IEEE talk on Puzzle-Based Learning.
Pittsburgh, USA.
2 December 2010.
Computer Society Pittsburgh Chapter of the IEEE will host a talk “Puzzle-Based Learning: An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Problem Solving” at the Westinghouse Cranberry Headquarters, Building 1 (176A, Center Building) in Pittsburgh. The speaker is Raja Sooriamurthi from Information Systems Program, Carnegie Mellon University.
2010 Instructional Innovation Award competition.
San Diego, California, USA.
20-23 November 2010.
Puzzle-Based Learning submission by Z. Michalewicz, N. Falkner, and R. Sooriamurthi will be presented as one of the three finalists in the Instructional Innovation Award competition for the 2010 Decision Sciences Institute. The final round of evaluation involves review of the formal presentation of finalists at the Institute’s Annual Meeting in San Diego (November 20-23, 2010). The announcement of the winner will take place during the President’s Luncheon planned for Tuesday, November 23rd 2010.
Workshop on Puzzle-Based Learning as part of the Martin Gardner Global Celebration of Mind Gatherings.
Adelaide, Australia.
22 October 2010.
This workshop is a result of personal invitation from the Gathering For Gardner Foundation to celebrate Martin Gardner’s life and work, and continue his pursuit of a playful and fun approach to Mathematics, Science, Art, Magic, Puzzles and all of his other interests and writings. Martin Gardner passed away on May 22, 2010. He wanted no memorials, but he expressed a desire for the Gatherings for Gardner to continue. On October 21, 2010, which would have been Martin’s 96th Birthday, the Martin Gardner Global Celebration of Mind Gatherings will take place in different locations around the world. Information about these events can be found at: http://www.g4g4.com/G4G-COM/index.htm (note that 21 October in US corresponds to 22 October in Australia).
ACS starts a pilot web-based course on Puzzle-Based Learning.
Adelaide, Australia.
18 October 2010.
Australian Computer Society starts a pilot web-based course on Puzzle-Based Learning for IT professionals. The course consists of 42 short (15 mins) segments and spans over 12 weeks. The plan is to offer this course on regular bases from 2011 as part of the ACS offerings on ACSLearn (learning management system).
Seminar on Puzzle-Based Learning at the Institute of Computer Science, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland.
Institute of Computer Science, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
23 September 2010.
A seminar on Puzzle-Based Learning is to be offered at the Institute of Computer Science, Polish Academy of Sciences on 23 September, 2010.
Wasatch Academy has launched its new Logic and Problem Solving course for the 2010-2011 school year.
Wasatch Academy, Mt. Pleasant, Utah, USA.
21 September 2010.
Wasatch Academy, a 9-12 independent, international college preparatory school in central Utah, has officially launched its new Logic and Problem Solving course for the 2010-2011 school year. Mr. Steven Zollinger has designed the course to provide students with a strong foundation in creative problem solving and critical thinking. Puzzle-Based Learning is playing an integral part in building this foundation. From day one, students begin solving puzzles which help them to learn the three rules of problem solving outlined in PBL. The intent is for them to read and analyze each problem very carefully so that they fully understand the constraints of the problem, the nature of the solution they must find, and any ambiguities in the language that may be manipulated to find a creative and unique solution. Coming into the course, students have often been programmed from other classes to think that each problem they are given must have one solution and one way to solve for it. They quickly learn that working within the constraints of a given problem, they can take many different roads to reach amazing solutions by thinking outside the box a bit. Mixed in with all of the puzzles from PBL, students in the Logic and Problem Solving course are presented with many real-world problems in which they can apply their newly found skills to areas that may interest them. Some of these topics include management science, business efficiency, planning and scheduling, linear programming, statistics, probability, game theory, information science, cryptology, and art. Working closely with Wasatch Academy’s Center for Evolving Technologies, the Logic and Problem Solving class also has been designed to act as a springboard to computer science and programming, incorporating joint projects in which the programming and robotics classes will work with the Logic and Problem Solving students to design, debug, and implement programs to solve problems and puzzles.
Korea National University of Education starts Puzzle-Based Learning course.
Chungbuk, South Korea.
2 September 2010.
Puzzle-Based Learning is being introduced this semester at the Department of Computer Education at the Korea National University of Education, as a new full semester graduate level course Practical Studies in Computer Science Education. Puzzle-Based learning is also taught as a unit – part of the Algorithm Education for Gifted Students in Informatics graduate course, where most of the graduate students in the department are elementary/secondary school teachers.
Puzzle-Based Learning Workshop during the National Science Week.
Adelaide, Australia.
17 August 2010.
Puzzle-based learning Workshop: Puzzle? Think! Solve! is offered during the National Science Week – an event supported by the Government of South Australia and the Australian Computer Society. Nick Falkner and Zbigniew Michalewicz will introduce educators, students, parents and children to the joy of solving amusing and engaging puzzles, as means of developing appreciation for mathematics and logical thinking. By the end of the workshop, everyone present should have questioned their intuition, discovered some challenging puzzles that they would want to pass on to their friends, and at least in their heads, everyone will have said ‘Eureka!’ or ‘Aha!’ at least once. For more information, see http://www.acs.org.au/sa/events.
Workshop on Puzzle-Based Learning for the Emirates CMS power company.
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
7 August 2010.
A full day workshop on Puzzle-Based Learning is to be offered for the Emirates CMS power company on 7 August 2010.
Polish translation of the Puzzle-Based Learning book.
Warsaw, Poland.
July 2010.
Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology (Warsaw, Poland) translated Puzzle-based Learning book into Polish (the translated title is Nauczanie Lamiglowkowe); the translated text will serve as a textbook for a new course.
2010 Instructional Innovation Award competition.
San Diego, California, USA.
18 June 2010.
Puzzle-Based Learning submission by Z. Michalewicz, N. Falkner, and R. Sooriamurthi has been selected as one of the three finalists in the Instructional Innovation Award competition for the 2010 Decision Sciences Institute. The final round of evaluation involves review of the formal presentation of finalists at the Institute’s Annual Meeting in San Diego (November 20-23, 2010). The announcement of the winner will take place during the President’s Luncheon planned for Tuesday, November 23rd 2010.
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs starts Puzzle-Based Learning course.
Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.
17 June 2010.
Puzzle-Based Learning is being introduced in August 2010 at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, as a new graduate level course as part of a program to merge the fields of Biology and Computer Science. It will be open to graduate Biology and Computer Science students. Puzzle-Based Learning will help ease the non-mathematical biology students into enjoying KDD and it will give the computer science students time to get up to speed with the biological databases and ontologies being used once we do the KDD. The course is CS 5450 KDD Apps in Bio & Neuroscience.
Workshop on Puzzle-Based Learning for the Australian Wine Research Institute.
Adelaide, Australia.
May 2010.
A workshop on Puzzle-Based Learning is to be offered at the Australian Wine Research Institute in May and June of 2010.
Hosei University starts Puzzle-Based Learning course.
Tokyo, Japan.
5 April 2010.
Puzzle-Based Learning is being introduced in May 2010 at the Faculty of Computer and Information Sciences, Hosei University, as a new elective course. It will be open to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year students.
IEEE Computer.
Piscataway, NJ, USA.
April 2010.
The paper Puzzle-Based Learning for Engineering and Computer Science by Nickolas Falkner, Raja Sooriamurthi, Zbigniew Michalewicz was published in the IEEE Computer, Vol. 43, No. 4, April 2010, pp.20 – 28. This paper is available from http://www.cs.adelaide.edu.au/~zbyszek/papers.html, paper #38. Enjoy!
The Jiangsu Teachers University of Technology starts Puzzle-Based Learning course.
Changzhou, China.
April 2010.
Puzzle-Based Learning is being introduced in April 2010 at the College of Computer Engineering, Jiangsu Teachers University of Technology, as an independent two-hour per week elective course. It will be open to the students from other schools as well. First attempt in Chinese!
Workshop on Puzzle-Based Learning is offered at the 23rd Annual IEEE-CS Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training.
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.
9 – 12 March 2010.
A workshop on Puzzle-Based Learning is presented at the 23rd Annual IEEE-CS Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 9 – 12 March 2010. The theme of the conference is Closing the Gaps in Software Engineering Education Between Academia and Industry. For more information, see http://cseet2010.dei.uc.pt.
The Academic College of Tel-Aviv-Yaffo starts Puzzle-Based Learning course.
Jaffa, Israel.
25 February 2010.
An independent two-hour per week elective course Puzzle-Based Learning (with 130 students) has just started at the School of Computer Science, The Academic College of Tel-Aviv-Yaffo. This represents the first offering in Hebrew.
Workshop on Puzzle-Based Learning for the Department of Transport, Energy, and Infrastructure.
Adelaide, Australia.
February 2010.
A workshop on Puzzle-Based Learning is to be offered at the Department of Transport, Energy, and Infrastructure in February and March of 2010.
Carnegie Mellon University repeats Puzzle-Based Learning Freshman Seminar in Spring 2010.
Carnegie Mellon University, USA.
8 January 2010.
Puzzle-Based Learning is repeated at the Carnegie Mellon University this semester as a freshman seminar. As the last year, the aim of the seminar is to explore critical thinking and problem solving via Puzzle-Based Learning. A theme of the seminar will be to distil and discuss heuristics for tackling selected puzzles. Intertwined with this discussion we will also contrast the nature of heuristic problem solving in humans and computers.
About the author
Zbigniew Michalewicz is Professor at the School of Computer Science, University of Adelaide. Zbigniew has secured numerous multi-million dollar industry contracts from companies such as General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Bank of America, U.S. Department of Defense, AirLiquide, PKN Orlen, BB&T, and Dentsu, and his scientific and business achievements have been recognized by many invited talks and publications, including TIME Magazine, Newsweek, New York Times, Forbes, Business Journal, and the Associated Press among others. Currently, Zbigniew also serves as the Chairman of the Board of SolveIT Software, a technology company he co-founded with several world-renowned computer scientists.
SolveIT Software Pty Ltd is an Australian company specialising in supply & demand optimisation and predictive modelling. With more than 100 employees across 5 offices, we offer enterprise advanced planning and scheduling software, supply chain network optimisation, demand planning & forecasting and integrated planning. Our mine planning software applications cover mine exploration management, mine to port logistics, mine planning scheduling and refinery plant optimisation. Customers of SolveIT Software include Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Rio Tinto Simandou, Xstrata Coal, Xstrata Copper, Xstrata Zinc, BHP Billiton Iron Ore, BMA Coal, Fortescue Metals Group, Pacific National Coal, Crossland Resources, Viterra, Visy Industries, Pernod Ricard Pacific, Amcor, CBH Group, Incitec Pivot, ElectraNet, Fosters Group, PFD Food Services, Liquor Marketing Group, and the Australian Defense Science and Technology.