lateral thinking and logic puzzles

It's been over a month since I last blogged, well...it's been too sunny to be tip tapping on my laptop, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! Unlike our companions in the UK who have had the worst winter in over 30 years for those of us here in the Southern Hemisphere it's been 7 long weeks of sunshine and relaxation. Three cheers for global warming...hmmm....So, it's time for us to peel off those bikini's and boardies, set the alarm clocks and get that bicycle dynamo back into action again for the new school year.

What better time than at the start of the academic year to engage your students in a few lateral thinking and logical puzzles to get those clogs turning after their long summer break.  Besides, students usually have a few minutes to spare at the very beginning of the year as they get organised with their new timetables, orientation activities etc..

"It is now widely recognised that lateral and creative thinking are essential to innovation.  Perhaps the best known advocates of such thinking are Edward de Bono and Albert Einstein.  Einstein claimed that his theory of relativity arose from his imagination: he imagined himself on a beam of light and followed the light path.  Edward do Bono argues that most of our thinking falls into ruts, from which we need to extract ourselves".  Thinking tools or strategies aid this process."  
Future Thinking, Anne Sturgess, New Zealand Council for Educational Research, 2007

I highly recommend this book on Future Thinking by Anne Sturgess,  Future Thinking, is the culmination of several years work by staff and students at Hamilton Boys High School and is based on a range of current approaches to the teaching of thinking, and knowledge gained while the programme has been in place at the school.

Here are a few activities that I have found useful in the past and will have at the ready, if needed, for the first couple of days of term.

observation tests

	9 faces IQ test	This is a fun, warm up activity to test your students observation skills, perhaps prior to carrying out an science experiment or investigation where good observation skills are essential (isn't that all science practicals!). see solution here
	basketball video	Select half your class to watch the video and count the number of passes between members of the white team, the other half of your class to do the same for the black team.                                  Then ask for hands up as to who saw the gorilla, chances are it'll be only those students who were watching the black team! copyright - Visual Cognition Lab, University of Illinois
	burning candle	set the deceptively easy task of asking your students to make 30 observations of a burning candle, give each student a small burning candle (not a nightlight), see suggested observations here

lateral thinking and logic puzzles

	thinking outside the square	A familiar activity for getting your students to "think outside the square", they need to connect the 9 dots without lifting their pencil from the paper and using only 4 lines. click here for teacher answers
	zooley link to zooley diagram	A fantastic critical thinking, logical puzzle suitable for primary students through to adults, I have used it with senior chemistry students prior to starting a unit on moles and molar masses. click here for the zooley questions to go with the zooley diagram click here for teacher answers
	murder in a bookstore	a fun, divergent thinking puzzle within a cartoon, this is edited from Forensic Science (FORS) which was based on "murder in a bookstore" (Treat 1981) click here for teacher answers
	CLUE logic puzzle	some students find this a little difficult (which is great!), it is edited from Forensic Science (FORS), based on the CLUE game by the Parker brother, this version by Keith Barry click here for teacher answers
	The zebra puzzle  aka  Einstein's riddle	Einstein allegedly created this puzzle, there are many versions on the net, this is a copy of the 1st known version of this puzzle from 1962.  Apparently only 2% of the population can solve it. click here for teacher answers
	river puzzle	The aim of this game is to successfully transport everyone from one side of the water to the other, but there are rules as some people cannot travel together, a great logical puzzle. click here for teacher answers
	escape from library	Another excellent logical puzzle in which one needs to escape from the library by finding a several hidden objects and deciding on the best way to use them. click here for teacher answers

word puzzles

	mental flexibility test	This test does not measure intelligence but provides some gauge of your mental flexibility click here for teacher answers
	rebus test	Rubus is from the Latin word "by things", pictures are used to represent words or parts of words. click here for teacher answers
	riddles	click here for teacher answers click here for more riddles click here for teacher answers to more riddles

So, there you go, a gentle intro to another hectic year as we juggle the 101 daily tasks that we as teachers have become accoustomed to,

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Have a great day!