Teaching beginners the cross

[ImNOTnoob]

Firstly, this is not a thread on how to make the cross.

After teaching many people how to solve the cube, I realize that most of them struggle most at the cross. As everyone knows, its the most intuitive step of the LBL solution to the cube, so as beginners have absolutely no experience with the cube, its hardest to teach them the cross.

Obviously, solving the cross directly wouldn't help.

I realize most beginners who solve the cube make a cross without the colours at the side aligned, and align them after doing that step.

As for me, I teach them to make some sort of flower pattern, which is basically placing the cross pieces around the opposite center (yellow), twist the yellow side and align a cross piece colour with the colour on the F face and do a F2 turn to bring it to the correct position. I got the idea from a youtube vid, forgot who was it from.

I wonder, how do YOU teach beginners the cross?

 

[cmhardw]

I have two different strategies for teaching the cross depending on if I am teaching an adult how to solve or teaching a kid. This is not because I feel kids are less capable, but I think adults have more experience with puzzles in general and so you can skip over lots of things that you have to cover when teaching a kid.

First thing I do for anyone, regardless of age, is to disassemble the cube entirely and show them how the edges move around the center spider, as well as how the corners are locked in by the edges. I also show them how to find which two centers an edge goes between when solved, and which three for corners.

After putting the cube back together I teach adults to look across the E layer and find a cross edge. If they find one I ask them to identify which two colors are on the edge, and to use moves like R or L' to put it in the U layer, then adjust the U layer to make it line up.

I always ask them to look in E first. If they have a cross edge in E, I show them how to identify where it is supposed to go. Since they have already placed a cross edge I have them adjust the U layer such that an R or L' move places the cross edge correctly in relation to the other already solved cross piece. Then I have them adjust the U layer back to solved, so they can see their progress.

If there is no cross piece in the E layer I have them look at the side of the D layer for a cross piece. If one is not there I have them look at the bottom of the D layer. If it is not there I have them look at the side of the U layer.

That pretty much covers it for adults.

For kids I assess how ready I think they are to start actually solving the cube. If it is a very young kid, maybe 6 or 7, I usually start by giving them patterns that are 4-6 moves away from solved and teach them how to solve those first. Once they are comfortable with working with the cube and seeing the difference between an edge and a corner then I disassemble the cube like for adults.

After I feel the kid is ready to learn I teach them pretty much the same strategy, except that I have them make a plus sign first (not the cross) and after that we fix the plus sign to be the cross. I teach them to look in the E layer first, etc. just like for adults. Only we just do the plus sign.

To fix the plus sign into the cross I teach them to identify which edges are not between the correct centers. This 99.9% of the time leads them to adjust the U layer such that the first misaligned edge I showed them is now correctly lined up. I show them how this destroys the alignment of any other edges that were already aligned. After that I teach them to do moves like R' and L to bring edges out of the plus sign and into the E layer. I then describe the U layer as a "wheel" or "fan" that can spin as much as you want, any time you want, without messing up your plus sign or cross. So I teach them to spin the "wheel" or "fan" around until the plus sign piece would go back into the cross where it is supposed to go correctly in relation to the other pieces. We then adjust the U face and replace edges until we have a cross.

I don't claim that this is the best method, but this is how I teach when people ask me how to solve now.

Chris

 

[Stefan]

Really? How to solve the cross needs to be taught? Are people really that incapable and unwilling to achieve anything on their own? That makes me sad. Are you sure that when told to build the cross, they can't on their own come up with a way to build it?

 

[cmhardw]

Really? How to solve the cross needs to be taught? Are people really that incapable to achieve anything on their own? That makes me sad. Are you sure then when told to build the cross, they can't on their own come up with a way to build it?

I have seem some younger kids get frustrated when they see others discovering it on their own quicker than they do. I guess it breaks down to does the learner want to have the satisfaction of the discovery process for learning the cube, or just the satisfaction of being capable of solving it? The former is really both of these combined. When teaching younger kids by giving them simple patterns to solve I try to force them as much as possible to figure these out on their own. Only when they come to me in desperation or repeatedly with a scrambled cube do I give them small hints on how to do it.

When teaching the solution I pretty much just show them how to do it. For the cross I often solve a cross, and tell them this is the goal. Then I have them solve as much of it as they can and come to me with a hint for how to get the rest. But for the rest of the solution I just show them the steps.

Of the people I have taught most of them give me the impression that they are that second category. They just want the satisfaction of knowing how to solve it, and are not necessarily very interested in the discovery process of figuring it out independently. To be fair sometimes I get kids who get mad or angry when I try to give them a hint. I have seen some kids who have a very strong desire to figure it out on their own. It's just that most people I see simply want to learn how to do it, and don't appear very interested in figuring it out on their own.

Chris

 

[Waynilein]

Really? How to solve the cross needs to be taught? Are people really that incapable to achieve anything on their own? That makes me sad. Are you sure that when told to build the cross, they can't on their own come up with a way to build it?

Sure, most people CAN figure things out on their own. But they are lazy, and the whole point of LBL is that they can solve the cube without having to figure things out. It's just the way people are, deal with it :S

 

[VirKill]

Yes, I experiencing the same problem. They can solve one face (not layer) but they cant even make a correct cross. So, I ask to make a random cross and show 2 more algorithm to fix the cross.

 

[rahulkadukar]

Well it is actually the only step that you need to know on your own and as after that everything can be done with the use of Algorithms in the LBL method. I have realised that for a person to be able to solve the cube, he must learn the cross himself. Things I recommend are:
Always starting with the same color
Try to avoid rotating the cube too much i.e keep the Up face constant

 

[shelley]

I'd like to let them have the satisfaction of figuring out the cross themselves, especially since most people are capable of at least that given some time. If they are having trouble with that, I show them the "daisy" method. When I teach large groups, it becomes a problem when some people catch on quickly and get bored, and others struggle to keep up, so I teach the daisy as an option. It helps keep everyone at the same level. If students figure out the daisy too quickly, I have them practice building the cross without going through the daisy step as an exercise while the slower people catch up.

 

[cookingfat]

I show them a cross then scramble and see if they can do it. If not, I go to the daisy method which they find much easier.

Problem I have is that some of the people I teach just don't seem to get putting the white edge to the white side (eg. F2)

 

[Spyyder]

Both of my younger brothers have given up after getting frustrated with trying to solve the cross, and I have a new DIY coming so I have a plan to teach them each step of the solving process easily, not sure if it will work or not though.

When It arrives im just gonna sticker the centers and the peices needed for making the cross, im hoping this will make it less confusing. Then I will continue to add stickers for the next step as they learn.

 

[Ryanrex116]

I was trying to teach someone (he knows now) how to solve the cross. I kept telling him it is mostly intuitive, but he kept saying:

"WHAT!!! You mean there are no algorithms!! I have to think!!! That makes no sense. I have no idea what you mean by intuitive."

One day, he said:

"OH!! I get what you mean by intuitive." And he kept thinking he was a genius for figuring out what the word meant.

 

[Lucas Garron]

Really? How to solve the cross needs to be taught? Are people really that incapable and unwilling to achieve anything on their own? That makes me sad. Are you sure that when told to build the cross, they can't on their own come up with a way to build it?

Consider a challenge. Find a simple algorithmic process for solving cross, which is fast/simple/easy to teach, and allows beginners to develop understanding and cross proficiency as easily as possible.

I still have trouble teaching people cross. Some people are excellent instantly; I don't know what to do with others. Nowadays, I just have them solve the plus (borrowing Chris's terminology), explain why it doesn't solve the "side colors," and show how to get around that using the daisy.

 

[Stefan]

When It arrives im just gonna sticker the centers and the peices needed for making the cross

That, I think, is an excellent approach. Will perhaps even make them aware of the pieces-vs-stickers concept without you telling them! Because they'll see the two stickers on an edge always being together, surrounded by a lot of black (or whatever your cube plastic color is).

 

[shoot1510]

Yes, I experiencing the same problem. They can solve one face (not layer) but they cant even make a correct cross. So, I ask to make a random cross and show 2 more algorithm to fix the cross.

Me too!
Which I Can't get under 40 sec average. Sometimes singles!
On January, I should get my average under 40 sec
then on February, I should get my average under 30 sec.

6 months of my time in a 40 sec average.
I have to move on before jcuber beat me at school.

 

[panyan]

the way i explain it is to ask what corner needs to go where and then let them tell me how to get it there, i do that with each iece of the top layer and then they get it. I have taught three people with this method and they all seemed very responsive