Flexible Thinking

 

A good education can provide the foundation for success in life. In addition to the basics, such as numeracy and literacy, there are key skills that help children and adults navigate complex situations and make better decisions. Flexible thinking is a crucial element for future success.

 

One technique we learn early on is to group things. Our ability to recognize patterns develops quickly. As a result, the game, 'One of these things is not like the other,' is fun because it is easy. Over time we link more and more situations together. Patterned thinking reduces the amount of thought we need to analyze problems and quickly make decisions. The disadvantage is that we become reliant on these patterns and the assumptions associated with our groupings. Our thinking becomes constrained to the point where we cannot think of outcomes and solutions that do not fit previously established patterns.

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Flexible thinking helps us to think beyond our patterns and recognize our assumptions. Similar to numeracy and literacy, flexible thinking takes practice. Escape rooms provide a fun way to develop flexible thinking. Riddles, clues, and puzzles rely on our well-established patterns to make escape rooms challenging to solve, but in hindsight the answers are easy. Awesome Escape Rooms 4 Kids offer online escape rooms that allow children to develop their flexible thinking through escaping weekly. You can find more information on our programs at this link.

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In the meantime, below is a growing list of riddles that children and adults can use to start developing their flexible thinking.