Problem Solving in P4JR

While many minds may be beginning to switch off on Friday afternoons, the children in P4JR face some problem solving challenges.

Last week the children were trying to hop 6 frog across 7 lily pads in opposite directions and in as few hops as possible.  This week they were trying their hand at one of the oldest and most widely played board games: 9 men’s morris – a board has been found carved into a slab of clay in an ancient Egyptian temple, another in a bronze age burial mound in Ireland, another in Troy, Ancient Greece, and also with a viking hoard in Norway.  Nine Men’s Morris requires strategy, critical thinking as well as visual and spatial thinking. Games were quick to learn and play and questions such as ‘Hhow does ***** always win?’ helped a strategy develop.  The problems also highlight the benefits of cooperation and persistence.

Next up for the children is a problem from the NRICH website all to do with Pentominoes – like dominoes but made up of 5 squares rather than 2.