Mind Trap is a game that requires the players to think. For teachers who want to teach thinking skills, the cards that comes in the Mind Trap box are wonderful teaching resources. You do not even have to play the actual game. Just use the cards.

However, the teacher must select the most appropriate cards for the class. For starters, it should not be too difficult. Look at the cards and the answers and decide accordingly if they fit your needs. When selecting the cards, also think of how you will want to guide your students to get the solution.

The teacher can use a collaborative learning approach. The teacher can divide the students into teams of fours or twos. The teacher can either read out the question or puzzle or even flash it on a screen with a projector. Tell the students to read the question and give them time to think through individually first. They should not discuss with anyone at this stage.

Only after some individual thinking will they share their thoughts with their team members. Only after they have agreed upon an answer with their team members will one member of the team raise their hand to answer the question. If the answer is incorrect, it is left to the other teams to answer. If all teams cannot provide the correct answer, then all will discuss again in their group to arrive at the answer. If the correct answer is given, the teacher may want to ask the other groups for their solutions first before confirming the answer. The teacher may want to the team that gave the correct answer to explain their thinking to the rest of  the class. Only assist in the explanation if the group has extreme difficulty in doing so.

If no one can provide the correct answer, the teacher can facilitate their thinking by asking them why they came up with the answers they had given earlier. This guiding process is essential and this is why the teacher must think through before hand how to guide the stduents before teh teacher shows them the question or puzzle. The teacher may ask them what assumptions had they made in trying to answer the puzzle. The teacher may want to ask them to re-look at the assumptions and raise other possible assumptions other than the ones that they have already thought of. Thsi process is essential if we want to teach the students to think. We are in effect modeling our thinking aloud for them to “see”. After the explanation is given, get the students to “replay” the thinking process in their minds aloud before moving on to the next puzzle.

One of the easiest ways to teach the thinking skill of inference is come into a class and stand in front of the students with an angry, scowling face. Don’t say a word. Just glare at your students for a while until you see some reaction from them. Someone will probably ask you if something is bothering you or if you are angry at someone. That is making inferences.

One dictionary defines “inference” as “the process of arriving at some conclusion that, though it is not logically derivable from the assumed premises, possesses some degree of probability relative to the premises.” In plain English, we can say that inference is simply making a good guess about something based on some evidence or assumptions or premises about things that we already know or think we know. It can be said to be an “educated guess” that we make.

This skill, can also be taught to younger students. The example above is a good introduction for younger students too. We can use simple comic strips to get our students to start making good inferences or guesses. One box of a comic strip sequence can be blanked out. Get the students to study the strip and guess what is supposed to have happened in the blanked out box. Write down on the board all their guesses. Get the students to share their thoughts on why they made such conclusions. Accept any reasonable conclusion or inference made. The teacher can show them the original complete comic strip too and get the students to make comparisons between their conclusions and that of the comic strip.

Teachers can also use photograph or documents like letters or even advertisements from magazines new to give students more practice. A quick glance at the classified ads section will also give students an idea what jobs are in demand. Movies too can be used. For example, the movie, “The Sixth Sense” leaves us making guessing what the strange happenings was all about. Teaching moments pertaining to the teaching of inference skills can be found almost anywhere.

I enjoy using the cards from the game called “Mind Trap” to give more examples of us making wrong conclusions or inferences based on the assumptions in our heads. Get this game set. Even if you don’t play the game, the set of cards from Mind Trap is a fun teaching aid for teaching thinking skills.

However, remind your students that sometimes our assumptions may be wrong and this can lead to wrong conclusions. For example, at one time all the swans that the Europeans had seen were all white in color. It was therefore assumed that all swans, therefore were all white. But of course when they arrived in Australia they found black swans. This alone tells us that while we make good inferences about something, it may not always hold true. We still need to cross-check.