what are the educational benefits of cubing

[cuber314159]

I want to start house cubing at my school and think it would be good to know what the educational benefits of cubing are.

 

[Rcuber123]

I guess learnings will help learning habits in general. Small cubes can improve analytical planning (as most of the solve u have to plan without turning the cube) but that only starts at intermediate levels. And big cubes can help with attention span.

 

[WombatWarrior17]

I think it also helps with cognitive development.

 

[Douf]

Also spatial recognition and memorization

 

[mitja]

I am lefthanded. More of the algs is written for righthanded, so my right hand coordination improved a lot.

 

[CornerCutter]

Also it can teach you to Never Give Up.

 

[xyzzy]

The Rubik's Cube (and twisty puzzles in general) is pretty much the first contact one has with group theory, at least for most of us. Some basic group theoretical concepts can be expressed pretty well with a cube, and on the flip side, group theory can also be applied to cubing to great effect.

For example, NISS works on a 3×3×3, because the states of a 3×3×3 form a group. Another example is that Thistlethwaite's algorithm is very easily described with group theory (you have a bunch of cosets in this quotient space; go from one coset to another).

(Fun fact: If you're in a group theory class and you hear someone say "prime" to mean the inverse of an element, they're almost certainly a cuber too. Normal mathematicians don't do this!)

 

[shadowslice e]

Personally, I'm trying to use cubing as a jumping off point for combinatorics and group theory by making a few videos which I hope will get some people interested in mathematics or at least teach them something somewhat useful.

 

[Gino]

Hand coordination and probably detecting patterns. It doesn't make you any smarter. I have a 3.4 gpa and solving cubes has not done anything to help

 

[FastCubeMaster]

Memorisation techniques from blind solving is a big one (as already mentioned) for me especially, it's helps a lot in school

 

[One Wheel]

Memorisation techniques from blind solving is a big one (as already mentioned) for me especially, it's helps a lot in school

I'm slightly dubious. The longest term memory you use for blind is 1 hour for MBLD. There are, at least by my reckoning, at least 4 different types of memory depending on duration: minutes, days, weeks, and years. If you're using minute-term memory for schoolwork there's a problem.

 

[FastCubeMaster]

I'm slightly dubious. The longest term memory you use for blind is 1 hour for MBLD. There are, at least by my reckoning, at least 4 different types of memory depending on duration: minutes, days, weeks, and years. If you're using minute-term memory for schoolwork there's a problem.

I'm mainly talking techniques. Tricks to memorising words, numbers, stories, anything really.

Anyway, I can't sub hour 4BLD

Jks

 

[Escher]

It sits poetically at the intersection of humans and achievement - organic brains, physical engineering and abstract mathematics. It teaches you to think intuitively about important things - what limitations imply for reasoning and solutions, and about hidden and complete information in probability. It encourages both experimentation and discipline. It rewards learning concrete rules and applying them creatively. It teaches you how to effectively choose what you pay attention to. It's everything modern education should have, but it implements in a damaging way by mistaking measurement for output.

 

[One Wheel]

It rewards learning concrete rules and applying them creatively. It teaches you how to effectively choose what you pay attention to. It's everything modern education should have, but it implements in a damaging way by mistaking measurement for output.

That's the best answer I've seen. I hadn't even thought of that as a valuable skill, but you've hit the nail on the head.

 

[Escher]

That's the best answer I've seen. I hadn't even thought of that as a valuable skill, but you've hit the nail on the head.

Appreciate the compliment - Physics is a pretty definitive area for this skill. We are dazzled by genius in STEM, the artists or writers who create new things out of known building blocks, or achieve the same means out of new tools... Then promptly de-select for it by smothering it with ways we think will detect it. Cubing is a good antidote, with all its potential for independent thinking and approaches to the same aim.

I could go on for hours on the topic of 20thC trends, education, genius and modernity, known unknowns and categorisation, 'cognitive sciences', the strive to cultivate utility with bureaucracy... Yadayada.

 

[One Wheel]

Cultural philosophy is a fascinating topic. What you see in physics I see in farming, as far as applying concrete rules creatively. The difference is that we don't really (on a cultural level) try to teach people how to be farmers, so if you want to do it you're in your own. Really concrete creativity is what is required for true genius or mastery in any field, cubing just has a notably lower entry barrier than most tasks that reward mastery.

 

[Escher]

Cultural philosophy is a fascinating topic. What you see in physics I see in farming, as far as applying concrete rules creatively. The difference is that we don't really (on a cultural level) try to teach people how to be farmers, so if you want to do it you're in your own. Really concrete creativity is what is required for true genius or mastery in any field, cubing just has a notably lower entry barrier than most tasks that reward mastery.

We (or at least 'I' speaking for 'we') don't really have a notion of what a 'master farmer' entails, I guess. I suspect if you ask a well-educated layperson, the common answer would boil down to 'high output on x y z metrics'. These don't tell you anything about the underlying principles a master farmer engages in their work, and you wouldn't learn it by reading a detailed diary of their day. Many ineffable qualities exist in the things we do, by virtue of 'being' having ineffable qualities, and thoughtful attention cultivates these as motivations for right action. Such as the care and interest you clearly take in your animals, going from the video in your sig.

Excuse me if I'm inferring too much but the other part of your sig makes sense to me too. I think the above idea widely applied is named 'spirituality'. It's a shame how many people throw out the baby with the bathwater when rejecting ontological claims via falsifiability principles, or confuse data points for the phenomena.

Speaking of entry barriers, cubing is interesting because I think it naturally finds people who are high on trait 'openness' (I'm well aware of the problems in testing/psychometrics, the idea is the important thing). Yet you can teach all varieties of people who might otherwise completely reject it, if they're open to you inter-personally. It's so cool

 

[Mastermind2368]

Memorisation techniques from blind solving is a big one (as already mentioned) for me especially, it's helps a lot in school

lol I already knew roman rooms before I started doing BLD. I learned it in the hopes that I could memo OLL/PLL easier.