Effects of two types of sudoku puzzles on students' logical thinking

This study aims to investigate the effects of Sudoku on students' logical thinking. Specifically, the author wants to measure the effects of playing a number-based Sudoku and a symbol-based version on player's logical thinking, especially in terms of their cognitive developmental stages. The subjects for this study were 121 third and sixth graders in H Elementary School in Korea. Two classes were randomly selected from nine third grade classes and the other two classes from eight sixth grade classes. One of two classes in each grade received the number-based puzzle and the other class the symbol-based version. Thus a total of two classes, one for third grade and another one for sixth grade, received the number-based version. The other two classes received the symbol-based puzzle. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS t-test procedure. The data analysis shows that the symbol-based puzzle has a significant effect on the logical thinking of students in the dimensional stage of cognitive development. The number-based puzzle has a significant effect on the logical thinking of students in the vectorial stage of cognitive development. This result leads us to the conclusion that a graphics puzzle and a number puzzle game may have better effects for the learning of students in the dimensional stage and the vectorial stage, respectively. This may have implications for developing and using games for students of those ages.