Introduction

Posted in Tags: | at 1:26 PM

A student must acquire three main skills of learning: Critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork. For this topic we will be highlighting mainly critical thinking, as this skill can be taught in many ways.

One way we will be focusing on is through games and puzzles. Why is it that through this method, we are able to achieve anything? These are the following reason:

  1. This method benefits the students, as they are able to play games while unconsciously learning the concepts of critical thinking.
  2.  Budget-wise, computer games and puzzles can be distributed on each school computers, thus saving a lot of money on papers.
  3. Through games and puzzles, we are able to get some resources out of learning.
  4. This method is aimed for students to achieve success while providing a user-friendly facility, and also, students are able to concentrate well when playing games and puzzles.

Also, experts have made surveys on analyzing the results of students who had experienced the method of improving critical thinking through games, and the results are unbelievable. Through games and puzzles, there are a significant increase in students' GPA.


How does games and puzzles help?
  • Uses evidence skillfully
  • Understand the idea
  • Reasoning
  • Boolean (Valid/Invalid)
  • Independent thinking
  • Applies to solve problems
  • Present valid argument
  • Differentiate between bias opinion and judgment with evidence 

    • Digg
    • Del.icio.us
    • StumbleUpon
    • Reddit
    • Twitter
    • RSS
    Read Users' Comments (3)

    History

    Posted in Tags: | at 10:09 AM

    Many popular games had their origins in the Orient, examples of these games are chess and Ludo. The first boxed game was released in 1778. Since then, new boxed games began to release one by one from 1888 onwards.

    Games that require co-ordination and dexeterity have existed for centuries such as tops, yo-yos and Chinese puzzles. The earliest puzzle was the Loculus, meaning 'little box', of Archimedes. This was a 14 piece dissection of a square which appeared in the 3rd century BC. Tangrams, with 7 pieces, became popular in China about 1800 and by 1820 they had spread to Europe and the United States.

    In the 19th century, tangram puzzles were often sold in small square boxes. In 1891, illustrated puzzles were released in a booklet, and proved to be a success as these puzzles were popular in World War I for the civilians to pass away their times in the trenches.

    • Digg
    • Del.icio.us
    • StumbleUpon
    • Reddit
    • Twitter
    • RSS
    Read Users' Comments (0)

    Examples of Puzzles!

    Posted in Tags: | at 10:46 AM

    For this method, we will be using Professor Layton games as a suitable reference of how games and puzzles will affect their understanding of achieving critical thinking. Since there are tons of puzzles in this game, we will be picking out a few of the puzzles to show as examples.

    Please click on the left navigation bar to view the examples on the 'Examples of Puzzles', or click below!


    • Digg
    • Del.icio.us
    • StumbleUpon
    • Reddit
    • Twitter
    • RSS
    Read Users' Comments (1)comments

    References

    Posted in Tags: | at 10:14 AM

    • Digg
    • Del.icio.us
    • StumbleUpon
    • Reddit
    • Twitter
    • RSS
    Read Users' Comments (1)comments
    Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)