How to use “Legit Riddles” as Brain Training Exercises

What make a riddle/puzzle/brain-teaser “legit”?

In order for a riddle to be useful for this exercise it needs to depend on a faulty assumption, unconscious bias or a “Cognitive Blind Spot”.  The answer needs to be both obvious and evident from the information contained in the riddle itself.  It also needs to have only ONE answer that fits the facts or evidence contained in the riddle.

There are “jokes” that masquerade as “riddles” … these are not as helpful in developing or training this skill.

“What has 4-wheels and flies” (A garbage truck)

It’s clever, a bit witty, and pretty funny (if your 10 years old… or a little high) but it’s not a “legit” riddle because FIRST, there are simply too may possible responses that are correct.

Various aircraft, helicopters, X-Game Skaters, landfills, Dead-Baby on a Skateboard… etc…

SECOND, each alternative response has equally sound reasoning from various levels of depth, complexity or perspective. 

While these types of riddles have utility (how many rational responses with sound reasoning can you come up with) they’re not a very good way to practice the type of critical thinking skills that have practical utility.  There are few questions or problems that have multiple answers that are of equal validity, efficacy or utility.

The brain is like any other muscle, you need to use the proper form with the appropriate exercise to reach the desired goal.

How to use riddles to train your brain for better Critical Thinking

1)      Read/Listen to Riddle once

Try to pay close attention, it’s a learned skill, so you may miss some of the details the first time but TRY to complete exercise with only ONE read or listen.  Over time you will get better at picking up on small details quickly, but only if you practice the correct form.

2)      Write down answer to riddle

Write out your response based on your first read/listen.  It’s helpful to try and write your response in a complete sentence.  As we’ve discussed, written communication can improve oral communication.  An idea needs to be fully formed in order to write it out in a complete sentence, the better you get at writing out a complete thought the better you’ll get at FORMING a complete thought.  As you improve your writing, you’ll improve your speaking and you’ll become a better communicator.

3)      Explain WHY your answer makes sense (Explain your reasoning)

At this point you’re likely to identify an error, especially when you start to practice this process, you may have a good “IDEA” but it may not stand up to scrutiny, and that’s the point of this exercise, to develop the ability to assess your own thinking and scrutinize your own reasoning. 

IF (when) you identify an error in reasoning it’s important to NOT destroy your original thought… often, an error will turn out to have a grain of truth to it.  You also don’t want to repeat mistakes.  It’s useful to have access to your earlier attempts to mine useful bits of reasoning or perspectives. 

This is where you might read the riddle for the second time to help explain your reasoning.  In time you will combine your answer and explanation in a single paragraph.

“The reason the man can only ride the elevator to the 10^th floor is because he’s a dwarf and cannot reach the button for the 14^th floor.  If someone is in the elevator with him, he can ask them to hit the button for him, and if it’s raining, he can use his umbrella.”

4)      Discover the “Correct” answer

Don’t check the answer before making 2-3 honest attempts at an answer on your own.  The exercise is what’s important, explaining why a guess doesn’t work is as important as figuring out what DOES work. 

It’s also important to examine your reasoning even if you’ve figured out the correct answer.  It’s possible to have the right answer with the wrong reasoning… and that’s dangerous.  If you get lucky and come to the correct answer with faulty reasoning it will make it more difficult to work through a wrong answer later.  If you think your reasoning is sound, you’re more likely to try and convince yourself that a wrong answer is right… you can create a permeant blind spot in your thinking if you’re not careful.

5)      Reflect on your answer

Assess any errors in reasoning that caused you to reach a faulty conclusion or any aspect of your response that may have missed an element in the question that was important to seeing the solution.  The key to a good riddle is the incorporation of a trigger that will cause an error in reasoning, unconscious bias or cognitive blind spot.  Assessing your reasoning to uncover these common errors is essential to becoming a better critical thinker, asymmetrical problem solver and developing the non-linear thinking skills that are at the heart of innovation and the kind of creative destruction and paradigm shifting that modern life requires.

6)      Write down your error in reasoning and the trigger that caused the “Cognitive Blind Spot”

As previously discussed, having the thought in your head doesn’t mean you’re able to articulate it.  In order to articulate an idea, it must be fully formed and clearly understood.  Writing it out forces you to complete its formation, clarify it and make it more comprehensible.  Also, it gives you a written record to track your growth, see your improvement and provide you with a wealth of information to reflect on and mine as your perceptive abilities improve and perspective shifts over time.

We’ve already explored “Reflection” in “Data Processing” (Unit 3c).  The development of “Meta-Reflection” (reflecting on earlier reflections) will become valuable later.  As previously discussed, the GateWay Method is about building capacity through exercises and activities that stack together to create new skills, strategies and tools.  Each element must be properly constructed in order for the total system to function properly.

As always: Do what I tell you to do, the way I tell you to do it, and give me an honest effort and I guarantee results.  You may not fully understand how all the pieces fit together, but they do, just concentrate on waxing the car, sanding the floor and painting the fence, the rest will take care of itself.

From “What Am I” by Zack Guido (A Collection of Traditional Word Riddles)

Why is “Organization” the FIRST step??

By: TheMister

In TheGateWay Method we start with “Organization” because it serves as the core of life-long learning.  What good is information if you don’t have somewhere to put it??  What good is it to take notes or save an interesting piece of information if you can’t find it when you need it?? 

We live in an information age… but how much of that information can we USE??  How often have you created a pile of papers and wasted hours sifting through it to find the page you needed only to get distracted and forget what you were looking for in the first place or even WHY you needed it??  We have more access to information than at any time in human history and (it seems) less ability to process it into a useful form that can improve our lives.

If you want to add to your existing body of knowledge you can’t just read something one time, or jot down a few notes and expect the information to stay with you.  You need to read a passage multiple time and go back to your notes over and over if you want new knowledge to become deep understanding.  In order to turn information into intelligence you need to WORK with the information… not just memorize it.  There’s a process to working with information that TheGateWay Method teaches.  In order to work that process you need to be able to find the passage of reading, writing or the notes you’re “working” on so you can continue to the next step, and that requires the information be well ORGANIZED and easy to access.

At AtoZ Learning Solutions we believe that building cognitive skills through physicality is a key feature to improving educational outcomes and developing the next generation of learners. 

That’s the “surface” reason that we start with organization skills, but there’s a deeper reason.  In TheGateWay Method we work with physical material, not digital, because our process is more than just a set of learning skills, it’s a strategy for brain-training.  In TheGateWay Method we see learning skills like organization, note-taking, and text-marking as physical manifestations of a cognitive process.  As you learn to physically organize your materials and WORK with new knowledge you engage your brain in a different way. 

Think of it this way… why did you have to write out 2+2=4??  Why did you need to write out your long division and two column multiplication?  Do you still need to write it all the way out or can you work it out in your head??  Why do we want elementary kids to work with manipulatives when learning “number-sense”??  Because there is a very CLEAR mind/body link.  We evolved to manipulate objects in space to help us have a sense of them and build understanding and that influenced our brain development.  People who were better able to develop their cognition through physical manipulation were better able to survive… and here we are.

In TheGateWay Method we work with riddles and puzzles, but there is a very specific WAY we “work” with them.  In my teaching practice I have seen kids come up with (what they thought) was a good answer but refuse to share it with the class.  When I asked what had caused them to lose confidence in their response they said:

“I didn’t realize that I hadn’t thought it out until I wrote it down.”

The mechanical process of writing out their reasoning is what revealed the flaw, and over time I’ve seen the same kids develop their reasoning skills… through this process… and become better thinkers.  I don’t THINK this works… I’ve SEEN it work for multiple students over multiple years.

The same can be said for Cornell-Notes, Text-Marking, Goal Setting and Tracking, and Self-Assessment strategies, these skills have proven successful in practice, not just in theory.  Kids who practice these strategies and develop these skills become better learners, better thinkers and better decision makers.

At AtoZ Learning Solutions we believe that building cognitive skills through physicality is a key feature to improving educational outcomes and developing the next generation of learners. 

We hope you agree and will follow us on this journey as we help kids develop the independent learning skills that will keep them competitive in the 21^st Century.

Why worry about being organized??

By: TheMister

We’re all going to DIE!!!

Yea… it’s getting crazy out there.  With riots, a pandemic and rising tensions across the political landscape how can you NOT be stressed out??  Kids are going back to school in the most fraught period in the 21^st Century.  In 2014 the American Psychological Association reported that 1 in 5 Americans were “stressed out” (8 or 9 on a 10-point scale).  We were on a downward trend at the time… but the last two years have seen an upward trend in stress levels (4.9 in 2019 and 5.9 as of May2020)

You can only imagine what it must be like today.

Many experts have recognized the mind/body link and the effect that clutter and disorganization has on stress levels and ability to effectively multi-task.  If your surroundings or materials are chaotic your mind will seek to order them… creating stress and needlessly taxing your cognitive faculties.  If your materials are well ordered and easy to access you will, not only, free up your metal resources but shave precious minutes off the time it takes to gain new knowledge and increase understanding of new information.  This is not only helpful for school-age students but also for adult learners.  The trick is to learn these skills and strategies when your younger, when it’s easier, so you can effectively modify them as your learning needs change later in life.  If you want to be a “life-long learner” the earlier you build the skills the easier it will be.

You cannot depend on the schools to teach these skills; most teachers don’t HAVE them…

Something simple that we can do for our kids to help them manage their stress is help them get and STAY organized.  Thankfully, TheGateWay Method is here to help.  Through a series of simple, mechanical steps that any student can do your child can become better organized (both physically and mentally) and you can easily monitor their progress to help KEEP them organized.  You cannot depend on the schools to teach these skills; most teachers don’t HAVE.  Most teachers who are well organized, have had to develop a strategy that works for them but is too personal to be transferable.  I have seen students with brilliant Cornell-Notes be unable to explain HOW they developed the skill.

The skills and strategies that TheGateWay Method utilizes are research based, field tested and have proven effective over time with a variety of students.  These strategies were developed by working with motivated, creative and innovative students as they struggled with the demands of public education.  I’ve spent years mentoring them through this process and I’ve taken the lessons learned from the best of them to benefit the rest of them.  Ability was never an issue… it was a matter of choice, determination and support.

Experts agree that one strategy to GET organized is to set time aside to BE organized.  Setting time aside to prioritize a “To-Do” list or review your calendar is recommended.  Also, setting a timer to delineate between PLANNING time and ACTION time is a good way to avoid the pitfalls of being overly organized but never having the time to act.  Can you think of a better time in your life where setting aside “study time” was easier than formal education??

I won’t get into the developmental brain science here, but suffice it to say, as you age your ability to absorb new information diminishes.  Without a strategy to integrate new information into your existing body of knowledge new learning can build stress, not relieve it.  You needed to learn an organization, note-taking and study strategy to be successful in your formal education.  Trying to learn one as you get older becomes problematic because, once you’re older, it’s not simply a matter of “learning” a new strategy, but UN-learning your old one.  For school-age kids, who don’t HAVE these strategies already, why not start them off on the right foot with field-tested and research-based skills that are flexible and adaptable??

It’s not just learning study skills, it’s time management, goal-setting and tracking, back-planning, critical thinking, creative problem solving and communication skills.  The more time you spend developing these skills in youth the less stress you’ll have as an adult… and TheGateWay Method is how anyone can develop or improve these skills.