Types of activities for a Rubik's cube club

[ender9994]

Hi, I am going to start a Rubik's cube club at my college and I have some questions for someone who has done this successfully.

Okay, I will start off with the background info. We currently have an unofficial cubing club that has about 25 members. There are a few people who can solve the cube in about a minute, most can solve it in under 3 minutes, and a few people who want to learn.

Some of my questions are:

What types of activities should we do? I know that teaching will be an important part. We will also be holding small competitions. I am currently looking into obtaining a copy of cubefreaks the movie.

How should I handle the teaching? I feel that it is going to be very difficult to teach because some people will be learning a 3x3 while others will be working on more advanced methods. My current idea is that will have a few friends teach the 3x3 while I will try and teach everything else.

Do you think teaching should happen on different days for beginner and advanced people? This would make teaching easier but I fear that it might split the club in two.

I am currently thinking of meeting twice a month however I will change this based upon the levels of interest.

What would be the most effective way of advertising the club? I already have posters and fliers made but I don't know if they would be effective. One thought is that I will hold the informational meeting in a very public place (the campus center) and set up a table with various puzzles.

To increase visibility I am also planning on holding an official competition at some point (however, I want to make sure of some details {venue...etc.} before I even contact the WCA).

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you

Doug

 

[jacob15728]

I'd just sit around and solve cubes

 

[xXdaveXsuperstarXx]

"I'd just sit around and solve cubes"

That's no fun. You want to learn stuff and get faster. This is supposed to be a Teaching and learning thing. Not just
sitting around and solving cubes.


Well, for starters, you should have maybe 1 competition every month or two. I think that you could maybe put people in groups according to level (all in the same session though), and the advanced and faster people could be the teachers of the different groups simply because they are more experienced. Or you could simply teach some stuff to everybody, and put the people into groups to practice what they learned. I mean, you're the teacher so you can do what you want. But that's just my idea.

 

[dbax0999]

Well, my friend and I started a cube club at my school and we pretty much just sit around and cube. Of course we teach people how to solve and such but we're just a high-school club and cubing isn't very popular at our school. So we can't really do much else.

Here are a few things we did for fun at our meetings:
- Made the words "CUBE CLUB" on v-cubes with our schools colors.
- Started an official cube club records book where we record the fastest solves done at meetings. (Also had an unofficial one which conisted of solves done at home)
- Of course you should teach people how to cube but that's just a given.

Unfortunately we can't really have competitions because of all the people that cube every single person is at a different level and know matter who races who we always know the winner. I suspect with a bigger club this wouldn't be a problem. Good luck with your club!

 

[StachuK1992]

In my cube club, we pretty much solve cubes, have races, play some mad winterbells and hackeysack, and cube some more.
Every Monday for an hour.

 

[ender9994]

Well, for starters, you should have maybe 1 competition every month or two. I think that you could maybe put people in groups according to level (all in the same session though), and the advanced and faster people could be the teachers of the different groups simply because they are more experienced. Or you could simply teach some stuff to everybody, and put the people into groups to practice what they learned. I mean, you're the teacher so you can do what you want. But that's just my idea.

I definitely like the idea of putting people into groups based on skill level. It will help identify who needs the most attention on learning the basics. Getting the more advanced people to teach. I think that I will have to make sure its not all they do. They need to feel like they are doing more advanced things then teaching or else they will get bored.


dbax0999: Keeping an official "times book" seems like a great idea that will keep everybody motivated. People will be more likely to practice if they see improvement.

 

[miniGOINGS]

How about separating into groups based on solving methods?

 

[Ethan Rosen]

Take a field trip to an official competition.

 

[V-te]

I'm doing this next year in my high school as well, There will be about 3 "masters", Myself included, and the rest will be newbies so we will all be teaching. Once everybody get s comfortable, we will stars doing races and showing people how well you can improve.
I think that you should separate people by beginners, intermediate and advanced. Most of the advanced should be helpers, and the intermediates could also help once in a while, or start learning a more advanced method. I think that once everybody can solve a cube,everybody can start challenging people from their own level. The advanced should show their students how fast they can be with practice.
Once everybody can solve a cube, then you should ask them what kind of puzzles they want to solve so they can begin extending their cubing hobby.

Well this is what I would do, but I guess it also depends on how many people wanna join too. Good luck and we'll keep posted.

 

[royzabeast]

Well, my friend and I started a cube club at my school and we pretty much just sit around and cube. Of course we teach people how to solve and such but we're just a high-school club and cubing isn't very popular at our school. So we can't really do much else.

Here are a few things we did for fun at our meetings:
- Made the words "CUBE CLUB" on v-cubes with our schools colors.
- Started an official cube club records book where we record the fastest solves done at meetings. (Also had an unofficial one which conisted of solves done at home)
- Of course you should teach people how to cube but that's just a given.

Unfortunately we can't really have competitions because of all the people that cube every single person is at a different level and know matter who races who we always know the winner. I suspect with a bigger club this wouldn't be a problem. Good luck with your club!

Well when I taught my friend how to solve the cube, we would still hold competitions agaisnt one another, except he would have an advantage such as two hands while I do my cube OH and then when he got better (around 1min-1:30min) I would try to solve it twice before he could solve once.

 

[dbax0999]

Well when I taught my friend how to solve the cube, we would still hold competitions agaisnt one another, except he would have an advantage such as two hands while I do my cube OH and then when he got better (around 1min-1:30min) I would try to solve it twice before he could solve once.

Thanks for the idea. I'll have to try that one.

I also thought of another idea to help motivate cubers. Every meeting have each person do an average of 5 and keep a chart for each cuber tracking their progress.

 

[xXdaveXsuperstarXx]

I think that's a good idea. Doing an average of 5 and seeing your progress can greatly help you stay at it.