Creating the World in Four Schooldays
Think the world was created in seven days? Some fourth graders in North Carolina might argue that they’ve done it only four! The ‘world’ these students created was actually a giant-sized puzzle made from 60 Conceptis Link-a-Pix puzzles which the kids solved, colored, and pieced together.
(PRWEB) September 10, 2004 -- From Conceptis Puzzles, by Mike Sharp*
Think the world was created in seven days? Some fourth graders in North
Carolina might argue that they’ve done it only four! The ‘world’ these students
created was actually a giant-sized puzzle made from 60 Link-a-Pix puzzles which
the kids solved, colored, and pieced together. The finished product, a
6-foot-long map of the world, was completed in only four school days, and hung
with pride in the school hallway for the remainder of the year.
It all
started last fall when their teacher (that’s me!) began to provide Conceptis
puzzles as challenge activities for a few gifted students who tended to finish
their regular classwork early. Soon other kids saw the fantastic pictures being
created and asked for a try at the puzzles as well. By winter break, most of the
class was solving the puzzles in their free time and our room was decorated with
fantastic displays of puzzle art.
Meanwhile, a discussion was taking
shape on the Conceptis website about making some puzzles that worked like jigsaw
puzzles; you could solve each individual puzzle to get one jigsaw piece, then
put them all together to make one (larger) picture. I believed that this could
be best accomplished with a group of puzzlers working together, so I offered to
volunteer my class as guinea pigs.
In the months that followed I worked
with the people at Conceptis to develop just the right puzzle for my class. We
used feedback from my students about which puzzles were too big, too small, too
hard, or too easy to come up with what we considered an appropriate size for
each students’ individual piece (20 by 20). We chose Link-A-Pix puzzles because,
in our experience, they provided (for fourth graders) just the right balance of
challenging work and the potential for ultimately solving the puzzle. And
finally, the team of artists at Conceptis helped to draw a world map, in color,
at just the right size to be divided up into 60 smaller puzzles.
The
“Really Big Puzzle” Becomes a Reality
When the puzzle arrived in my
classroom, each piece was labeled simply as Mystery Puzzle A1, A2, and so on. I
cut a large piece of butcher paper and covered the board at the front of the
room, then marked off 10 columns and 6 rows. Each square on the paper was
labeled with the proper coordinates. I printed the puzzles at a fairly large
scale, so that each student’s piece was about 7 inches square. The puzzles were
shuffled and handed out, and everyone got to work. After the first day (about 45
minutes of puzzle time) several puzzles were already completed and glued onto
the paper. By the end of Day 2, a few students had identified the picture as a
world map, and word quickly spread. On Day 3 most of the continents were filled
in and emotions were high. The pride in the room was palpable, as every student
was encouraged by the others to try his or her hardest, and many garnered
spontaneous applause when their piece was added. By the end of Day 4, the puzzle
was completed and hanging in the school hallway, and praises were already
streaming in from neighboring classrooms.
Anyone who has visited an
elementary school in recent years will recognize many of the great learning
activities that were going on with this project. We were reviewing the countries
we had studied earlier in the year and their relationships to each other, as
well as the map skills involved in finding and identifying them. We practiced
using a coordinate grid system, and saw an authentic, real-world use for them
(besides just playing Battleship!). We opened up conversations about neighboring
countries and life in the far corners of the world. And, of course, the puzzles
themselves provide rich problem-solving and number sense opportunities.
So what’s next?
Given more time, I would have encouraged my
students to investigate their piece of the world in greater detail. They could
hang writing pieces down the hall surrounding the map; “In my corner of the
world you can find Thailand, Vietnam, and part of China. Many languages are
spoken here, including…” and so on. If my new fourth graders show a similar
interest, I’d love to see it this year.
Imagine what can happen in other
classrooms using these giant-sized jigsaw puzzles. Second graders could share
their knowledge of parts of a plant using a giant-sized version of Van Gogh’s
“Sunflowers”. Fifth graders might re-create the signing of the Declaration and
identify each delegate appearing in their piece of the puzzle.
Sounds
like a good idea? Tell someone’s teacher about this project and the Conceptis
website. Try it at home yourself or with your kids. The world puzzle can still
be found and more giant-sized jigsaw puzzles are in the works. Let us know what
you think about giant-sized puzzles in the Puzzles and Kids forum. I hope we’ll
see you there soon!
* Mike Sharp is a former IBM programmer, now in the
8th year of his second career as an elementary school teacher in grades 3, 4,
and 5. Mike is also a moderator of the Conceptis Puzzles and Kids
forum.
* Conceptis Puzzles (http://www.conceptispuzzles.com) is the leading logic puzzles
supplier to print, online and mobile phone publishers worldwide.
Related
Links
Download 60 Link-a-Pix Jigsaw pieces of the World Map Puzzle: http://www.conceptispuzzles.com/puzzlefans/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=371
Picture-forming
Logic Puzzles for Classroom Use: http://www.conceptispuzzles.com/articles/classroom_puzzles/classroom_puzzles.htm
Puzzles
and Kids - A New Forum on Conceptis Website: http://www.conceptispuzzles.com/puzzletimes/pt/issue14.htm#website_news_subj4
A
Year in a Life of a Puzzling Child – by Natalie Caruso: http://www.conceptispuzzles.com/articles/jenna/jenna.htm
It's
been a puzzling life: Interview with Trevor Truran: http://www.conceptispuzzles.com/puzzlefans/puzzlesandlife/articles/trevor_interview/contents.htm
Conceptis
Kids – New Puzzle Lines for Children: http://www.conceptispuzzles.com/puzzletimes/pt/issue6/issue6.htm#puzzle_news_subj1
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/9/prweb156284.htm