Rubik’s Cubes are a fun activity for many people. Students in Communications used their problem-solving abilities to create artwork of famous leaders with Rubik’s Cubes.

Communications teacher Inga Kelly has done this activity at her old school and decided to bring it to De Soto High School.

“I had previously borrowed the 225 cube Rubik’s mosaic sets on two different occasions and found the activity was engaging for students of all ages,” Kelly said.

Senior Monica Wilson enjoyed the activity.

“It was fun working as a team with my classmates. It was kind of frustrating at times, but at the end, it was all worth it. It taught me how you have to be patient and communicate well with others to perform a task correctly,” Wilson said.

Kelly believes these types of activities help students build confidence in their abilities.

“Research supports the benefits of social-emotional learning activities. Working on the soft-skills surrounding this activity was beneficial for students, and it was cool to see them learn to speak the  language of the cube and succeed at something they were convinced was impossible,” Kelly said, “I am amazed how many people, both young and old, quickly abandon activities if they perceive them as too hard or not something they already know they can confidently complete.”

In addition to making the art, students were also able to enter a design contest. Students would use a template to make their own Rubik’s Cube art and write a paragraph about why the class should pick theirs.

Kelly believes these activities have long-term effects on students.

“As lifelong learners, it’s necessary to continue to cultivate a growth mindset and learn that it’s ok to make mistakes as long as those lessons can be used to improve. In addition, it’s necessary to learn how to break down large tasks into smaller pieces and develop teamwork and communication skills. All of these opportunities were taking place during this lesson,” Kelly said.