Meyer has many anecdotal stories about students and their ability to solve the cube quickly. One student, he says, saw a cube on the bookshelf of a company official who was interviewing the student for a job. The student quickly solved the puzzle and, yes, he got the job. A current senior, David Vale from Middleburg Heights, wowed a leadership conference when a speaker held up a cube and asked if anyone in the audience could solve it. To both the speaker and the audience’s surprise, Vale did it in about five minutes.
In addition to the knowledge of spatial relationships that understanding the cube provides, Meyer said it is a great confidence builder. Students who master the cube, are less afraid to take on other difficult tasks, he said.
Meyer pointed out that there are a number of Web sites that offer solutions to the puzzle but, he said, it’s very difficult to learn how to solve the cube that way. It’s better to understand how the cube works.
As a part of their final exam in problem solving, Meyer asked them to solve the cube in five minutes or less. Diana Jin, a sophomore accounting major, completed the task in one minute, twenty seconds. Most of the rest of the class completed the task in three minutes.
Problem solving is just one of many courses in B-W's Honors Program.
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