What do available data suggest about the success of the program or initiative?

Please bring the above report (including relevant data) in an electronic format, backed up on a flash drive. Also, please bring a
laptop, as wireless service will be available, and technology will be an integral part of the Institute.

2. If you (or others from your school) attended a LINKS event, please bring the student completion goal that was identified and the
outline of the process to pursue the goal.

Homework assignments 1 and 2 will be the basis for our discussions on Days 1 and 2, so please do your best to complete them
and be prepared to present to other Institute participants.

3. Please register for the pre-conference Basic Skills session of the Strengthening Student Success Conference to be held October 6-8
in Orange County. Since we are asking you to participate in that session, we will reimburse the cost of the registration for the entire
conference, including the pre-conference Basic Skills session.

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4. You will receive a link to an online, pre-institute survey. Please respond to the survey before June 16th.

5. If you and a team from your school are planning to attend the Tillery Institute in Berkeley on August 1-3, 2010, please be sure to go to
their website to register: http://gse.berkeley.edu/admin/events/tilleryinstitute/

BSILI 2.0 ONLY --

1. Be prepared to report out on last year’s regional inquiry project(s) and your efforts toward achieving your regional logic model
outcomes.

To All Attendees:
Alcohol is not offered included with meals at the Lake Arrowhead Conference Center. You may, however, bring your own alcoholic
refreshments (and we can store it for you) or be prepared to contribute to the BSILI bar fund upon arrival.

Notes to attendees:
Laptop and wireless capability
Firefox
Reader Acrobat/Flash
headphones

Laptop checklist
Facebook

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Wednesday Evening, June 16 -- BSILI 1.0

Time Event/Activity Personnel Location Technology Supplies

4:-5:00pm Arrival and Check-in
5-6:00 Marshmallow Challenge Icebreaker Deborah, Lynn, Large room Marshmallows, etc
Nancy, Brock, and
Reception Bradley
6-7:00 BBQ Dinner Patio
7-9:00  Short welcome, introductions, etc. Deborah, Lynn, Large room Laptops, flip
Nancy, Brock, and cameras
Bradley

 Instructions on how to post their homework Bradley and

assignment online for tomorrow’s session Deborah

 Pair Work: Participants use flip cameras to Bradley and

videotape one another: What is your Deborah
interest in (passion for) student success.

 Attendees will post their videos, look at

those of others, choose one that they find
interesting, and respond online.

Notes – Refer to Marshmallow Challenge materials and directions at the end.

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Thursday, June 17, Day One – Framing the Issues around Student Completion/Identifying Goals -- BSILI 1.0

Time Event/Activity Personnel Location Technology Supplies

8-8:45am Breakfast

9-9:30  Presentation -- Institute syllabus, Deborah, Lynn,

outcomes, curriculum, activities, ground Nancy, Brock, and
rules, logistics, etc. Bradley
9:30- 10:30 Pre-Institute HW #1: Deborah and Lynn
 Individual writing: What is your
Regional definition of student success? How does
Groups? the campus initiative you have chosen (hw
#1) fit your definition?
 Pair/Share your response.
 Whole Group: Share the stated goals of
your campus initiative and how success is
defined for it.
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-12:00 Whole Group Presentation/Discussion: Nancy and Brock
What is student completion and why is it
important?
(Refer to LMC “Insights” report and Shulock
et al.’s “Advancing by Degrees.”)

1. What information do you get from the

report?
2. What information do you not get from the
report?
3. What might you want to know that the
report do not tell you?
4. Does the report make any assumptions?
5. Does the report suggest additional
questions we should be asking?

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6. Can you make any connections with the
efforts on your campus that you discussed
this morning?
7. Does the report suggest anything about
goals we should focus on?

Discussion about what we can and cannot

learn from data currently available at our
colleges.
12-1:00pm Lunch
1 - 2:30pm  Individual Research: Go online to the Bradley and
RP Group’s Center for Student Success Deborah
site and find a student completion
initiative (pre-selected by Deborah and/or
Bradley).
 Share/Analyze your online research with
the whole group. How does the initiative
define and evaluate success?
 Develop a rubric for evaluating
initiatives
2:30-2:45 Break
2:45-3:30 Individual Work: Bradley, Deborah,
and Lynn
Identify a goal that you would like to
tentatively choose as the focus of a post-
institute project on your campus. (If you
attended LINKS you may use the goal you
identified there.)

Using the rubric developed in the previous

session, how would you evaluate your stated
goal? Would you like to modify it in any
way?

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3:30 - 4:30 Technology Work: Post/Respond Bradley and Technology for
Post a response to today’s CAT question: Deborah posting??

1. How did you define student success at the

beginning of the day? In what way, if any,
would you modify that definition?
2. What is the student completion goal you
are considering for your college? Why did
you choose that goal?

Read other responses and respond to at least

one.
5:30 -6:30 Reception
6:30 -7:30 Dinner

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Friday, June 18, Day Two –Interacting Factors Framework Application -- BSILI 1.0

Time Event/Activity Personnel Location Technology Supplies

8-8:45am Breakfast
9:00-9:30 Housekeeping Deborah, Lynn,
Parking Lot items Nancy, Bradley,
Summary response to previous day CAT and Brock
Preview of the day’s work
9:30- 10:30 Presentation to Whole Group: Lynn and Deborah
Dembo’s Theory of Interacting Factors that
Determine Academic Success in Community
College

Make a connection the LMC and Shulock Nancy and Brock

reports discussion from yesterday;
reevaluate/rework rubric
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45 - 12 Individual Work: Considering your student
completion goal:

1. Where is your college now in relation to

your goal? What is the size of the “gap”
between where you are and where you
would like to be?
2. What are your hypotheses about what is
causing the gap?
3. Is there any way you could test your
hypotheses to gather more information
about the extent to which the factors you
have identified are actually inhibiting
student success?
4. Assuming your hypotheses are correct,
what solutions might be expected to close

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the gap? How many students would these
solutions impact?

Considering Dembo’s categories:

Knowledge (K), Motivation (M), and/or
Organizational Culture, Policies,
Instructional Practices (O):

1. Which aspects of the gaps you have

identified are related to these categories?
12-1:00pm Lunch
1-2:00 Regional Share of individual work: give Lynn, Nancy,
feedback and document electronically Bradley, Deborah,
(Word doc or flip video) and Brock
2-3:30 Fishbowl to discuss the value of Inquiry to Lynn, Nancy,
help you identify and address gaps between Bradley, Deborah,
where you are and where you want to be, the and Brock
process of collecting and using evidence, etc
3:30-5:00  Return to/revise rubric
 Respond to CAT:
Write a brief analysis of the primary factors
that you believe are inhibiting student
completion at your college.

 Read others, and respond to at least one

5:30-6:30 Activity outside
6:30-7:30 Dinner

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Saturday, June 19, Day Three: Building Your Campus & Regional Networks -- BSILI 1.0

Time Event/Activity Personnel Location Technology Supplies

8-8:45am Breakfast
9:00 Housekeeping Deborah, Lynn,
Parking Lot items Nancy, Bradley,
Summary response to previous day CAT and Brock
Preview of the day’s work
9:30-Noon Individual Activity: Lynn
How will you begin inquiring into the KMO
issues that impede achievement of your student
completion goal?

Presentation: Building a Campus Team Rose Asera Paper and markers

1. Consider who may need to be involved in

this effort in order for it to be successful.

a. Who has relevant knowledge?

b. Who needs to be informed?
c. Who needs to be aware of what is happening?
d. Who could stop it?
e. Who could be helpful?

2. Considering your answers to the above Bradley and

questions, write a tentative map (electronic Deborah
mind map) of who needs to be on your
“team” and what their positions are.
3. What do you know and want to utilize about
other programs/projects/activities in this
area? What do you need to know?
4. To what extent is your team an integrated
one that includes instruction, student

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services and administration? Are students a
part of the team?
5. In addition to the human resources noted
above, what fiscal and physical resources
will you need to do your inquiry? How
might you access existing resources?
12-1:00pm Lunch
1- 3:00  Individual Work: Create a Plan of Action
for your campus project: Document
online/in poster form to share with your
region. What is your question, who is on
your team, what is your plan, what will they
do?

3-4:30 Whole Group: Bridging the campus to the Deborah and Lynn
region: Regional Networks Overview

Regional Group Work: Share your Action

Plan with members of your region
 Identify a regional question that will serve
as an “umbrella” focus.
 How can the region as a whole support your
efforts on your campus?
 What collaborations are possible?
How can we begin planning for them?
4:30-6:30 Optional drinking game/competition; CAT
6:30-7:30 Dinner
7:30-9:00 Regional Group Activity: Create a metaphor
to define your team, problem, or inquiry. Use
the marshmallow to initiate the discussion.

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Sunday, June 20, Day Four – Logic Models and Evaluation: Are we there yet? -- BSILI 1.0

Time Event/Activity Personnel Location Technology Supplies

8-8:45am Breakfast
9:00 Housekeeping Deborah, Lynn,
Parking Lot items Nancy, Bradley,
Summary response to previous day CAT and Brock
Preview of the day’s work
9:30-12:00 Whole Group: Presentation -- Evaluation Tina and Michael
and Logic Models (Goal: Create regional logic
models and an evaluation rubric based on the
regional theme identified on Saturday.)

Overview of the network’s logic models:

1. What is your theory of change?
2. What is your theory of action?
3. What IS an outcome?
4. What are possible measures of success?
5. What kind of data do you need to gather?
(What IS evidence?)
6. How do you get that kind of data on your
campus?
7. How do you use the data you collect? How
do you analyze it and act on it?
8. Who needs to be involved in your evaluation
efforts?
12-1:00pm Lunch
1 -4:00 BSILI 1.0: Create and post electronically a Bradley
regional (theme-based) logic model
4 –5:00 Arrival of BSILI 2.0 attendees
5 -6:00 Marshmallow Challenge for BSILI 2.0. 1.0s
will observe and document and all will reflect
on the challenge.

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6-6:30 Reception with Barry Russell
6 :30-8:00 Dinner

Notes:

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Monday, June 21, Day Five – BSILI 1.0 & 2.0

Time Event/Activity Personnel Location Technology Supplies

8-8:45am Breakfast
9-9:30 Housekeeping Deborah, Lynn,
Parking Lot items Nancy, Bradley,
Summary response to previous day CAT and Brock
Preview of the day’s work
9:30-10:30 Whole Group (BSILI 1.0 & 2.0) Tina and Michael
Presentation:
Pre and post-survey findings
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-12:00 BSILI 1.0 & 2.0:
 1.0s their regional logic models to 2.0s
 2.0s gives feedback to 1.0s
12-1:00pm Lunch
1-4:00 BSILI 1.0:
 Work on regional logic model evaluations Tina and Michael
 Begin developing evaluation for individual
action plans

BSILI 2.0:
Pre-Institute HW #1:
 Individual writing: What is your definition Lynn, Deborah,
of student success? How does the campus Nancy, and Brock
initiative you have chosen (hw #1) fit your
definition?
 Pair/Share your response.
 Whole Group: Share the stated goals of
your campus initiative and how success is
defined for it.
Whole Group Presentation/Discussion: What

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is student completion and why is it important?
(Refer to LMC “Insights” report and Shulock et
al.’s “Advancing by Degrees.”)

1. What information do you get from the

report?
2. What information do you not get from the
report?
3. What might you want to know that the report
do not tell you?
4. Does the report make any assumptions?
5. Does the report suggest additional questions
we should be asking?
6. Can you make any connections with the
efforts on your campus that you discussed this
morning?
7. Does the report suggest anything about goals
we should focus on?

Discussion about what we can and cannot learn

from data currently available at our colleges.
4-4:30 Post work Bradley
5:00-6:00 Reception
6-7:00 BBQ Dinner/BSILI 1.0 goodbye
7-9:00pm Guest: Kay McClenney

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Tuesday, June 22, Day Six – BSILI 1.0 & 2.0

Time Event/Activity Personnel Location Technology Supplies

8:00 – 8:45 Breakfast
9 – 9:30 Housekeeping Deborah, Lynn,
Parking Lot items Nancy, Bradley,
Summary response to previous day CAT and Brock
Preview of the day’s work
9:30-11:30 BSILI 1.0 – Technology: Completing and Bradley
refining campus student completion websites
(including logic model/inquiry plan/timeline)

9:30-10:30 BSILI 2.0 –

 Individual Research: Go online to the RP Lynn, Deborah,
Group’s Center for Student Success site Nancy, and Brock
and find a student completion initiative
(pre-selected by Deborah and/or Bradley).
 Share/Analyze your online research with
the whole group. How does the initiative
define and evaluate success?
 Develop a rubric for evaluating initiatives
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-12:00 Individual Work:

Identify a goal that you would like to

tentatively choose as the focus of a post-
institute project on your campus. (If you
attended LINKS you may use the goal you
identified there.)

Using the rubric developed in the previous

session, how would you evaluate your stated
goal? Would you like to modify it in any

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11:30-12 BSILI 1.0 Check out
12-1:00pm Lunch
1:00 – 2:30 Presentation to Whole Group: Lynn and Deborah
Dembo’s Theory of Interacting Factors that
Determine Academic Success in Community
College

 Make a connection the LMC and Shulock

reports discussion from yesterday;
reevaluate/rework rubric
2:30– 4:00 Individual Work: Considering your student
completion goal:

5. Where is your college now in relation to

your goal? What is the size of the “gap”
between where you are and where you
would like to be?
6. What are your hypotheses about what is
causing the gap?
7. Is there any way you could test your
hypotheses to gather more information
about the extent to which the factors you
have identified are actually inhibiting
student success?
8. Assuming your hypotheses are correct,
what solutions might be expected to close
the gap? How many students would these
solutions impact?

Considering Dembo’s categories:

Knowledge (K), Motivation (M), and/or
Organizational Culture, Policies,
Instructional Practices (O):

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 1. Which aspects of the gaps you have

identified are related to these categories?
4:00-5:00 1. Fishbowl to discuss the value of Inquiry Lynn, Nancy,
to help you identify and address gaps Bradley, and Brock
between where you are and where you
want to be, the process of collecting and
using evidence, etc
5:30-6:30 Reception
6:30-8:00 Dinner

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Wednesday, June 23, Day Seven – BSILI 2.0

Time Event/Activity Personnel Location Technology Supplies

8:00 – 8:45 Breakfast
9 – 9:30 Housekeeping Deborah, Lynn,
Parking Lot items Nancy, Bradley,
Summary response to previous day CAT and Brock
Preview of the day’s work
9:30- 12 Individual Work: Create a Plan of Action for
your campus project: Document online/in poster
form to share with your region. What is your
question, who’s on your team, what is your plan,
what will they do?

Whole Group: Bridging the campus to the Lynn and Deborah

region: Regional Networks Overview

Regional Group Work: Share your Action Plan Nancy and Brock
with members of your region
 Identify a regional question that will serve as
an “umbrella” focus.
 How can the region as a whole support your
efforts on your campus?
 What collaborations are possible?
 How can we begin planning for them?
12-1:00pm Lunch
1 – 2:30 Regional Group Activity:
 Regional Group Activity: Create a metaphor
to define your team, problem, or inquiry. Use
the marshmallow to initiate the discussion.
2:30-3:30 Regional Group Activity:
Post your regional theme, artifact, metaphor, and
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plan
3:30-4:30 Evaluation of the logic models
4:30-5:00 Post today’s CAT’s response
5:30-6:30 Reception
6:30-8 Dinner

Notes:

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Thursday, June 24, Day Eight – BSILI 2.0

Time Event/Activity Personnel Location Technology Supplies

8:00 – 8:45 Breakfast
9- 9:30 Housekeeping Deborah, Lynn,
Parking Lot items Nancy, Bradley,
Summary response to previous day CAT and Brock
Preview of the day’s work
9:30-11:30 Start the process of revising region logic model Deborah, Lynn,
to support campus completion projects and Nancy, Bradley,
regional question/theme and Brock
11:30-12:00 Check out
12-1:00pm Lunch
1:00 Departure

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The Marshmallow Challenge

Find 45-60 minutes when your team can fully engage in the challenge. I’ve run challenges with
groups containing as four people to as many as 800 people. Ensure that you have tables for each
team.

Step One: Schedule a Meeting

In advance of the meeting, create a marshmallow challenge kit for each team, with each kit
containing:

 twenty sticks of spaghetti

 one yard of masking tape
 one yard of string and one marshmallow
 These ingredients should be placed into a paper lunch bag, which simplifies distribution
and hides the contents, maximizing the element of surprise.
 measuring tape

1. Spaghetti: Ensure that you use uncooked spaghetti. Avoid spaghettini as it is too thin and
breaks easily. Fettucini is too thick.
2. String: Include string that can be easily broken by hand. If the string is thick, include
scissors in your kit.
3. Marshmallow: Use a name brand or private label brand of marshmallows that measure
the ‘standard’ size, about an inch and a half across. Avoid mini or jumbo marshmallows.
Also avoid stale marshmallows. You’ll want squishy marshmallows that give the
impression of lightness.
4. Masking Tape: Get standard masking tape. Generally, you’ll want to put the tape on the
side of the table, the back of a chair or a nearby wall. Rolling it in the bag tangles the
tape.
5. Paper Lunch Bags: Standard size lunch bags work well as do letter size manilla envelops.

Also ensure that you have the following tools to run the challenge:

1. Measuring Tape: Have a contractor’s retractable measuring available after the challenge
is finished so you can measure the height of the structures.
2. Countdown Application or Stopwatch: The actual marshmallow challenge takes eighteen
minutes. Eighteen minutes seems to be the magic time. Twenty minutes is too long and
fifteen is too short. You can use a stopwatch, but better yet is to use a video projector and
display the countdown time. For Shareware Windows applications, consider
http://www.timeleft.info/ and http://www.orzeszek.org/blog/2009/08/21/simple-
countdown-timer-for-windows/. For a Mac, consider, http://www.baldgeeks.com/3-2-
1.htm. 
3. Video Projector and Sound System (optional): For more impact, use a video projector to
deliver the Marshmallow Challenge Presentation (or your own) and a sound system for

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music during the challenge. Time out a play list of exactly 18 minutes of music. You’ll
want the challenge to end at the conclusion of the last song.
4. ✦Download a copy of the presentation: You can find the pdf instructions here:
TED2010_Tom_Wujec_Marshmallow_Challenge_Web_Version.pdf

Step Two: Assemble a Kit for Each Team

Be clear about the goals and rules of the Marshmallow Challenge. Use the Acrobat Presentation
to introduce the challenge as well as to visually reinforce the instructions:

1. Build the Tallest Freestanding Structure: The winning team is the one that has the tallest
structure measured from the table top surface to the top of the marshmallow. That means
the structure cannot be suspended from a higher structure, like a chair, ceiling or
chandelier.
2. The Entire Marshmallow Must be on Top: The entire marshmallow needs to be on the top
of the structure. Cutting or eating part of the marshmallow disqualifies the team. 
3. Use as Much or as Little of the Kit: The team can use as many or as few of the 20
spaghetti sticks, as much or as little of the string or tape. The team cannot use the paper
bag as part of their structure.
4. Break up the Spaghetti, String or Tape: Teams are free to break the spaghetti, cut up the
tape and string to create new structures.
5. The Challenge Lasts 18 minutes: Teams cannot hold on to the structure when the time
runs out. Those touching or supporting the structure at the end of the exercise will be
disqualified.
6. Ensure Everyone Understands the Rules: Don’t worry about repeating the rules too many
times. Repeat them at least three times. Ask if anyone has any questions before starting.

Step Three: Deliver Clear Instructions

Introduction: Generally, a tight presentation introducing the challenge will motivate the team.
Let them know this challenge has been conducted by tens of thousands of people in every
continent, from the CFOs of the Fortune 50 to Students at all levels. The lessons learned are
universal.

Goals & Rules: Be very clear about the goals and rules of the challenge. Generally, you’ll want
to repeat them three times and reinforce them visually.

Cheating: In almost every challenge, there is at least one team that will want to cheat or bend the
rules in their favor. The clearer you are about the rules the better the results.

Prizes: Offer a prize to the winning team. A standing ovation from the rest of the group is great.
Books, software, perks - even cash are also great incentives. But be wary of big prizes as you’ll
read in the Lessons of the Challenge.

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Music: Select the appropriate music for the challenge. I prefer driving Rock or Pop, but dramatic
classical works well too.

Tips: Start the countdown clock and the music with the start of the challenge.

1. Walk around the Room: It’s amazing to see the development of the structures as well as
notice the patterns of innovation most teams follow.
2. Remind the Teams of the Time: Countdown the time. Usually, I call 12 minutes, 9
minutes (half-way through), 7 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, 30
seconds and a ten-second count down. 
3. Call Out How the Teams are Doing: Let the entire group know how teams are
progressing. Call out each time a team builds a standing structure. Build a friendly
rivalry. Encourage people to look around. Don’t be afraid to raise the energy and the
stakes.
4. Remind the Teams that Holders will be Disqualified: Several teams will have the
powerful desire to hold on to their structure at the end. Usually because the marshmallow,
which they just placed onto their structure moments before, causing the structure to
buckle. The winning structure needs to be stable.

Step Four: Start the Challenge

After the clock runs out, ask everyone in the room to sit down so everyone can see the structures.
Likely, just over half the teams will have standing structures.

1. Measure the Structures: From the shortest standing structure to the tallest, measure and
call out the heights. If you’re documenting the challenge, have someone record the
heights.
2. Identify the Winning Team: Ensure they get a standing ovation and a prize (if you’ve
offered one).
3. Wrap up with the Lessons of the Marshmallow Challenge: Deliver the attached
presentation or just describe some of the key lessons of the marshmallow challenge:
4. Kids do Better than Business Students: On virtually every measure of innovation,
kindergarteners create taller and more interesting structures.
5. Prototyping Matters: The reason kids do better than business school students is kids
spend more time playing and prototyping. They naturally start with the marshmallow and
stick in the sticks. The Business School students spend a vast amount of time planning,
then executing on the plan, with almost no time to fix the design once they put the
marshmallow on top.
6. The Marshmallow is a Metaphor for the Hidden Assumptions of a Project: The
assumption in the Marshmallow Challenge is that marshmallows are light and fluffy and
easily supported by the spaghetti sticks. When you actually try to build the structure, the
marshmallows don’t seem so light. The lesson in the marshmallow challenge is that we

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need to identify the assumptions in our project - the real customer needs, the cost of the
product, the duration of the service - and test them early and often. That’s the mechanism
that leads to effective innovation.

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 Summer 2010
Draft 6, 6/10/10
Marshmallow Challenge Rules

1. Build the Tallest Freestanding Structure: The winning team is the one that has the tallest
structure measured from the table top surface to the top of the marshmallow. That means
the structure cannot be suspended from a higher structure, like a chair, ceiling or
chandelier.
2. The Entire Marshmallow Must Be on Top: The entire marshmallow needs to be on the
top of the structure. Cutting or eating part of the marshmallow disqualifies the team. 
3. Use as Much or as Little of the Kit: The team can use as many or as few of the 20
spaghetti sticks, as much or as little of the string or tape. The team cannot use the paper
bag as part of their structure.
4. Break up the Spaghetti, String or Tape: Teams are free to break the spaghetti, cut up the
tape and string to create new structures.
5. The Challenge Lasts 18 minutes: Teams cannot hold on to the structure when the time
runs out. Those touching or supporting the structure at the end of the exercise will be
disqualified.

Key Lessons of the Challenge

1. Kids do Better than Business Students: On virtually every measure of innovation,

kindergarteners create taller and more interesting structures.
2. Prototyping Matters: The reason kids do better than business school students is kids
spend more time playing and prototyping. They naturally start with the marshmallow and
stick in the sticks. The Business School students spend a vast amount of time planning,
then executing on the plan, with almost no time to fix the design once they put the
marshmallow on top.
3. The Marshmallow is a Metaphor for the Hidden Assumptions of a Project: The
assumption in the Marshmallow Challenge is that marshmallows are light and fluffy and
easily supported by the spaghetti sticks. When you actually try to build the structure, the
marshmallows don’t seem so light.
4. The lesson in the marshmallow challenge is that we need to identify the assumptions in
our project - the real customer needs, the cost of the product, the duration of the service -
and test them early and often. That’s the mechanism that leads to effective innovation.

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