Project: Oreo Tower

Introduction

“Oreo Tower” is part of the Design Activities resource, which compiles activities that students can use to practice and reflect on design processes.

In “Oreo Tower”, students will work in teams to create the tallest freestanding tower out of Oreo cookies.

We invite you to use this project with a capture method from the Capturing Design Signatures collection. Using a capture method, this activity gives students the opportunity to reflect on the actions they take in their design process, and notice how they work together as a team.

Choose one of the following capture methods:

Design Signatures App: This app helps students track their design process on a mobile app or on a desktop website, and creates a colorful visual timeline of their design process stages.
Bubble sheets: This bubble sheet helps students track their design process by pen and paper, by “bubbling in” the dot for the corresponding time and design process stage.
Google forms survey: This Google Forms survey helps students track their design process by filling in checkboxes in a survey.
Spreadsheet: This spreadsheet helps students track their design process by coloring in cells for the corresponding time and design process stage. Designed to support asynchronous data collection for longer projects.

Why do this activity?

The purpose of this activity is to allow students to engage in a low-stakes and creative team-building activity. Through this activity, students may become more aware of their team dynamics and design processes. With a capture method, students can analyze the actions they take.

This activity will help students:

Think creatively and work on a hands-on physical build
Work in a team
Get feedback on their team dynamic and engagement with a design process
Reflect on their skills and think about how they can improve

Materials needed

Oreo cookies (each team receives 15 cookies: 5 for prototyping, 10 for their final design)
Optional: A capture method
Optional: A reward - use extra Oreos!
Optional: Ziploc bags to distribute the supplies for each team.

Setting up the activity

You will be distributing Oreo cookies for each team. Team sizes should be 3-4 people.
Set aside 15 Oreo cookies for each team. (If you are preparing the materials before class, this is where the ziploc bags can come in handy to store each team’s cookies.
Optional: Set up the capture method you’ve chosen according to the instructions we’ve provided on that capture method’s page.

Doing the activity

The following instructions are written with capture methods embedded.

Have each team set up the capture method you’ve chosen.
Distribute the Oreos to each team of students.
Have teams select who will be the capture method recorder.
Give teams 10 minutes to do the challenge! Students get 5 cookies to prototype and 10 for their final tower, and they get to decide when to move from prototyping to their final tower. Every 30 seconds, call out a time check for the user researcher to record their team’s design process stage using the capture method.
At the end of the challenge, it’s time to measure the towers your students have created. Use a tape measure to measure from the table to the top of the cookie tower. The team with the highest tower wins the challenge.
Have your teams discard the towers; if the cookies are not safe to be eaten, they can be composted.
Have each team view their design signature and engage in a 5 minute discussion about their process. The following questions may be used: some text
1. How did your teamwork go? What interesting things happened as you tried to make your tower?
2. Does the data from the user researcher map to your experience?
3. Do you expect a relationship between process and outcome?
4. From this signature, what changes might you make to how you (1) engaged in the design activity, and (2) worked together as a team?
Have each team share their reflections to the class.