Review on 🧠 Enhancing Critical Thinking Skills: An Interactive Learning Resource by Alex Barnes

I use this game in my Public Speaking course (Freshman Speaking) for college students. We play the game in two different ways: 1) Active Listening/Effective Communication: There are around 5-6 students in a group. I have picture cards. One student from each group looks at the map for 10 seconds and then returns to the group to describe how to build the structure in the picture. You must use memory skills and effective communication skills during this process. They need to remember the shapes, colors, and patterns on each block and how they were placed in the picture, and THEN they need to share all of that information with the group. And when they're actively competing with other teams, it's even harder, but it gets them moving and working as a team, which is my goal. (15-30 minutes) 2) Team Building/Small Group Communication: Again there are around 5-6 students per group (I would prefer 4 or fewer but I only have 2 sets of these blocks). You determine your role in the group and what each member will do. Someone prefers to observe, someone prefers to build, and someone prefers to interpret maps and oversee the construction of a structure. The cards contain a picture and a task at the bottom, so after building the building, they need to rebuild the building according to the task. Only some of the problems only have ONE answer, so they inadvertently discuss all possible solutions. I don't usually interact with groups when they're playing this game; I enjoy following how well their teams work together and occasionally reminding them who is hands-on, who is good at interpreting data, and who is a good evaluator or assistant. (15-30 minutes) Durability: Fairly good 1) The cards are printed on smooth paper and are quite durable 2) The blocks are plastic and often tip over. We have linoleum floors in our classrooms, so they had to endure bullying. So far only one block has broken - the sphere - and we just glued it together and it's still holding up. What you get: 1) The cards are double-sided and contain 40 puzzles. They range from simple to complex. 2) The kit comes with 2 blocks, which (for me) only allows 2 teams to work with the same set of cards. For $18 I got a lot of value from this critical thinking game. I will most likely add 2 more sets to my collection to facilitate group activities in the classroom. The only downer is that I was only able to turn on the game once per semester, but that might also be down to my creativity.