# Psychological Development



## ShadenSmith (Apr 29, 2008)

It's been placed as my responsibility to come up with a way to support the teaching of Rubik's cubes in my county elementary schools. (This is part of a school league system being set up by my Superintendent and I). In order to link cubing to education, I've decided to direct the argument towards the area of brain development in the ages of elementary school children (ages 5 - 10). I've done some basic research through my psychology textbook, and I think I've developed a working argument.

The basic outline of the argument is this:
Visual-spatial intelligence is still being developed up through age 10, a critical part of brain development. Stimulating this area of the brain promotes growth in visual-spatial intelligence. Rubik's Cubes promote visual-spatial intelligence, pattern recognition, problem-solving skills, and finger dexterity. All of these skills can be applied in school work or job environments later in life.



Any comments/critiques on this? I could be wrong on the ages of the psychological developments, so anyone with a background in psychology, please inform me of any inaccuracies. 

Thanks


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## Bryan (Apr 29, 2008)

Another advantage that you can state is that it can help kids build confidence. I know some kid who compete for the first time are nervous because they've never done anything individual in front of a crowd.


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## cmhardw (Apr 29, 2008)

Hi,

I actually have a lot of experience teaching elementary school students about Rubik's cube through my work as a math tutor for a center called Mathnasium Learning Center.

I have taught students as young as 2nd grade how to solve a fully scrambled cube, but the bulk of the full solvers are 4th-5th graders.

I have found that you cannot approach it the same way as you would teach an adult. For an adult they have enough of a visual/spacial common sense to just start teaching them how to solve. For younger students I start with puzzles that are close to solved, where each puzzle builds on the previous ones. Not only that but I've spent about a year crafting which puzzles I give in which order such that they also teach all the same ideas necessary to learn how to solve the cube when fully scrambled. Students must complete all 9 of my "core" puzzles before I will allow them to start learning the full solution. I also have lots of other "non-core" or "just for fun" puzzles for students who finish the core 9 and want to try other ones.

I detailed which puzzles I give in which order here:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/speedsolvingrubikscube/message/40708

If you would like more information then PM me on this forum and I will describe in more depth what I do to teach kids how to solve. After a year of working with younger students with Rubik's cube I've come to fully believe that anyone with enough interest, even as young as 1st-2nd grade, could solve a cube with enough practice. Also, many of my students can solve all of the puzzles I give them, but cannot solve the cube. Some of the puzzles are difficult ones like the H permutation, or even puzzles which optimally require 8 moves in HTM.

I too am very interested in this topic of teaching younger kids Rubik's cube, so if you have any questions please PM me.

Chris


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## ShadenSmith (Apr 29, 2008)

I took a look at your teaching methods Chris, those are very impressive! How much one-on-one time do you usually spend with a student before the full ability to solve is achieved?


I fear that I won't have any one-on-one time to teach the students, and will probably only have a 1 hour period to spend with a class. That's why I chose to teach only the 2x2x2 to them. My teaching plan is to first teach the concepts behind solving a side/layer, and then teaching them R U' L' U R' U' L to permute the LL, and Sune to orient.

What are your thoughts on that lesson plan? I think the kids will mainly be 4th-5th grade range, but possibly younger kids will be included as well.


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## fanwuq (Apr 29, 2008)

Nice! I would loved to have learned to cube in elementary school! I could easily get one face when I was 4 and was grades ahead in just about everything. Cubing would have been the kind of challenge I was looking for. (of course, rather than going further, I was incredibly bored in middle school and read countless junk fiction books.)
Starting to cube in high school is nice too. I'm learning a bit of group theory at the moment.
However, I don't think that cubing would really teach young kids cognitive skills. They will learn the beginner method and blindly apply algs. They will think they are geniuses when in fact they know nothing except obeying simply instructions in response to a pattern that they see. So the only true benefit may be increased dexterity and hand-eye coordination. There are exceptions of course. Justin Adsuara was only 10 and he learned MGLS, got 16s average and was quite fast at BLD. I predict 1/3 of them won't be interested. 1/3 won't be able to get the cross. 1/6 can only solve it half the time. And 1/7 blindly apply algs. 1/42 is quite bright and goes much deeper into some theories. 
Most kids can't grasp this kind of things. 4-7 is the ages that kids understand conservation (pouring water into a different shaped container won't change the volume.) Turning layers, defining permutations, parity, and orientations won't be understandable.
The point is that at least some would express interest and learn to solve successfully, but at that age, they would not truly understand any of the ideas. Only blindly apply algs. There's no thinking involved. 
I agree with Chris. Show several simple puzzles like maybe the 14-15 puzzle and some simple geometry questions, soduku, etc before showing the cube. Interest is the most important point.

One hour would NOT be enough for the 2x2! Just do some solves yourself as demonstration. Explain some interesting points leading up to the ideas behind the cube and tell them that If they are truly interested, you will try to explain it later. Read about group theory really helps!
Well, good luck whatever you do. Are taking AP psychology? I am. Not quite ready for the exam yet... 2 more weeks...


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## ShadenSmith (Apr 29, 2008)

I'll make the point of time restraint to the Principle and see what he thinks. We're purchasing a class set of 2x2x2's, and we'll probably pass them out for them to play with and possibly attempt to teach. Most of it will be demonstration however.

Yes, I'm taking AP Psych. I'm also in need of some cramming before the exam.


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## cmhardw (Apr 29, 2008)

ShadenSmith said:


> I took a look at your teaching methods Chris, those are very impressive! How much one-on-one time do you usually spend with a student before the full ability to solve is achieved?
> 
> 
> I fear that I won't have any one-on-one time to teach the students, and will probably only have a 1 hour period to spend with a class. That's why I chose to teach only the 2x2x2 to them. My teaching plan is to first teach the concepts behind solving a side/layer, and then teaching them R U' L' U R' U' L to permute the LL, and Sune to orient.
> ...



Hi,

I think this sounds like a really fun class! I forsee some logistical challenges that will be present in a classroom environment, that would be very important to address now.

1) You yourself will be solving cubes constantly

Cubes get scrambled constantly and you either need to fix it back to the last step they were at, or have them fix it. Having them fix it every time can be a point of frustration for the students, so I recommend to fix it back for them at least the first couple times. About 1/2 of the time I give a student a puzzle it comes back to me scrambled in some way shape or form and I have to fix it to the original puzzle and return it back.

For this reason I don't recommend as much sitting in the desk classroom stlye of learning. Split everyone into small groups of 3-4 or 4-5 and make sure each group has one student who seems to grasp your ideas relatively quickly. More on this in the next point.

2) Some kids need more coaching time than others

I am a very strong opponent of the idea of a fixed intelligence, and I think all kids of capable of extraordinary feats if they have the interest level. However, it is true that some students will learn what you teach them on the cube much faster than others. I always appoint these students to help me teach the others how to solve the puzzles. I think it's very likely that 1-2 of your classroom students will pick up your concepts with relative ease and it will click with them. Have these students help you by explaining the concepts to the others who are still working on it. Try to identify the best 4-5 of your students quickly and make them leaders of each 3-4 student group.

When I teach the puzzles I work with a group of anywhere from 5-15 kids at a time. I give each person a puzzle as they bring me their finished cube, and they go off to figure the puzzle out. I usually spend about 5-10 seconds providing a hint when asked. Going at this rate, within a 30 minute session I can usually get every student through about 2-3 of the puzzles, and some go through as many as 5-9 of them in one 30 minute sesssion. A lot of your time is spent fixing cubes when the student scrambles them on accident. Do not underestimate this part of it ;-)

In a 1 hour class, I forsee a small group of your students grasping each idea you teach with relatively little effort, and if you have them help you you can extend the amount of info you convey to the entire class.

3) Set goals for yourself

Set a goal of the absolute bare minimum amount of information you want everyone to achieve within the hour session. For the class, set your goal as to getting every student of the class able to solve the first layer without assistance. Now in setting this goal, some students may leave the course solving the cube entirely. Some may only leave able to solve 1 layer most of the time without help. But still set a goal.

4) 1 hour is not a lot of time for teaching the cube - but perfect for learning

About the longest sessions I ever do with my students are 1 hour, any more past that and they start to burn out. So you can't get as much done as you might like, but you will be surprised as to how much they retain the next time (if there is a next time for your class). If you can do two 1 hour classes spread over a week I think you can get every student to solve the 2x2x2.

I only teach the 3x3x3, but I'd say that most students spend around 30-90 minutes doing my core puzzles, then maybe 1-2 hours beyond that to learn the 3x3x3. This is all 1-on-1 in the sense that I am teaching each student face to face, but I always have 5-15 students all learning at the same time. The environment is very unstructured. I sit at a table and provide a puzzle and a hint if a cube is brought to me.

Hope this helps, and please post on how the class goes! I for one am very interested to hear about it!

Chris


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## ShadenSmith (Apr 29, 2008)

I'm getting with my principle tomorrow to discuss our purchases and to plan out some meetings, I'll post the update when I get home!


thanks for the help everyone, a big thanks goes out to all of you


-Shaden Smith


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## Dene (Apr 29, 2008)

I'm a bit late but... I think teaching children from 5-10 the conncepts of the cube will be extremely dangerous, particularly those under 8ish. This is of course before most children acquire formal operations, and thus could not see the cube for anything more than it is, just a bunch of pieces all mixed up. Mr Hardwick will have more experience with this, and I'm never around children that age, but if Piaget is correct to an extent then children stuck in the concrete operations stage will struggle very hard with the cube. Certainly earlier teens would be easier to teach while the frontal cortex is developing, but I guess that isn't an option?


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## Mike Hughey (Apr 29, 2008)

Dene said:


> I'm a bit late but... I think teaching children from 5-10 the conncepts of the cube will be extremely dangerous, particularly those under 8ish. This is of course before most children acquire formal operations, and thus could not see the cube for anything more than it is, just a bunch of pieces all mixed up. Mr Hardwick will have more experience with this, and I'm never around children that age, but if Piaget is correct to an extent then children stuck in the concrete operations stage will struggle very hard with the cube. Certainly earlier teens would be easier to teach while the frontal cortex is developing, but I guess that isn't an option?



Wow, are you saying that I was doing something dangerous to my kids when I taught them to solve the cube? I hope not!

I will admit it was a bit of work for them to learn how; it took my then-8-year-old about 3 weeks to learn, and my 7-year-old about 5 weeks, but they eventually got it, and they're really starting to acquire an understanding now of how the pieces move on it. My 7-year-old can actually solve the centers of a 4x4x4 pretty well now, which I think is amazing, because it requires a good bit of intuition. I will admit she's still struggling a bit with edge-matching, though (although she really hasn't spent much time working on it yet).


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## Dene (Apr 29, 2008)

Sorry, that's just the way I speak. By "dangerous" I mean for himself, not the children  . Good luck!


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## Mike Hughey (Apr 29, 2008)

Dene said:


> Sorry, that's just the way I speak. By "dangerous" I mean for himself, not the children  . Good luck!



Oh, that's a relief!

And I think I survived, anyway!


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## AvGalen (Apr 29, 2008)

I am a bit late too, but I would recommend using Magic instead of 2x2x2.
Getting Magic from A to B can be taught in 5 minutes. Making shapes, returning it back to flat and even solved can keep them busy for hours. They will also start teaching/showing each other what they can do.

The best thing is that you can "upgrade" the fastest learners to Master Magic and that everyone will be able to solve the regular Magic within 1 hour (goal)

The bad thing is that several Magics WILL break  so bring spares


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## fanwuq (Apr 29, 2008)

AvGalen said:


> I am a bit late too, but I would recommend using Magic instead of 2x2x2.
> Getting Magic from A to B can be taught in 5 minutes. Making shapes, returning it back to flat and even solved can keep them busy for hours. They will also start teaching/showing each other what they can do.
> 
> The best thing is that you can "upgrade" the fastest learners to Master Magic and that everyone will be able to solve the regular Magic within 1 hour (goal)
> ...



but magics are expensive! Perhaps bring a copy of Isocube sim and teach them the 2x2x1.


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## badmephisto (Apr 29, 2008)

pretty good idea, i hope that works out for you. Chris those are some detailed instructions in that page, but good ideas too  Best idea is to probably go 2x2, then some of Chris' kind of ideas as a stepping stone to a 3x3? If you managed to teach them to solve it, then kudos to you, I can see that being really tough though. good luck


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## ShadenSmith (Apr 30, 2008)

Thanks for the support everyone! I talked to my principle today, and as long as I instill the foundations of the problem-solving logic within Rubik's Cubes, the ability to solve it is less important. We both agreed it is more important to teach the children how to approach a problem with goals and a step-by-step procedure than it is to teach them how to solve Rubik's Cubes. We see the Rubik's Cube as a tool to teach the lesson, not the objective.


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## dChan (Apr 30, 2008)

Just a suggestion, but if it seems like the kids aren't too interested in solving the cube you might want to show some cubing documentaries(like the one on the Pursuit of Happyness DVD) to get them inspired. Or do some 3x3x3 solves in front of them - that should get them inspired. All I had to do was see some guy doing the cube one-handed in competition and it secured my position about wanting to learn to solve the cube.


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## ShadenSmith (Apr 30, 2008)

Oh yeah, quite a bit of it will be demonstration. I'll be bringing my 3x3 - 5x5, showing them off as they request. I'll also perform my PLL's behind my back. Always a crowd favorite


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## dChan (Apr 30, 2008)

lol, I have never really had a chance to show of my cubing skills as you obviously have. Doing PLLs behind your back is actually a great idea! I should try that if I ever get enough courage to show-off when someone comes up to me. 

Please do keep us updated asn to how the class goes and everything.

By the way, are you only doing 1 one hour class or several?


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## ShadenSmith (May 1, 2008)

I think it'll just be 1 hour. This all started one day when my county Superintendent Stu Silberman pulled me out of class to talk about cubing. He had seen me at a tech fair previously where I had been doing some cubing on the side, and was impressed. Well anyway, he wants to start up a speedcubing league in my school county. He wants me to lead it, and to start by building up popularity. That's why we're going to elementary schools, to get the kids interested (and to educate).


Plus, Stu is helping me get into college (we're looking at MIT, Vandy, etc right now).


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## dChan (May 1, 2008)

Wow, that is pretty cool. I guess cubing can really get you somewhere sometimes.

When will the class be? Oh, and would you be able to record it?


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## ShadenSmith (May 1, 2008)

The first one will be in 2-3 weeks. I'll see what I can do about recording it. I think since there are children and stuff, there might be some issues with release forms and everything. Schools are pretty strict on that. I'll talk to my principle though.


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## dChan (May 5, 2008)

Aww, I guess you are right. It would be cool to watch it. You had better do some good convincing!


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## ShadenSmith (May 6, 2008)

I'm set up to attend my county Board Meeting May 16, I'll discuss it with them then. My plan is to walk in and start passing out 2x2x2's, and then demonstrate a 3x3x3 (doing PLL behind my back, of course). Should be interesting to see their reactions.


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## Mike Hughey (May 6, 2008)

It might be fun to record the board meeting, actually.


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## pcharles93 (May 7, 2008)

Whatever you do, don't teach them too many algorithms. We already have enough algo-robots in this forum, we don't need more running around the schoolyard.


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## ShadenSmith (May 7, 2008)

I don't plan on it. This teaching method is based entirely upon thinking strategies and problem solving skills.


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## ShadenSmith (May 20, 2008)

Well, I just got back from the board meeting. There were about 50 people in the audience, so I got a little nervous and turned it into an epic failure. The seemed to like the problem solving strategies and such that I introduced, but my performance was awful. 

First, I didn't realize that there was a mic next to me so no one heard me. Then I compensated and spoke real close to it, hurting the audience's ears. Once I got to the solving, I forgot to look ahead and couldn't find the first CE pair, causing me to panic. I just did U R U' R' and variations of it, to make it appear that I was solving until I found it. The first solve was 31.25, slower than usual for me, The second solve, I did the PLL behind my back and had a pop. I miraculously caught the piece and put it back in correctly, behind my back.

Then as I described my future plans, I began to talk about tournaments I'd like to hold. Except I didn't say that. I said, "in the future, I'd like to hold Rubik's Cube battles".

BATTLES!?

I turned red and tried to continue. The board laughed and didn't make a big deal about it all (they were busy playing with the 2x2x2's I had passed out), but I still felt like an idiot who couldn't operate a microphone.

Sigh.


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## pcharles93 (May 20, 2008)

DUDE!! That is so f***ing awesome. Cube battles? We could make little plastic arenas so they can fight. Oh, you mean races. Those are kind of exciting too, I guess.


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## ShadenSmith (May 20, 2008)

hahahah...sounds like a new sport. Time to copyright!


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## Dene (May 20, 2008)

Oh don't worry too much about it. It only shows that you have a lot to learn. I'm sure most people would bomb up something like that the first time (if they even go that far!)


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## abbracadiabra (May 20, 2008)

Shaden, I think you did just fine. While you might not have been particularly happy with your performance, I'll bet your audience was amazed by what you could do with the cube and even more impressed by what you could do for their children. 

As for your Rubik's Cube Battles: Isn't it funny how you can know your stuff backwards, forwards and inside out, but as soon as you get in front of a group of people the wrong words fall out of your mouth? Don't feel too bad about it. The same thing happens to George Bush all the time, and it didn't stop him from becoming president. It won't stop you from establishing this program either. 

I think what you're doing is great!


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## ShadenSmith (May 20, 2008)

Hahaha...well thanks guys. Honestly I don't really have a problem with how I did, I'm pretty open to make fun of myself. I have a very open sense of humor 

The program will definitely be established, we have full backing with the superintendent and several (if not all) of the board members.


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## Mike Hughey (May 20, 2008)

ShadenSmith said:


> The program will definitely be established, we have full backing with the superintendent and several (if not all) of the board members.



Well, that shows it was not an epic failure - it was a resounding success! Congratulations! The result is what matters.

And I like "cube battles"!  I'm looking forward to meeting you at the Cincinnati Cube Battle in a couple of weeks.


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## ShadenSmith (May 20, 2008)

I'm looking forward to our Battle as well! I plan on cleaning my mighty cube a few days before, to ensure domination on the battlefield!


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## Mike Hughey (May 20, 2008)

You indeed have a mighty 3x3x3, but I hope to vanquish you with my trusty 4x4x4 and 5x5x5. And we'll just have to see who wields the sharpest megaminx.


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## ShadenSmith (May 20, 2008)

My vote is on you having a sharper megaminx than I, for I do not own one and must borrow a fellow warrior's, resulting in little practice time.


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## dChan (May 20, 2008)

Ah, but you may count on my trusty Rubik's Twist coming to your aid... if I can mail it in time, heh. 

That is pretty cool! I would love to see some video of the class.

Good luck at the Cincinnati Battle. I'll shall do my best top fend off those who oppose me at the San Diego Battle.

lol, that is seriously funny! I can't believe you said, "battle."


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## Dene (May 20, 2008)

LMAO at cubing battles. I wish I had someone to battle with >.<


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## badmephisto (May 21, 2008)

Dene said:


> LMAO at cubing battles. I wish I had someone to battle with >.<



me2  all my RL friends are noobs


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