Something more awesome than the actual puzzle is the philosophy behind the puzzle's creation. Japanese math teacher, Tetsuya Miyamoto created these puzzles. I have read that he "runs a class for children whose parents want them to improve their thinking powers," and that of these students 80% are admitted to Japan's most exclusive schools. Of course, I think that his philosophy is awesome because it mirrors mine, or really, that my thoughts about the learning of mathematics are similar to those of a really smart Japanese mathematician. He states, “Children are not taught or instructed. If you give children good educational materials, they will think, learn and grow on their own." The new mathematics we engage our students in at PS 503, (and some, but too few, other schools in NYC and beyond) allows students to play with numbers, logically reason about why certain rules apply to mathematics and construct their own understanding of each mathematical concept. Important sidebar here-constructivist mathematics CANNOT be taught by just anyone. You need expertise teachers to manipulate and execute this type of curriculum well, and for students to learn at a high level, just like any other curriculum. More on this later...In a sense, Miyamoto and I agree that students need a good problem to work with in order to engage in a high level of mathematical thinking. We also agree that the teaching and learning of mathematics is not just a transfer of knowledge from teacher to learner in a 'Watch-Learn and Do-What-I-Do' sort of way.
In short, you should play Ken Ken. If you are a teacher of mathematics, Ken Ken may be a fun way for students to practice composing and decomposing number, while testing their logical reasoning skills. Even better, you can download really easy to amazingly hard puzzles and differentiate the types of numbers students work with depending on their skill. Go here to play http://www.kenken.com/index.html or just buy the NY Times!
