How puzzles shape our understanding of learning

Everyone has their own morning ritual. For avid New York Times fans, playing the Wordle, Connections, Mini Crossword, and Strands is a cherished routine. Puzzles and word games are fun, interactive ways to activate neural networks and keep our brains engaged. 

A recent article published in Northeastern Global News by Erin Kayata dives into whether these addictive New York Times games are impacting our cognitive health. According to Susanne Jaeggi, Northeastern professor and researcher at the Center for Cognitive and Brain Health, “Games like crossword puzzles involve recalling existing information. This is an area that does not decline with age.” Kayata explains that brain games, such as the Times’ games, benefit executive function as a whole, but our cognitive health is more dependent on good habits such as proper diet, physical exercise, and maintaining healthy sleep patterns. So, how can we use puzzles and brain games to improve our brain health?

Over the last century, puzzles have been categorized in a number of ways: by field of study, level of complexity, and desired participant outcomes. Game designers Brenda Brathwaite and Ian Schreiber outline seven different puzzle types, categorized as mental (such as Riddles, Logic, and Pattern Recognition) or hands-on (like Spatial Reasoning and Exploration). It is oftentimes the case that one puzzle contains several of the above elements. 

Mario Fontes and his research team explore Puzzle-based Learning, an educational approach that applies to many academic fields. The group investigates the “dynamics of the puzzle process,” proposing that all puzzles (including those described above) have a Puzzle Trigger mechanism and a Puzzle-Solving process. The Puzzle Trigger is a stimulus (an image, word phrase, or event) that prompts the observer to develop a question in hopes of finding a solution. It capitalizes on innate curiosity and the interest of the observer to discover an answer. To illustrate this, the article uses the anagram “DRY OXTAIL IN REAR,” where the letters themselves are Puzzle Triggers, and the instructions (i.e. “Construct a word starting with the letters ‘EX’”) provide additional guidance for solving (solution: EXTRAORDINARY). Puzzle-Solving is the procedural aspect of assessing one’s knowledge and applying it to discover the correct outcome. The idea of Puzzle-based Learning emphasizes that mental and physical interaction with the material enhances learning more effectively than passivity. Puzzle-based Learning prioritizes critical thinking and reasoning, while traditional book learning promotes surface-level content memorization. 

The researchers tested this theory on undergraduate software development students. Participants were asked to identify and distinguish between different coding languages in the form of a Riddle puzzle. In this case, the Puzzle Trigger requires basic understanding of one of the coding languages, which leads to a Puzzle-Solving process: interpreting what the code means and determining what output it produces. The team observed that for a puzzle to be useful in education, it must be anchored in a learning context and kickstart critical thinking. The aim of the Puzzle Trigger is to set the framework for a puzzle in an educational environment to promote confidence and satisfaction in a student’s ability to problem-solve.

“Puzzle-based Learning prioritizes critical thinking and reasoning, while traditional book learning promotes surface-level content memorization.”

The Puzzle-based Learning approach has even proven beneficial in medical education. Researchers at the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences utilized puzzles to assist third-year surgical students in learning how to perform a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. A team of researchers and programmers developed an online puzzle game to replicate the CABG surgery procedure. Knowledge scores on the CABG test post-puzzle dramatically increased, highlighting the effectiveness of puzzles in enhancing learning and confidence in complex tasks.

Although puzzles and brain games might not be the most impactful way to boost cognitive health, they are still a fun and, more importantly, involved way to use the brain. Interacting with new information in a hands-on way is one of the most effective methods in learning. Puzzles are a fantastic way to test your knowledge and creativity in an outside of the box way.