I am a high school math teacher trying to implement cubes in the classroom

[lodo3]

Hello everyone!

I am a high school math teacher, and I recently purchased 40 3x3's and 40 2x2's and I am trying to implement them as an educational tool. Has anyone had any success doing so? If so, can you share what you did?

I got stickerless cyclone boys cubes and I did not get them from www.icandothecube.com. I haven't been very impressed with their site, it seems like more of an advertisement than a learning tool. But I might be wrong .

Any help will be great!

Thanks!

 

[obelisk477]

If they're learning 2x2, you could teach them corners first for 3x3 after they've gotten the hang of 2x2, since all they'll have left is edges

 

[newtonbase]

DeeDub should be able to help. Pretty sure he's done something similar.

 

[OkinawaSolver]

That's awesome

 

[Animorpher13]

What grade are these high school students? Also, I am just a student, but I've found that cubing does teach you some mathematics concepts like permutations and spatial movement. I guess it could teach geometry (1 cubie is X by X by X inches, what is the volume of the cube)? But mostly I found it has helped me with my ability to memorize information and retain it. Either way, there is no downside to using cubes as a teaching tool! You could probably have a class-wide competition at the end of the semester as well!

 

[Christopher Mowla]

I am a high school math teacher, and I recently purchased 40 3x3's and 40 2x2's and I am trying to implement them as an educational tool.

Although I'm not a teacher, I too which to incorporate the Rubik's cube into a curriculum. Specifically, see this thread.

However, at least in the United States, whatever you want to "justify" being in the classroom must follow Common Core Standards. You of course know your school's policy more than all of us, and thus you can decide what will be acceptable and what will not.

I'm not sure what course you are teaching, but I have listed material here which has content from all major high school subjects.

In no particular order, I list all that I believe is appropriate. I list both my own works and others.

Here are three sample lessons from the You Can Do the Rubik's Cube Program (I'm guessing geared at middle school students):

• Rubik's Cube Stickers And Follow Up Activities A-G
• How to Create Your Own Rubik’s Cube Mosaic
• Sample Geometry Lesson & Homework Sheet – Day 1

A few instructors have written books with many illustrations as well.

• Doc Benton's Fantastic Guide to Group Theory, Rubik's Cube, Permutations, Symmetry, and All that Is! (By Dr. Christopher P Benton)
• Math 302 Notes (by Dr. Jamie Mulholland)
• My post on the <U,R> subgroup. It's an easy-to-understand proof of how many positions can be reached by only turning two adjacent faces on the 2x2x2 and 3x3x3.
• algs that goes back to solved position after X times for calculating how many times you must repeat a move sequence to return to the state you started in. (A parallel concept in high school math is the powers of i and the cyclic values of trig functions).

Other topics

• Number of Cubies Problem. (For pattern recognition.)
• My thread Entire Set of Speedsolving Wiki 2-Cycle PLL Algorithms Decomposed. (For factoring, simplification, and critical thinking skills.)
• Algorithms and the Rubik's Cube (For a combinatorial lesson)
• 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 Rubik's Cube Combinations - Numberphile (To learn that big problems are solved by breaking them into smaller problems)

All of these are for the nxnxn Rubik's cube, but can be interesting for a high school class, I suppose.

• # of Permutations on the nxnxn Cube (Written by me.) An introduction to nxnxn Rubik's cube terminology and basics. Of course, I have the powerpoint itself if you have windows. If you want it, let me know.
• The information in this post and the attachments in my two posts below it for an introduction to vectors, pattern recognition, finding closed forms of patterns, and deriving and using data to solve a problem.
• Supercube Centers and Odd Parity (Written by me). Pattern recognition, finding closed forms of patterns and applications of differential calculus, precalculus, step functions, and the quadratic formula.

I will update this list should I find more content.

 

[Thatoneguy2]

It's a cool idea that more schools should do. At my school we actually have a class that I'm in right now called Discrete Math where we learn how to solve a cube at the end of the year, which I can't wait for.

 

[willtri4]

I'm pretty sure Erno originally invented the cube to teach spatial geometry.

 

[SpeedCubeReview]

However, at least in the United States, whatever you want to "justify" being in the classroom must follow Common Core Standards.

As a Teacher in the U.S. I can tell you that this is not really true. Not is every state or school district.

 

[CuberM]

Oh wow I wish I had you as a math teacher

 

[King Mike]

You are THE BEST MATH TEACHER ever.
We have so many cubers in my school, that teachers get pissed off at us and give out referrals!

Good luck teaching cubing!

P.S: What high school do you teach at, I HAVE TO check you guys out

 

[Christopher Mowla]

After doing some more searching, I found two very relevant topics which can help you with your course.
http://www.youcandothecube.com/downloads/NSTA_Puzzling_Science.pdf
http://www.psychology.gatech.edu/probsolvelab/pubs/CubeHFES2014.pdf

If anyone has any other ideas, please post!

EDIT:
Here's another one that I saw a while back but forgot about.
http://www.onegreatlesson.com/blog/2014/5/19/rubiks-cube-math-for-algebra-1.html