Sudoku is a puzzle that has a unique solution. No matter how many methods are used, the result will always be the same. The player thought that the number of givens or clues, the initial value on the Sudoku puzzles, would significantly determine the difficulty level, which is not necessarily correct. This research uses two search algorithms,…

A common exercise given to students early in a molecular biology course is the creation of a restriction map of a plasmid "digested" by two restriction enzymes (RE). Meanwhile, students have learned from an early age about the properties and analyses of circles in their mathematics courses. But it is rare for students to learn using…

Polyiamonds are the 'and so on' when unit-squares are replaced with unit-equilateral triangles. Polyiamonds are used to play the satisfying Blokus variant, Blokus Trigon, where the playing grid is also hexagonal, and the playing pieces are all the polyiamonds from mono- to hex. This article discusses the use of polyiamonds in puzzles.

We present example assessments featuring spectroscopic unknown puzzles, where the solution to the puzzle is the outcome of a known chemical reaction. These spectroscopic exercises engage students in a substantially more authentic manner than the conventional structure elucidation puzzles that are ubiquitous in organic chemistry instruction.…

Creativity is often characterized by the capacity to generate novel ideas, explore unconventional approaches, and solve problems through intuition, curiosity, and innovative thinking. Assessing this multifaceted skill is both essential and challenging, especially in educational and game-based environments where creativity drives engagement and…

To date, extensive work has been devoted to incorporating computational thinking in K-12 education. Recognizing students' computational thinking stages in game-based learning environments is essential to capture unproductive learning and provide appropriate scaffolding. However, few reliable and valid computational thinking measures have been…

Meta-reasoning requires monitoring and controlling one's reasoning processes, and it often begins with an assessment of problem solvability. We explored whether "Judgments of Solvability (JOS)" for solvable and unsolvable anagrams discriminate and predict later problem-solving outcomes once anagrams solved during the JOS task are…

Many matchstick puzzles have multiple solutions and are ideal learning tasks for fostering and improving creative thinking. Nevertheless, many puzzle book authors exhibit a strange approach toward these multiple-solution puzzles. For some puzzles, the number of solutions is mentioned after puzzle formulation and these solutions are published in…

Building activities can be used any time in the school year in mathematics classes to promote problem solving, perseverance, and to develop students' spatial thinking. Spatial visualization skills are the "ability to mentally manipulate, rotate, twist, or invert a pictorially presented stimulus object." The authors were guided by the…

The increasingly neoliberal course of Higher Education is linked to rises in student anxiety around assessment and increased fear of the consequences of failure. Making mistakes is an inevitable part of any learning process (and of life generally) and managing failure in a productive and positive way is crucial for success and wellbeing beyond…

To solve a new problem, people spontaneously engage multiple cognitive processes. Previous work has identified a diverse set of oscillatory components critical at different stages of creative problem solving. In this project, we use hidden state modeling to untangle the roles of oscillation processes over time as people solve puzzles. Building on…

This article presents an original puzzle that supports students' development of visual thinking and geometry ideas based on the Van Hiele levels of geometric thought. The "Triangle Puzzle" is one of many tools teachers can use to guide students' learning of geometry. The Van Hiele's theory provides a way to assess and support this…

Play has been discussed by mathematicians and mathematics educators as essential to mathematical progress and has been widely acknowledged to have a role in learning. Yet, play is rarely acknowledged, leveraged, or studied for mathematics learners beyond early childhood. Moreover, there are theoretical and empirical challenges with designing for…

Educational escape rooms (ER) are an instructional activity designed to incorporate many elements of recreational ERs, which have become popular in recent years. There are many reasons to consider incorporating educational ERs into K-12 math instruction or after-school programs/camps. First, they are highly motivating for students because they…

The study was conducted to ascertain if learning styles and corresponding teaching methods are factors that influence effective learning. The study employed a non-equivalent planned variation quasi-experimental design. The study's sample comprised 362 chemistry students from six senior high schools in Delta State. The students were selected using…