5 WAYS TO BECOME BETTER AT CRITICAL THINIKING USING THE MARSHMALLOW CHALLENGE

Critical thinking is a life and essential skill especially in the workplace because better critical thinking leads to better decision making.

Critical thinking empowers individuals to approach problems and decision making with open-mindedness, intellectual rigour and plays a role in personal and professional success.

This week, we had a learning session on Critical Thinking facilitated by our CEO @moladeadeniyi

An activity we participated in during the session was the Marshmallow Challenge. 

Each group was asked to create structures with spagethti sticks, paper tape, draw strings and a marshmallow. The team with the tallest structure and its marshmallow at the top wins.

While some groups focused on creating a strong foundation (so that the marshmallow would stay), other groups focused on the height of the structure (which was the goal of the exercise).

From the activity, we could relate some learnings to the critical thinking process which is:

1) Evaluate new information: - be open-minded to any information that is suggested.

2) Consider the source: - verify where the information is coming from

3) Ask lots of questions: - query with the intention to learn and understand.

4) Follow-up with research: - check what others are doing

5) Form an opinion: - reach a conclusion

Have you ever tried the Marshmallow challenge?

Did you create a taller structure than ours? ☺