Monday, November 7, 2011

Hundred Board Logic Puzzles

The children who come to me for math had a special challenge today. In cooperative learning groups, they were asked to solve a logic puzzle using clues and a hundred board. In each group, there was a reader, a recorder, a checker and a leader (if the group had only 3 members, then the checker and leader were the same child).




These logic puzzles have a lot going for them. Logic puzzles encourage children to stretch parts of their brains not often exercised. Students need to carefully analyze the words and the meanings of the clues provided. Using information provided to eliminate wrong answers, they come closer and closer to the correct one. Finally, the lightbulbs go off, as there can only be one correct solution. This type of deductive logic is really an important skill for life.

These hundred board logic puzzles have the added benefit of reviewing concepts already learned - for instance, today there was greater than/less than, place value, even/odd and what the term "sum" means. Here is the story today, called Detective Party:

Jimmy was having a detective party for some of his friends. He gave directions to his house but decided not to give the house number. Instead, he gave his new friends some clues to see who could find his house on Bell Street. Here are Jimmy's clues for his house number:


* The number is greater than 50.
* The number is less than 90.
* The two digits are different.
* The tens digit is larger than the ones digit.
* It is an odd number
* The sum of its digits is 15.


We will continue explorations of these types of logic puzzle this week - and may branch out to creating our own for others to solve!

1 comment:

Angela said...

Excellent activities for reading comprehension, logic, math and practical use! Love Mrs. C's math class!