Have you ever tried teaching someone how to solve a cube?

I have tried a few times to teach my sister, but that didn't work (she bought a cube because I had one). I have taught a few people at school. The first guy learned well, and was really patient. The second guy... he may have lost concentration a few times, and he didn't tell me that he didn't know the algorithms. Er... I taught a friend F2L, and some of the LL, but he gave up. Recently, he said he would try and learn again. And, another friend was taught by me and the second guy. Um... that's all I can think of.
 
Funny enough, I'm actually a corporate trainer so adult learning is one of the huge focuses of my life, and I had an opportunity to teach someone not that long ago. (3 people actually, all at the same time)

There was a party that I went to with my Girlfriend (She had these blogger friends, and they were all women who brought their husbands/boyfriends with them) and apparently I was designated to be "that guy" that keeps people entertained lol

Anyway, the majority of the people there were pretty naturally like myself in that they were all into things that would mostly be interpreted as "nerdy". In other words: Ideal target audience!

Anyway - like Chris H said earlier, probably the most key important step for any new cuber is to get that it's a 3D object. I took the cube apart and showed them how it works... BOOM for most of them it was instantaneous - they got that the centers never move.

Then I started talking about moves like this:

F = Steering Wheel Right
F' = Steering Wheel Left
R = Right Tire Forwards
R' = Right Tire Backwards
U = Helicopter UP
U' = Helcopter Anti-Up

(That's how I started to introduce notation to them, but mostly just used the verbal association with the movements)

Like Chris said though, the biggest challenge was that everything (for me teaching them) was intuitive except the FRUR'U'F but I just showed them how to exercise OLL control, using RUR'U'. They understood that yellow needs to replace yellow after it's been moved (Hard to explain without more detail here)

Anyway - overall, I had 1 person that I taught to solve the cube in literally 2 hours (while at a party mind you) but it took him around 6-7 minutes to solve. The guy was a phenomenal learner though... He got every concept I threw at him and remembered it almost instantly. (He was also in Med-school to become a doctor so I'm sure memorizing things as fast as possible comes naturally to him!)

There was another guy who took what I showed him, and the day he went home... Solved it later that day.

I was pretty impressed - not really at my teaching but at the fact that they all got it so quickly.

I do agree though that a large part of facilitation is the teacher, not the learner. I mean - everyone is different and while you can use methods that should appeal to most audiences... not everyone learns the same way.

Some people are visual+tactile learners: They need to see and touch it themselves to learn (Which is actually around 60-70% of the majority of the people who learn) but then you still have some people that need to write it down. Some people need to hear it see it. Some need to read it... There are so many various types of learning that could need to be accommodated.

Anyway - I digress.

That's 1 experience though teaching people :) I have others, but that was the most recent.
 
I taught my woman, Minerva, to solve cubes 2x2-5x5, megaminx, magic:p and some sq1 and pyraminx.
Like I would play with these things all by myself?? :)

Her best 3x3 avg of 12 is 22 seconds now, but she doesn't practice much.
 
I teached one person, and now he is learning 4LLL. He averages about 2 minutes...:fp(does he practice it at his home?) He's also able to solve the 2x2x2, with a not-so-good time(about 25s, and that's my average for 3x3x3) It's fun racing with him, I solve the 3x3x3 and he solve the 2x2x2.
 
it is impossible to teach a peer to solve the rubik's cube.
this girl at my school taught like 3 people and i was like "i just need to teach 1 person and he must solve it very quick to continue my speed legacy"
but that never happened. all i did was give him my cube and he practiced by himself with youtube, he's done the first two layers but then he's stuck with the rest...

and how do u teach people first layer?!!!!
 
I've taught my girlfriend how to solve. It was a good experience- albeit a frustrating one (I love you Jillian! xD She reads the forums too). I had to keep reminding myself, like Chris keeps saying, that what's completely obvious to me is anything but to her. Luckily for the both of us she caught on very quickly. I taught her intuitively and she's now doing 3x3 around a minute and a half, and megaminx in six and a half.
 
I've had mixed results with teaching. For example, my 10 year old sister learned pretty easily and can solve with about a minute average. However, I tried teaching 3 people in college and all failed. In high school, I taught 2 people, both successful teachings each one still solves at about 40 second average...If anyone could help explain what's up, I'd be grateful....
 
I made the mistake of learning by solving all 4 corners first, not the cross... which screws me up when learning f2l because this past week is the first time I have ever made the white cross to begin solving >.<

but i taught my friend the 2x2x2 one day and the 3x3x3 the next, just teach them corners (WAY easier for beginners) and notation first, once they got that down, the rest is memorization usually. now to try and learn every pll >.< i dont wanna start with 2 look
 
I' taught 4 friends since I started cubing. Three of them were easy and one was more of a challenge. However one friend who I tried to teach (really I did) just couldn't get the cross despite me showing him numerous examples of solving one edge at a time. Two of them now solve in less than 1 min 30 seconds, not too bad for a beginners method. One of them can also solve the 4x4x4 (except parity, i do that for him) .
 
CubesOfTheWorld said:
i taught my friend how to solve everything up to the yellow cross. i then told him to use rubik's.com. he now knows full PLL... and i dont
Click to expand...

no way. thats just like my cousin.

he got a cube for his birthday, and hasn't solved it for about a year. then i started to pick up cubing. i taught him, and hes pretty good. so now, he avgs like 40 seconds, yet knows full PLL. every day on MSN hes like

DILLON
LEARN
YOUR
Gs!!!
 
I've taught a good 5 or so people how to do it, crash course with the dedmore layer by layer method. People who have more logistic based minds get it very easily, but others who arent so good at sciences and logic tend to be a lot harder and longer to learn, on top of not having the willpower as much
 
I've taught 52 people to solve the Rubik's Cube so far. From September to now I have taught 45 people. I only taught 7 people to solve it last year. I'm going for 75 people this year for a total of 82. The Guiness record for most people solving the cube at one time is 96 people. PM me if you want to know how I structure the lesson. All the people I teach are from 9-12 years old.
 
Two or three... I didn't find it that hard o.0 Maybe the two I taught happened to be able to pick things up quickly. One also knew how to solve a layer and the other knew how to solve a side (so it was just a matter of teaching how to position the pieces in the correct permutation).
 
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