Logical ThinkingAIM

In this lesson you will learn:

How logical thinking can help solve problems

Kaumudi: There are four bowls on the table with apples, oranges, bananas and grapes with a picture of Tejas looking at the fruits.Tejas: Fruits! I like fruits. They are good for health.Moz: Correct. You can have them. Each one of you pick two types of fruits. Note the following:

If you pick apple you cannot pick orange. If you pick orange you cannot pick banana. If you pick grapes you cannot pick apple.

Kaumudi: Two pictures please. One where Tejas is thinking with the following bubbles or one bubble .

1. We know: There are four types of fruits Apples, oranges, bananas and grapes.

2. Goal: I have to pick two fruits. 3. There are some conditions: a cross mark for apple + orange, apple + grapes. 4. I like apples. What other fruit can I take? 5. Answer: And a tick mark for apple and banana. Then the next picture - Tejas holding apple and banana with a smile on his face.Tejas: With apple we cannot pick an orange or grapes hence I picked apple and banana.Kaumudi a picture of Jyoti holding orange and grapes. Jyoti: With orange we cannot pick banana or apple. Hence I picked orange and grapes.Kaumudi a picture of Moz (as if Moz is asking a question) holding banana and grapes.Moz: Very good logical thinking. Can I pick banana and grapes?Tejas and Jyoti: Yes you can!

1. Read and understand the problem given to you. 2. List out what you know from the problem 3. Identify the goal, note the given conditions. 4. Plan the steps to get the answer.

[ Put the above in a concept bax]

Moz: Now let us look at another example. You are walking towards a play ground. But the playground is on the other side of the road. So what do you do?Jyoti: We know that we have to first reach a zebra crossing where there are traffic lights. Kaumudi A series of pictures in a row about the sequence of crossing would also be appropriate here?

Tejas: We check that the vehicles on both sides have stopped before crossing.

Jyoti: The condition is that

we should follow traffic light rules so that accidents do not happen. Moz: Good. It is very important to learn about the traffic rules and follow them.

Follow the rules before performing a task. What, when and why are questions that can help you take an action logically.

What and when makes you recall what has been learnt. Why makes you understand the importance of following the facts you

know. If, then, how,…………also should be covered?[Above in a concept box]

Jyoti: Here is a problem. There are three groups of children on the play ground. Group A has 3 children, B has 5 children and C has 2 children. The Teacher wants to know the total number of children on the play ground. Kaumudi: A picture of Tejas solving the problem We know: Group A = 3 children, Group B = 5 children and Group c = 2 children Goal: Find total number of children. Answer: Add the three numbers Tejas: There are 10 children in the play ground.Moz: Ok. Now look at this.Group A has 5 children, Group B has 5 children and Group C also has 5 children. How many children are there in the playground? Kaumudi: A picture of Jyoti solving the problem.We know: There are three groups and each group has 5 children each.Goal: Find total number of children.Answer: Multiply 5x3Jyoti: There are 15 children.Moz: Why did you add in the first problem and multiply in the second problem.Tejas: In the first problem the numbers are unequal. So we have to add each one of them.Jyoti: In the second problem the same number appears three times. Hence we multiply to get the result.Kaumudi: A picture of Moz holding a birthday cake box.Moz: Very good. Here are a few pieces of my birthday cake. The cake was cut

into 8 pieces. I gave one piece to my father and one to my mother. Can you tell me how many pieces are left now? Kaumudi: A picture of Tejas and Jyoti solving the problemWe know: There were 10 pieces of cake. one piece was given to Father and one piece to mother.Goal: Find the number of pieces left.A picture of Jyoti saying to Tejas : Let us work step by step to get the answer.Answer : Step 1: Find the total number of pieces that were given away. Add 1+1 = 2 Step 2: Take away the pieces that were given away from the total number of pieces. Subtract 2 from 8 = 6Tejas: 6 pieces are left now.Moz: I want to distribute these pieces equally among three of us.Kaumudi: The cake box is open with 6 pieces in it. Please show Tejas and Jyoti dividing 6 by 3 and getting the answer 2. Please use the standard way of division that the children use.Jyoti: 2 pieces each!! Moz: Very good. You have been able to solve the problems very easily. You already know how to think logically. Let us meet tomorrow and use what you learned today and build some interesting games using scratch.

LESSON OUTCOME

After you have studied this lesson, you will be able to:

Understand the problem

Identify goal and conditions

Solve the problem

Worksheet1. Solve anagrams and match the columns.

In anagrams, alphabets in a word are presented in jumbled order. You have to set it in correct order to form the word. For instance, an anagram as ‘D R E’ would mean ‘RED’.a. Following are some things you carry to the school everyday. Solve the anagrams by matching the columns.

S.No. Anagram Word

1 K B O O

2 F I T F I N

3 G A B

4 C I P E N L

5 X O B

b. Following are names of the vehicles that are used for transportation. Solve the anagrams by matching the columns.

S.N

o

Anagram Word

1

R N T I A

2

P S I H

3

L C Y E C

4

S B U

5

R A C

2. Chiku, the rabbit has to hop his way to find the carrots on the island. With each hop, he crosses five tiles. How many times will he have to hop to reach the carrots.

[Kaumudi, an illusration of 15 tiles between the rabbit and carrots]

3. Complete the following series:

a) 9, 10, 12, 15,?

b) 1, 2, 4, 7,?

c) 10, 9, 7, 4, ?

d) 12, 8, 5, 3, ?

4. Munmun, the squirrel has to eat the groundnut. Help her reach reach it.[Kaumudi, illustration required of suirrel and groundnut on the two ends of a maze]

5. Can you help Jyoti to solve the folowing puzzles. (Kaumudi: An icon of Jyoti)

a. Some figures are given below. Observe them

Now match the shapes with their colour

YELLOW RED BLUE GREEN

b. Observe the following figures.

19 202517

10 12511

8 021

2 7110

Now colour the triangles in the grid below, so that the Red triangle is between yellow and blue triangles. The first triangle is the Yellow one.

c.

Now colour the squares in the following grid. The Red square comes in between the brown and yellow squares. Blue square is the first square in the grid. Black square is directly above the yellow square.

6. Can you tell what comes next? Circle the correct option.a.

b.

Activity:

1. Play puzzles in the Educational suite Gcompris.

Within the educational suite gcompris, explore “go to discovery activities” and “puzzles”. There are several activities within each of them. For instance, if you click on miscellaneous activities, you will see the following games. [ add sreen shot of the puzzle]

2. Connect the following nine dots, Use only 4 straight lines traced without lifting your pencil.

. . .

. . .

. . .

Unity is StrengthOnce upon a time, there was a flock of doves that flew in search of food

led by their king. One day, they had flown a long distance and were very tired. The dove king encouraged them to fly a little further. The smallest dove picked up speed and found some rice scattered Priyaeath a banyan tree. So all the doves landed and began to eat.

Suddenly a net fell over them and they were all trapped. They saw a hunter approaching carrying a huge club. The doves desperately fluttered their wings trying to get out, but to no avail.

The king had an idea. He advised all the doves to fly up together carrying the net with them. He said that there was strength in unity.

Each dove picked up a portion of the net and together they flew off carrying the net with them. The hunter looked up in astonishment. He tried to follow them, but they were flying high over hills and valleys. They flew to a hill near a city of temples where there lived a mouse who could help them. He was a faithful friend of the dove king.

When the mouse heard the loud noise of their approach, he went into hiding. The dove king gently called out to him and then the mouse was happy to see him. The dove king explained that they had been caught in a trap and needed the mouse's help to gnaw at the net with his teeth and set them free.

The mouse agreed saying that he would set the king free first. The king insisted that he first free his subjects and the king last. The mouse understood the king's feelings and compled with his wishes. He began to cut the net and

one by one all the doves were freed including the dove king.They all thanked the mouse and flew away together, united in their strength.

Questions to be asked: i. How were the doves saved?ii. What would have happened if all the doves did not listen to their king?iii. Why is it important to be united?

Group activity:Learn the TAPPS methodology and solve puzzles along with your partner.

Solve the following puzzles using TAPPS [ Kaumudi : Illustrations for 1 , 2 ]1. Rahul, Seema and Priya are collectors. One collects stamps, one collects in-sect pictures and one collects toy car pictures. Rahul swapped his car pictures for insect pictures. Seema doesn't like cars but likes getting letters. Priya thinks insects are too small to worry about. What do Rahul, Seema and Priya collect?

2. Amina, Sarah, and Jeet each ate something different for breakfast. One had toast, one had chapatti, and one had an apple for breakfast. What did each per-son have for breakfast? i) Amina likes to eat either an apple or toast for breakfast.

ii) Only Sarah and Jeet like chapati for breakfast.

Iii) Jeet did not have chapatti or toast for breakfast.

3. Kishan, the farmer has to take a fox, a chicken, and a bag of corn safely across a river in a boat. He can take only one thing at a time in the boat. He cannot leave the fox and the chicken together on either side of the river, or the fox will eat the chicken. Likewise, he cannot leave the chicken alone with the bag of corn or the chicken will eat the corn. How can the farmer get everything across the river without anything being eaten?

Teacher's corner [ If then …..?]o Start the class by revising the step-wise thinking lesson. Now bring out the

importance of thinking capabilities. Ask students what they do to keep physically fit. They may say, 'We exercise our body to remain physically fit'. Tell them, that exercise of mind is important for mental fitness. Tell them that solving puzzles, mental sums, stories and computer games can be an effective mechanism for exercise of the mind.

o To teach logical thinking, discuss examples where in children use logical thinking in every day life. For instance, you may ask the students, why they do not cross the road when vehicles are moving. You can elaborate that while crossing the road, they reason out that they should not cross the road when the green signal is on as the vehicles are passing and they may be hit if they are not careful. They wait for the signal to be red, so that the vehicles stop and they cross the road safely.

o Ask several ‘WHY’ questions. For example:

Why are vegetables washed before cooking? Why do you not put your finger in the flame of a burning candle? Why should we learn good manners? Why should we help others?Why should we speak truth?

o Narrate a story to the students that highlights logical thinking. Ask them questions that require logical reasoning after you have told them the story. Summarize the lesson emphasizing the importance of thinking.

o Teach the students the ‘Think Aloud Pairs Problem Solving (TAPPS) technique to solve problems. Note that for effective use of this technique, the teacher's role is to ensure that the problem solver and listener follow the rules. She is not required 'to teach' the students to solve problems.

Steps to use TAPPS technoque:1. make a team of two students each. One student is the Problem Solver

(PS) and the other is the Listener (L). Each has a role to play & follow to some rules.

2. PS reads the problem aloud and then continues to talk aloud as much as possible about everything s/he thinking while attempting to solve the problem. L listens, and has the more difficult role. L must try to keep PS talking; a short silence should be met with, "Tell me what you are thinking."

3. L must understand in detail every step made by PS. Thus L should ask questions whenever PS says anything that is in the least mysterious. "Why do you say that?" "Would you explain that to me?"

4. L must avoid solving the problem herself, and must not ask questions that are actually intended as hints to PS. In fact, it isn't necessary that L should be able to solve the problem; her role is to help PS solve it.

Get the students interested in solving puzzles using TAPPS

Explore:1. A shoe can be used for several activities besides covering your feet.

Write 20 different uses of a shoe.2. Find out about the book 'Tell me why'. Read about two topics and narrate

it in the class.

Furhter Reading:

http://www.kidsdomain.com/kids/links/Puzzles.htmlhttp://www.indiaparenting.com/stories/panchatantra/panch010.shtmlhttp://www.aimsedu.org/Puzzle/fencingNum/fence1.htmlhttp://wwwcsi.unian.it/educa/problemsolving/stice_ps.htmlwww.micsymposium.org/mics_2004/Sinapova.pdfhttp://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/gifttal/activities/ideas.htm