Sudoku Challenge | March 4, 2021

According to the work of cognitive scientist Jeremy Grabbe, solving Sudoku puzzles uses mental processes in what is known as working memory. Experiment by Grabbe showed that routine Sudoku playing could improve working memory in older people.

In another study on short-term memory, which involved 19,000 individuals, puzzle takers over the age of 50 had better brain function and appeared to operate at a level eight years younger than typical for their chronological age.

Click on the puzzle to open a large printable version. Save it to your computer and print. The puzzle solution will be published here a week from today. To help your brain stay sharp as a whip, visit The Sentinel for a new puzzle every week.

Make online learning easier, three useful remote learning tools

StatePoint Media

Photo by Matthew Henry from Burst

The past year has demonstrated the importance of digital learning. And thanks to a variety of tools and resources that helped make remote instruction a little less stressful on everyone, teachers, students and parents quickly adapted to the changes brought on by the pandemic.

Music

Music has been a particularly difficult subject to provide instruction for at a distance. However, educational foundations have risen to the occasion by creating a trove of resources to aid learning. For example, the Save the Music Foundation provides free activities for families, tools for educators to create their own online tutorials and more.

Mathematics

Remote learning has only added new challenges to an already difficult subject. The good news is that online tools are helping fill the gaps created by the new normal. Check out the Casio Cares education site, which is chock full of free math resources for students, parents and educators. Tools include emulator calculator software, curriculum support materials, live webinars and remotely-delivered teacher training. Plus, Casio’s free all-in-one web-based mathematics software, ClassPad.net, which is geared for K-12 and beyond, delivers an accessible, interactive and personalized approach to mathematics. Its functions include graphing, geometry, calculation, statistics and more.

In addition to online activities and video tutorials, Casio also offers a weekly educational webinar series focused on mathematics on its YouTube channel, covering such subjects as elementary and middle school math, algebra I and II, geometry, pre-calculus, calculus and statistics. All webinars are recorded and can be accessed any time.

Creative Writing

English and creative writing teachers are turning to new platforms to help build their student’s writing skills in a variety of creative genres. One example is Storybird, which features hundreds of courses and challenges. If your child’s teachers haven’t caught onto the trend, no worries, parents can also sign up for an account for their children.

Even after classrooms reopen nationwide, one thing is certain, with so many amazing resources available to help educators teach and students learn, digital learning tools are here to stay.