Around the Blogosphere - May 2009

Doing a little blog hopping, I came across this piece on Peterman's Eye about the educational value of jigsaw puzzles.

It's not just about how U.S. students stack up in math and science compared with peers in India, China, Singapore and elsewhere.

It's also about how many children could find those places on a globe.

Such speculation is the driving force behind a bill called Teaching Geography is a Fundamental Act that would provide funds for teacher training, research and development of instructional materials.

I hope some of those “instructional materials” include the simple genius of the jigsaw puzzle.

Since London engraver and mapmaker John Spillsbury in 1767 created the first jigsaw puzzle to teach geography there's been no better teacher.

Spillsbury mounted one of his maps on a sheet of hardwood and cut around the borders of the countries with a fine-bladed jigsaw.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the popularity of jigsaw puzzles, now cardboard, grew to astonishing levels. With sales reaching about 10 million per week.
Puzzle enthusiasts could rent a puzzle from their local store, just as DVDs are rented today.

Meanwhile, there were puzzle parties among high society. They would pick up puzzles in the fall and spend all winter working on them.

Horses gamboling in the fields. Famous Mansions. Castles. A Rembrandt. Something to remind them they hadn't lost all their money in the stock market.

Famous British novelist Margaret Drabble, who’s managed to fit writing her memoirs and her fascination with jigsaw puzzles in one book, says the Duke and Duchess of Windsor first met over a jigsaw puzzle, called "whimsies.”

(Specially shaped pieces cut "on a whim.")

Which could account for his whimsical decision to give up the crown.

Drabble also deplores the fact that some U.S. manufactures have put the average time for completion on the box. She’d be happy to work at the same picture for months on end.

Most jigsaw enthusiasts know the most common approach to building a puzzle is to start by separating the edges from the inside pieces. Once the edges are built it can become easier to move to the center.

Technology has changed the landscape and we now have more sophisticated games.

But there’s still nothing that can teach patience (and geography) to children and adults (who don't know where anything is either) like a good 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle.

Getting the right pieces to fit.

Sort of like life.