Logic with Minesweeper

Have you ever played minesweeper? You know, that game with the smiley face on any Windows PC? Most people know about it, as in, they know it exists, but far fewer actually know how to play it. Besides randomly clicking on boxes (which can sometimes lead you to victory by chance on beginner), there is reason and logic built into the game.

Which of these do you identify with?

I've chosen to focus on logic this fall in my Saturday morning SMART Academy classes for a few reasons:

• reasoning and logic make us better, more creative problem solvers (math and real world)
• logic intellectual building blocks are probably done forming in the brain long before a student gets to me, but I can at least build on what a student does have, and nurture/encourage refinement
• students often get lost in the middle of solving problems because they don't know what to do next, or they run out of gas. Practicing that perseverance in minesweeper or a logic puzzle lowers the risk of failure.

Coming next, we'll see how my kids did.