Can you use math and logic to beat the bad guys? You can in space! Take an intergalactic trip into a seedy and speedy crime syndicate with the Seven Planets Riddle, which challenges two interstellar police officers to use deductive reasoning to catch wily rebels in ten moves or less.

Concepts

riddles, logical thinking, deductive reasoning

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Additional Tags

math

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Instructional Ideas

• Use as the warm-up in a math class or at-home assignment for a chess club
• Have partners or groups work together on the riddle and write their answers down secretly to see if they match the solution
• Send the video home for extra credit for any subject
• See if learners can adapt the riddle for another setting or situation

Classroom Considerations

• Pause at 1:08 to go over the rules more carefully, and to avoid hearing the solution until class members are ready
• Questions begin once the video ends, and the only way to return to the video is to refresh the page
• Riddle ends at 4:30, and a bonus riddle plays for the rest of the six-minute video, though a commercial for the video's sponsor takes up some of that time

Pros

• Riddle is thought provoking and enjoyably challenging
• Animations keep class members interested and engaged
• Bonus riddle combines math, deductive reasoning, aliens, Harry Potter, and Titanic

Cons

• Solution to the bonus riddle is only accessible with a subscription to the sponsor's website