In “Team Logic: Cooperative Problem Solving,” you’ll find some cooperative group activities for older gifted students (3rd-8th). Here are a few collaborative logical-thinking activities you can try with younger students, all found at NRICH Maths, a project of the University of Cambridge.
NUMBER MATCH – (2nd-3rd) Students “play” this in groups of four and must be SILENT. Sixteen cards are passed out so that each student in the group has four cards. The goal is to give cards to one another until all four members of the group have a “set.” A set is defined as 4 cards that are related to one another in a similar way. In addition to being silent, students must follow certain rules as they complete the task. You can use this slide to display the rules during the activity. You can also find teacher resources here.
(K-1) One of the best things about NRICH problems is that there are many low threshold-high ceiling tasks, and activities can be adapted for use at different levels. You may have to experiment a bit to find the best age-group for each activity. In NUMBER MATCH, students are required to be silent, so it would probably be difficult for kindergarten and first graders to do the activity as written. However, it could be interesting to pass the cards out to younger students and ask them to work in pairs or groups to see how many different ways they can make four sets. This activity might be a good precursor to the game of SET, which can be introduced to advanced second graders. I usually introduced the SET GAME at the end of the fall semester, using the cards. By third grade, my students enjoyed the DAILY puzzle online.
MAKING RECTANGLES – (2nd-3rd and up) This is played in a similar way, and the same rules apply, but this visual-spatial thinking task requires students to pass cards to one another until all everyone has made the same rectangle. If you use the PETS™ curriculum with your younger students, this is a great complement to visual-spatial (Max the Magician) challenges. The goal and rules for this activity can be displayed using this slide and here are the teacher resources.
(K-1) To adapt this for younger students, the pieces could be handed out to pairs or small groups, and students challenged to make four equal rectangles. This still could be quite challenging, so providing templates that are the size of the rectangle could be helpful.
ARRANGING COUNTERS ~ In groups of four, students draw “clue cards” which they are not allowed to show to anyone. They are, however, allowed to describe or read what is on their cards to their teammates. The groups work together to arrange colored counters according to the clues they’ve been given. Here is a slide to display the goal and the rules for this activity and find teacher resources here.
This activity reminds me of Logic Links puzzles (also available in a workbook format). However, in ARRANGING COUNTERS, students do not have all the clues and must depend upon one another to reach the correct arrangement. With kindergarten G/T classes, this activity or Logic Links puzzles could be presented in a small group as a teacher-led activity by passing out the counters to your students, then sharing the clues one at a time. This is a great way to assess student problem-solving and target the vocabulary and concepts necessary for solving a logic problem.
Do you know of other collaborative problem-solving activities for younger students? Let us know about them by leaving a comment below. Also, if you try this activity, we’d love for you to share your experience!