5 Methods for Developing Problem-Solving Skills

This infographic comes from the blog over at eyeoneducation.com.  I particularly like the first suggestion, “Brainstorming with a Twist.”  I often have my students brainstorm, but I have never thought of adding this additional challenge once they are finished.   You can go here to view the book, Teaching Students to Dig Deeper: The Common Core in Action, by Ben Johnson, from which the infographic is adapted.  There is a link on that page to download a PDF sample from the book.

Camelot Jr.

For those of you new to this blog, I am devoting Fridays during the holiday season to recommending “Gifts for the Gifted”.  You can see the three posts that I have done so far here, here, here and here.  You can also visit my Pinterest board on Games for Gifted Students.  A lot of these are not just for gifted students, but would be appreciated by many children – and adults.

I bought “Camelot Jr.” several years ago on sale at Barnes and Noble.  Back then, it was called “Royal Rescue”, and I liked the idea that a little bit of building was integrated with the logic puzzles.  This game can be played alone, or with a couple of people.  The challenge is to find a way for the knight and the princess to meet.  There is a book of puzzles, and they are in order of difficulty.  You are given a picture showing the initial construction, with the knight and princess on opposite sides, and shown pictures of which blocks can be used to create a “road” that will join the two figures.

This is a great game for children five and up.  Don’t let them skip to the middle because it seems too easy at first.  Each challenge teaches you something, and you can use your experience from previous, easier challenges, to help solve the harder ones.

If you read the reviews on Amazon.com, you will see that many people felt that “Camelot Jr.” was a fun activity for kids and adults.  As I’ve watched my daughter and many of my students work through it, they have reached puzzles that I definitely can’t solve mentally, and it’s exciting to observe the children problem solving, reaching the edge of frustration, and then crowing with triumph when they finally reach the solution.

Refraction

image credit: http://games.cs.washington.edu/Refraction/

I first learned about the web game, “Refraction“, from Julie Greller’s post on “A Media Specialist’s Guide to the Internet”.  Since my 5th grade daughter happens to be knee-deep in fractions right now, I was intrigued by Julie’s description of the game, which involves guiding lasers to power spaceships.  I followed her link to the game to check it out for myself.

Big mistake.

I really didn’t need another internet addiction, but “Refraction” has all of the elements that make it worthy of adding to your Favorites list.  First of all, your mission is to help the poor, lonely spaceships of animals drifting along with no fuel.  So, that should appeal to everyone’s heroic inclinations.  Secondly, the game slowly introduces challenges that keep it from becoming boring, but also make you do some mental gymnastics.  More and more spaceships need fuel, and some need a quarter of your laser beam or a third or a half.  Math and logic are definitely necessary skills in order to succeed in this game!

Draw a Stickman Epic

The makers of “Draw a Stickman” have just released a new version, “Draw a Stickman Epic“.  At this time, it is available for iPhone, iPad, and Windows 8.  The Android app is coming soon, according to the developer’s website.  ”Epic” comes in the free, trial version, or the paid version ($1.99).  The main difference is the number of levels.  With the free version, you get 3 levels, and the paid version offers 14.  The other difference, I would assume (since I have not purchased the paid version), would be the presence of ads.

“Epic” is much more interactive than its predecessors, and demands the use of some problem-solving skills in order for your stickman character, which you will draw, to rescue its stickman friend (which you will also draw).  In order to do this, you must strategically draw fire to destroy obstacles, as well as rain clouds.

“Draw a Stickman Epic” would be a good app to use as a reward or in a center for students.  With a projector, it could even be a whole class activity; after a level is completed, the students could write about what happened, and even use it as a story starter for further adventures.

SuperThinkers

Peter Reynolds, author and illustrator of The Dot, as well as many other books, is the mind behind SuperThinkers.  This website, designed for students in upper elementary and middle school, includes, games and activities that encourage: reading for meaning, logic, and reasoning skills.  According to the site, it “offers activities that require that students THINK before they click. Do not be surprised if some students find this site “too hard.” An important lesson in authentic learning is that it IS a challenge to think.”

The featured game on SuperThinkers is The Peetnik Mysteries, and I think students will enjoy making deductions based on the clues that are given.  The site also includes:  a creativity workshop, posters, and parent and educator pages.  In addition, there is a section on getting involved by helping others with your SuperThinker powers.

Move the Box

As promised last week, my Friday posts are all about “fun”.  Although, I am not sure how “fun” this particular game will be for people like me – who are spatially challenged.  Move the Box is a free iPhone app that requires logic and visual reasoning skills.  I have been trying to work on the latter, but seem to be particularly weak in that area.  In Move the Box, you are limited to a number of moves in which to pull boxes out of a pile, resulting in like boxes landing in vertical or horizontal rows and disappearing.  Your goal is to get all of the boxes to disappear.  You begin with a limit of 1 move, which might seem daunting, but it is easier to use process of elimination than when you get to the level that allows you two moves.  That is when it gets really challenging.  Good luck, and try not to get frustrated!

Windosill (Reblog)

For the summer, I have decided to use my Tuesday and Thursday posts to reblog some of my favorite posts that some of my readers may have missed the first time around:

Windosill is an app for the iPad for $2.99.  A free version is also available online, though you would also have to make a purchase to experience the second half.   I have to admit, though, that I am glad I purchased the iPad app.

It is difficult to describe this mysterious, whimsical game, so I will quote the iTunes summary, “Explore a dream-like world of eleven beautifully-constructed environments in this iPad adaptation of the classic desktop adventure. Equal parts puzzle game, playful toy, and living picture-book, Windosill rewards playful investigation with mysterious and beautiful surprises.”

My nine year old daughter saw me trying to solve a level, and soon we were both deeply engrossed in finding the solution.  We completed the game together, and then she wanted to start it over again from the beginning.  Her perseverance in trying to puzzle out each level was admirable.

Vectorpark, the company responsible for this game, also has other iOS apps, which you can view here.

Bubble Ball (Reblog)

For the summer, I have decided to use my Tuesday and Thursday posts to reblog some of my favorite posts that some of my readers may have missed the first time around.

Bubble Ball is one of my favorite iDevice apps.  It is a free download, and has 48 levels.  You can purchase more after you finish the 48  for  99 cents.  The purpose of this game is to use the various materials that appear on the screen in each level to direct a ball to roll toward a flag.  I don’t usually like to recommend game apps for the classroom, because students seem to get enough of those at home.  But this Physics challenge encourages problem solving and creative thinking.  Many of the levels have more than one solution.  This could be a fun center in which the students could take screen shots of their solutions and explain them using the free Screen Chomp app or other methods.  It would be interesting to compare the different solutions groups develop, and have them explain their thought processes.  Of course, I highly recommend that you play around with the app yourself – just to get familiar with the levels, of course

Silver Sphere

Silver Sphere is one of many addictive, web-based “brain” games provided by Brain Metrix.  In Silver Sphere, you must beat the clock to move a silver ball to its goal.  Although this sounds simple, there are obstacles and other inconveniences that make this difficult.  According to Brain Metrix, “Being creative is a good thing; in fact it’s essential if we want to make our life better. Stimulating areas of your brain is a healthy process, in this page we will try to wake up (if dormant) the brain creativity potential, SilverSphere has 25 levels, let’s see how far you could go.”  And, as the warning states on the Silver Sphere page, it is addicting!

Bubble Ball (Reblog)

For the summer, I have decided to use my Tuesday and Thursday posts to reblog some of my favorite posts that some of my readers may have missed the first time around.

Bubble Ball is one of my favorite iDevice apps.  It is a free download, and has 48 levels.  You can purchase more after you finish the 48  for  99 cents.  The purpose of this game is to use the various materials that appear on the screen in each level to direct a ball to roll toward a flag.  I don’t usually like to recommend game apps for the classroom, because students seem to get enough of those at home.  But this Physics challenge encourages problem solving and creative thinking.  Many of the levels have more than one solution.  This could be a fun center in which the students could take screen shots of their solutions and explain them using the free Screen Chomp app or other methods.  It would be interesting to compare the different solutions groups develop, and have them explain their thought processes.  Of course, I highly recommend that you play around with the app yourself – just to get familiar with the levels, of course