Camden Central School District -

In a laboratory environment, teamwork and communication skills are essential. It makes activities safer for everyone, helps to ensure all steps are properly followed, and in turn, more accurate results are produced.

To help their students put those skills to use, get them thinking about what they’ll learn this year, and offer some variety in the start-of-the-year routine, Mrs. Libertella and Mr. Keller’s chemistry and science classes at CHS took on a building challenge.

Working in pairs, students were tasked with building the tallest free-standing structure possible using 20 sticks of spaghetti, three feet of tape, three feet of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow had to be used at the top. And the structure had to be completely assembled in about 18 minutes.

This activity afforded students a dynamic multi-disciplinary exploration of engineering, chemistry, and materials science. They needed to develop a sound strategy and collaborate effectively. And then execute that strategy by using the right material with the right properties for each portion of the task. Tensile strength, elasticity, and structural integrity were paramount to success.