The Sci ence Teacher 54

Brian Rohrig
A
few years ago, my son Ben acquired a Rubiks
cube. He became quite adept and could eventu-
ally solve it in 30 seconds. I admired the many
hours he put into mastering the cube, so I asked
him to teach me. I was never good at tasks like this, and
though I am a science teacher, I am very right-brained
and impatient. Despite these limitations, I decided to give it
a go. It took many weeks of frustration, butwith my sons
helpI nally mastered the Rubiks cube.
As I was trying to solve the cube, it dawned on me that
my students face similar frustrations when attempting to
solve the tasks I give them in class. But the difculty of the
task and the fact that I succeeded made all the frustration
worth it. I was proud of my accomplishment, and it felt good
to learn something new. It gave me condence that perhaps
someday I could learn how to draw, or play an instrument,
or learn another language.
For me, a big appeal of the Rubiks cube was its nality. I
knew when I had succeededthe cube was either solved or
it wasnt. There was no ambiguity; the only way to improve
was to do it faster. To get my time down, I learned new
techniques and steps that were difcult at rst, but became
easier with time. As I worked through this, I began to think
that perhaps my students could benet from learning how
to solve the Rubiks cube, as well.
I approached my principal and explained how the Rubiks
cube could help students learn to problem solve. He gave me
the green light, and when school began the next year, I had
over 100 Rubiks cubes in shiny new packages, waiting for
me in my classroom. That year, I was teaching ninth-grade
Physical Science, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics classes,
and decided to use the Rubiks cube in each class. Since
then, I have limited its use to my ninth-grade Physical Sci-
ence classthough the cube was ultimately a success in all
of my classes. The methodology is also concrete enough for
younger students.
Learni ng the ropes
A few weeks after school started, I began class one Mon-
day with a clip from The Pursuit of Happyness, a movie in
which Will Smiths character impresses his future employer
by solving the Rubiks cube. I then (half-jokingly) told my
students that they too could earn millions of dollars if they
learned to solve the cube. I handed one to each student and
told them they had seven weeks to solve it. Many were in-
credulous, butat the same timeexcited to get to work.
That day, I taught students the rst step, which is making
a cross on one side of the Rubiks cube. The following Friday,
I gave a ve-point quiz (about half the point value of a typical
homework assignment) in which students received full credit if
they could complete Step 1 within ve minutes. Most students
Using the
Rubiks cube
to teach
problem solving
December 2010 55
Wolves in the Wild
did so easily. Those who did not received half credit if they could
make a cross on one side by the end of the next class period.
The next Monday, I taught students Step 2. The goal of this
step is to make one whole side of the Rubiks cube the same color.
That Friday, I gave a quiz on Step 2, in which students had ve
minutes to complete one side of the cube. This quiz was worth
10 pointsdouble the amount of the previous quiz, or the same
point value as a typical homework assignment. The sequential
nature of the cube was readily apparent, since students could
not do Step 2 if they had not rst completed Step 1. I continually
emphasized this pointand would often make references to it
when discussing other topics that are sequential in nature.
This procedure was repeated each week for seven weeks.
On the nal Friday, students had ve minutes to solve the
entire Rubiks cube (Step 7) for 340 points, or the equivalent
of a test grade. Most students solved it within this time frame
with no problemmany had solved it weeks earlier.
I then began giving weekly 50-point quizzes in which
students had to complete the cube 30 seconds faster each
week. (An alternative to this would be to challenge students
to improve their personal best times each week.) Eventually,
students had only three minutes to solve the cube. I then
quizzed them periodically throughout the year, so they did
not forget how to solve it. I made it a part of both the semester
and nal exam.
Speedi ng thi ngs up
To be truly procient at something requires doing it in a
timely manner. Basic reading and math prociency is based
in large part on what you can accomplish in a certain time pe-
riod. For example, if it took one hour to read a single page of
a textbook, would that be considered procient? If it took a
mechanic four hours to change the oil in a car, would that be
acceptable to the customer? Teachers may disagree on where
exactly to place the bar with respect to time, but most will
agree that, in general, the faster you can perform a taskand
perform it wellthe more procient you are.
Although I expect students to solve the Rubiks cube faster
each week, I am lenient with the grades of those who exceed the
time limitdeducting a letter grade or less, depending on their
time. Nearly all of my students rise to the challenge and surpass
my expectations. Some solve the cube in about a minutewhich
is likely the best they can do with the method I use.
It is especially gratifying to see students who have normally
struggled in class learn to solve the cube and feel a sense of ac-
complishment. Nearly every student learns to solve the cube
(my classes have a 9899% success rate), but each year I have
one or two students whofor various reasonscannot solve
it. I have used the cube with my students for three years now,
and they seem to have an easier time each year. This could be
due to the expectation for success: I begin each year by tell-
ing them that nearly every student the year before solved the
cubeand if those students could do it, they can too.
55
Wei ghi ng the benef i ts
Each Rubiks cube comes with written instructions that stu-
dents can refer to, and the method I use is similar to this. There
are also a plethora of solutions online (see On the web). How-
ever, to really learn to solve the Rubiks cube, it is best to have a
personal tutor. Find someone who can solve the cube and ask
them to teach you. Once you master a step, write it down so
that you will remember it. Find the method that is easiest for
you, so you can then effectively teach your students.
I plan to continue using the cube for as long as I teach, as
mastering it provides the following benets for students:
It builds condence, especially with underachieving students. Of-
ten, students who struggle with or do not like school excel at the
Rubiks cube. They tend to like the hands-on approach and will
spend hours of their own time practicing and trying to improve.
I often tell these students that if they can solve the cube, then
surely they can do whatever else I am asking of them. Since most
people in the general population cannot solve the cube, students
who learn to do so feel good about themselves. They learn that
if they work hard enough, they can be successful.
It promotes cooperative learning. Although I am always avail-
able, I seldom have to tutor students with the cube. They typi-
cally prefer working with their classmates, provided they can get
quality help. It is encouraging to see students working together,
and as they help others, their own prociency improves.
It provides students with a framework for solving problems.
Solving the Rubiks cube will not put students at the high-
Rubi ks cube facts ( Rubi ks Cube 2010) .
u The Rubiks cube was invented by Hungarian architect
Erno Rubik in 1974.
u The Rubiks cube was originally called the Magic
Cube.
u The Rubiks cube rst became available to the public in
1977. Since then, over 350 million cubes have been sold.
u There are 432,003,274,489,856,000 ways to arrange
the cube, but only one results in a solved cube.
u The worlds largest Rubiks cube is on display in
Knoxville, Tennessee. It is 3 m tall and weighs over
500 kg!
u In addition to the standard 3 3 3 cubes-per-side
variety, Rubiks cubes also come in the following
versions: 2 2 2, 4 4 4, 5 5 5, 6 6 6, and 7
7 7 cubes per side.
u The current world record for solving the cube is 7.08
seconds. This was set in 2008 by Erik Akkersdijck
at the Czech Open, sponsored by the World Cube
Association.
u The World Cube Association also recognizes records
for solving the cube blindfolded, with one hand, and
with both feet.
The Sci ence Teacher 56
Puzzling Science
est levels of Blooms taxonomy (i.e., analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation), but students do have to rst master the lower
levels of thinking before they can move on to the higher
levels. The sequential reasoning needed to solve the cube is
applicable to many other types of problems. Before students
can solve for an objects density, for example, they must rst
know its mass and volume. By breaking problems into steps,
even the most daunting ones can be solved.
Indeed, all scientic progress occurs in incremental steps,
with one discovery building upon another. Learning to solve the
Rubiks cube is a good way to understand how scientic progress
occurs. The importance of these incremental steps is highlighted
in the National Science Education Standards, The daily work
of science and engineering results in incremental advances in our
understanding of the world (NRC 1996, p. 201).
It is encouraging to see students who have mastered the
cube look for shortcuts and better methods. Some students
do get to higher levels of thinking with the cube, as they seek
to understand its patterns and how to manipulate it to get
the desired result in a faster time.
It improves spatial awareness. The Rubiks cube is an excel-
lent tool to enhance spatial reasoning. My students love to
make up different patterns and then challenge one another
to return the cube to its solved position. I think this shows
that students are becoming more adept at spatial reasoning
they are not just memorizing a solution, but learning how to
manipulate three-dimensional (3-D) objects.
The importance of spatial reasoning is delineated on
the homepage of the National Science Foundationfunded
project entitled Enhancing Spatial Reasoning and Visual
Cognition for Early Science and Engineering Students With
Hands-on Interactive Tools and Exercises:
Many problems in science, engineering, and mathematics
are inherently spatial in nature. Understanding and reason-
ing about atoms in a molecule, the design of mechanical and
electronic systems such as robots, layout of an integrated
circuit or microelectronic mechanical chip, transmission
of tension and compression forces in a structural system
these problems all demand the ability to visualize and reason
spatially (Spatial Reasoning Visual Cognition 2010).
It exercises the brain. If you were to happen by a typical foot-
ball practice, you would see lots of things that seem unrelated to
football. For example, what does running through tires have to
do with the sport? Of course, these skills prepare players for the
real gameimproving their strength, quickness, and agility.
Yet we often do little to develop the brain and get it into shape.
Any time genuine learning takes place, neuronal connections
are made in the brain. Any time a new skill is learned, the brain
develops and cognitive functioning improves.
It demonstrates the need for practice. If students solved the
cube once and then were not asked to solve it again until the
end of the year, could they still do it? Most probably could
not. In the rush to cover so much material, it is easy to teach
something once and never go back to it. And if students do
not remember it, then they have not really learned it.
By practicing the Rubiks cube all year long, the need
for practice is reinforced. In many ways, the cube provides
a model for how all learning should progress: Students
are presented with a seemingly insurmountable problem,
thenthrough a lot of hard workthey solve the problem
by breaking it down into steps and continually practicing
and rening those steps. Only through continual practice is
true mastery achieved.
It represents a pure example of true learning. It could be ar-
gued that true learning has occurred when we no longer need
to think. We do a plethora of things every day without really
thinking about how we do themfrom tying our shoes to eat-
ing with utensils. Each of these tasks required all of our focus
and concentration when we rst learned to do them. But once
we mastered these skills, they became somewhat automatic.
Eventually, students become so procient at the Rubiks cube
that they can solve it without really thinking about it. Their mo-
tor memory takes over and they solve the cube without using
their working memory at all. Once something becomes auto-
matic it is stored in the long-term memorywhich is the goal
of all learning. A major goal of education is to help learners store
information in long-term memory and use that information on
later occasions to effectively solve problems (Vockell 2010).
Concl usi on
Each year, I look forward to introducing the Rubiks cube
in my classes. There is something special about this colorful,
3-D puzzle that seems to captivate the imagination of even
the most lethargic student. This activity has shown me that
every student has a tremendous amount of untapped poten-
tial, waiting to be unlocked. The Rubiks cube has been a
valuable key in unlocking it. n
Brian Rohrig (blrohrig@columbus.rr.com) is a physical science and
physics teacher at Jonathan Alder High School in Plain City, Ohio.
On the web
Beginners Rubiks cube solution: www.ryanheise.com/cube/beginner.html
References
National Research Council (NRC). 1996. National science educa-
tion standards. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Rubiks Cube. 2010. Cube facts. www.rubiks.com
Spatial Reasoning Visual Cognition. 2010. Project summary.
Carnegie Melon University. http://code.arc.cmu.edu/spatial (ac-
cessed September 8, 2010).
Vockell, E. 2010. Memory and information processing. In Educational
psychology: A practical approach. Calumet, IN: Purdue University
Calumet. http://education.calumet.purdue.edu/vockell/edPsybook
The Sci ence Teacher 56