“There’s a way to do it better - find it.
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One of the most powerful stories from our program emerged during the Salmon Migration Design in a Warm Planet Lesson—a capstone learning experience for middle school students who began their Marshmallow Minds journey in elementary school, steadily building the skills to solve complex real-world problems.
A middle grade student wrote in her reflection:
“I learned that salmon have a harder life because of us humans, but there are ways to help. I enjoyed controlling the Sphero and drawing the map. I will litter less and be more aware of wildlife.”
While this may seem like a small moment, in that one line, we saw empathy, systems thinking, environmental awareness, and personal agency—all from a hands-on STEAM lesson. That’s what we do at Marshmallow Minds: we create real-world challenges where students aren’t just learning science—they’re learning how to be thoughtful, confident, creative problem solvers.
And it’s not just students who feel the impact. One middle grade teacher shared:
“My students—especially English learners—were engaged throughout the process, using vocabulary while building, collaborating, and testing their ideas. One student who rarely speaks in class led their entire team through the design challenge.”
That’s the magic of Marshmallow Minds. It’s not just about circuits or salmon or robots. It’s about igniting voices, unlocking confidence, and showing every child they can make an impact.
This is why we exist.
Future-Ready Learning for All
Founded in 2016, Marshmallow Minds is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to providing equitable access to high quality, future-ready STEAM education that fosters lifelong learning habits, nurtures empathetic global citizens, prepares students for careers that don’t yet exist, and empowers every child to become a creative problem-solver.
Unequal access, unequal futures. All students deserve access to rigorous, authentic, hands-on learning that prepares them for the careers of the future. “Title-1 schools are schools in which children from low-income families make up at least 40% of the enrollment. Most often the Title-1 funds are used for school-wide interventions in ELA and Math in an attempt to close the gap and not so much on innovative future-ready programs like STEAM.” - Prasanna Padmanabhan, Fremont Union School District, School Teacher
Marshmallow Minds partners with schools and school districts through in-school programs, after-school and summer programs, teacher training, and community STEAM events to create fun, dynamic, developmentally appropriate learning experiences that teach Design Thinking and Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) content while building academic vocabulary and English language development proficiency.
