This task will take approximately 50min - 40min for building time and 10min to introduce the activity and allow all students to see each other’s creations.

The activity shows students that challenges in life and in the workplace often require ‘sticking at it’ and managing your emotions. Motivation and a drive to succeed are important.

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What Each Pair Of Students Will Need:

• 12 strands of dried spaghetti (ideally each strand should be less than 30cm long)

• Lump of blu tac (if opening a new pack, a 4cm x 7cm strip should be sufficient)

• Two glass marbles

• A 30cm ruler

• A pencil

Activity Instructions:

• Ask the students to work in pairs.

• The challenge: Students have to build a 30cm tall spaghetti tower using only spaghetti and blu tac. The tower should be able to support at least one glass marble at least 20cm up the tower.

• The top prize is awarded to students who can build a tower of 30cm (or higher) that supports two glass marbles closest to the top of the tower. All students can vote for the tower they think is the prettiest, strongest, weirdest etc.

• The skill being tested here is resilience. Blu tac and spaghetti are not the easiest materials to work with. To build a tower using only these requires a lot of patience, determination, not wanting to give up and, of course, a steady hand.

• Note: Do not allow students to ask for more spaghetti or blu tac, as this will lead to an unfair advantage. And there will always be those who will try to make their entire tower out of blu tac!

Discussion Points:

• How successful was your tower?

• Did you like anyone else’s design better?

• Was it difficult? Frustrating? Did you want to give up?

• Why is it important to keep going until you succeed? (At school, at work).