Photo Gallery

The Lesson

Title:  Developing Logical Skills with the help of SUbingDOKU ™

Overview:

SUbingDOKU (Sudoku) puzzles are an excellent tool for building students’ critical thinking skills and also builds confidence in their abilities to complete challenging tasks.  SUbingDOKU ™ puzzles also provide an opportunity on “How to write code in a Spreadsheet” and “How to work in a Team”.

Lesson Objectives:

Build on the lesson developed by “math-games.eu” and at the end of the lesson, students will be able to order, enter and compare numbers from 1 to 9.  They should also be able to combine 9-numbers between 1 and 9, to identify missing numbers or to eliminate double ones.  That means students learn to observe, apply mathematical rules, determine strategies to be used, solve problems, and work in a Team.

Game:

Basic rules: in each 3x3 box, numbers from 1-9 can only be used once.  In each row, numbers from 1-9 can only be used once.  In each column, numbers from 1-9 can only be used once.  In Team competitions, the game duration is limited.  

Materials:

A SUbingDOKU TM digital Sudoku puzzle and an iPad connected to a large monitor/screen (e.g., Apple TV).

SUbingDOKU TM puzzles require “Numbers” version 10.0 and iPadOS 13.4 (or later)

Present Sudoku Information:

See “math-games.eu” for details

http://math-games.eu/mg%20meetings-events/10.3%20SUDOKU%20Lesson%20Plan.pdf

Guided Lesson:

Start to play

In the beginning, the teacher is the Tutor and will enter numbers into the digital spreadsheet together with the students.  Afterwards the teacher is the Facilitator and divides the class into 2-Teams.

Self-evaluation or Assignment:

The Teacher can assign a paper homework assignment to complete a Sudoku puzzle

And

Provide a copy of the printed Sudoku solution during the next lesson.

Conclusion:

The only way the game can be considered solved correctly is when all of the 81-cells in the spreadsheet contain numbers and all of the rules have been followed.

Also note that the sum of every row, column and 3x3 box must equal 45 (the sum of 1 thru 9).

Final Note:

SUbingDOKU TM Step-by-Step Puzzles provide an excellent resource with hints to take you step-by-step through challenging SUbingDOKU TM puzzles.  “Hints” are used in the solution to show different techniques for finding numbers in the Sudoku puzzle. A great “How to Solve, Step-by-Step” guide.

Hints for the Facilitator:

1. Have each Team select a Team Captain (Team A and Team B or customize Team names in the spreadsheet).  Team Captains determine the lineup for their team and keep track of who is up next in their rotation.
2. Keep score using the SUbingDOKU TM scorecard in the spreadsheet.  Plus points  get entered in the scorecard for correct Blue numbers and Minus points for incorrect Red numbers.
3. Show the Teams how to code the spreadsheet to display the Team scores on the main worksheet (see above photo gallery for an example).
4. Hi-lite the rows, columns, cells to show why a number can or cannot be assigned to a cell (see above photo gallery for an example).  The hi-lites can be quickly removed by selecting the back icon in the top left corner of the spreadsheet.
5. Teams alternate turns to find a number in the SUbingDOKU TM puzzle.
6. Everyone on each Team gets to take a turn, in their rotation, to find the highest number they see in the puzzle.  If the screen goes grey (approximately 1-minute and 40-seconds on my iPad), then the Team does not get any points.
7. If the number a Team member selects is incorrect (the number will turn Red), then the negative number of points will be entered into the scorecard for that Team (sometimes it will be better to take zero points, then negative points for a guess).  The incorrect Red number will then be deleted from the spreadsheet.
8. All of the cells in the spreadsheet can be identified using the row and column designations ( e.g., Column H, Row 19 or H19 - see above photo gallery for an example).
9. You can pencil in optional numbers (e.g., 168 - 1, 6 or 8).  These optional numbers will appear Purple above the space for the final number (see above photo gallery for an example - top left corner, optional number 1, hi-lited green).  You can delete or modify them as needed.  The puzzle will be easier to solve if you delete these optional numbers after you find the correct Blue number.
10. Have fun!