Warmup 9/2/15 If a detective is investigating a murder, what should she/he do to start finding clues? Be specific Objective Tonight’s Homework To learn critical thinking through lateral thinking puzzles Think about today’s puzzle. Come up with 3 questions that could work to help you solve any puzzle like this

Lateral Thinking Puzzles Let’s play a game as a class. Your job below is to solve the following riddle as a team, but you can only ask the teacher “yes” or “no” questions. The teacher will answer with “yes”, “no”, or “irrelevant” depending on the question. “A man is alone on an island with no food or water, yet he does not fear for his life. Why?”

Lateral Thinking Puzzles Solution: “The man is a police officer, directing cars from a traffic island.”

Solving Lateral Thinking Puzzles So what are the tricks to puzzles like these? There are two big rules: 1) Start with broad questions and work down to narrow ones.

Solving Lateral Thinking Puzzles So what are the tricks to puzzles like these? There are two big rules: 1) Start with broad questions and work down to narrow ones. If the puzzle involves a dead body or something ask questions like “Was the person murdered?” instead of something like “Did they die from being poisoned?” A question about if they were murdered is far more broad than a question about how they could have been murdered.

Solving Lateral Thinking Puzzles 2) Question your assumptions As you saw from today’s puzzle, you probably made assumptions about the situation from the start. You also likely had to undo those assumptions to get to the answer.

Solving Lateral Thinking Puzzles 2) Question your assumptions As you saw from today’s puzzle, you probably made assumptions about the situation from the start. You also likely had to undo those assumptions to get to the answer. So another trick here: Question everything.

Solving Lateral Thinking Puzzles Both of these skills are important in science, too. Scientists have to learn to think broad first as well. There are many discoveries that scientists would never have made if they had kept a narrow view.

Solving Lateral Thinking Puzzles Both of these skills are important in science, too. Scientists have to learn to think broad first as well. There are many discoveries that scientists would never have made if they had kept a narrow view. Additionally, scientists have to learn to ask questions. You’re more sure of yourself and your answers if you’ve tested every possibility yourself. Like with the first category, there are things that would never have been discovered if assumptions hadn’t been broken down.

Exit Question Which of the following questions would be the most broad? a) “Was it a Tuesday morning?” b) “Was it caused by drugs he was injecting into his arm?” c) “Was it raining?” d) “Was the weather clear?” e) “Was the death natural?” f) They are all equally broad