{"id":14356,"date":"2014-11-01T02:51:45","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T19:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/?p=14356"},"modified":"2014-11-01T02:51:45","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T19:51:45","slug":"quandary-app-prepare-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/quandary-app-prepare-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Quandary App – Designed to Teach Kids Problem Solving Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Quandary<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

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My 11-year-ld daughter and I have been playing a different kind of game lately, it’s an app called Quandary<\/a>. \u00a0It’s designed to teach and practice skills…no, not skills like mathematics, reading, social studies, etc. \u00a0The Quandary app (and website<\/a>) is designed to help kids\u00a0develop critical thinking, decision making, and perspective-taking skills. \u00a0The Quandary app and website is a free game\u00a0aimed at\u00a0kids 8-14, but as an adult, I enjoyed playing it with my daughter, not only for the entertainment value, but also to gain better insight on how my daughter solves problems and what influences affect her decision-making.<\/p>\n

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The Quandary App<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"Quandary<\/a><\/p>\n

The story line of Quandary is based on a planet called Braxos, which is 32 light years away from Earth. \u00a0Your child is the captain of the colony, which was sent by a\u00a07 person Council on Earth. \u00a0There is work to be done, but as with any group of people, various personalities and differences of opinions can make it hard to make a decision. \u00a0As the captain, you listen to the various colonists’ points of view, make decisions, and report back to the Council to see whether they\u00a0ask you to pursue your recommendation or try theirs.<\/p>\n

So far, there are three different episodes…<\/p>\n

\"Quandary<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Episode 1: ‘Lost Sheep’, predators are attacking their sheep but they have some medicinal value that could help fight off disease.<\/p>\n

In Episode 2: ‘Water Wars’, the community\u2019s\u00a0water well gets polluted and consider one of the colonist’s private wells to use, which houses clean water.<\/p>\n

In Episode 3: ‘Fashion Faction’, the colony’s tailor uses the color purple to enhance\u00a0his friends’ uniforms, but the other colonists see this as unfair.<\/p>\n

Each story line takes approximately 10\u00a0to 30\u00a0minutes to work through. \u00a0My daughter and I have played all three a couple of times, each time choosing different solutions to see what happens after it is implemented.<\/p>\n

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\"Quandary<\/a><\/p>\n

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Stories are told through engaging cartoons to make it interesting for kids. \u00a0You can also touch each sound bubble to have each person’s thoughts read out loud to you. \u00a0Hearing each person’s unique voice with their words made the story more interesting.<\/p>\n

\"Quandary<\/p>\n

After reading the cartoon, you separate each of the colonists thoughts into Facts, Solutions, and other Opinion. \u00a0Other\u00a0Opinion in this case would be Guthrie’s saying he’s worried about his sheep drinking dirty water. \u00a0Although some kids might say that this is a fact, and that would be OK.<\/p>\n

\"Quandary<\/a><\/p>\n

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As a part of the process, you touch on each of the colony members to learn their perspective on the two solutions you are considering. \u00a0Kids can also present each colonists with different facts to see what their opinion is based on two solutions the captain is considering.<\/p>\n

What’s different about the Quandary app and website, than other role-playing games, is that people often try to make decisions based on what they think the game developer is looking for, thus increasing their score. \u00a0Quandary isn’t like this at all. \u00a0The main premise is the process…not the decision. \u00a0By gaining perspectives of the different colonists, the captain can make a better choice, than if acting on his\/her own. \u00a0It is rare when a group of people ever have the same opinion, as people come to a conflict with different needs, interests, and perspectives. \u00a0Quandary brings these things to the light through the characters, helping your child to better understand where people are coming from and why their opinions matter.<\/p>\n

\"Quandary<\/a><\/p>\n

After you consider everyone’s point of view on your proposed solution you make a final decision and present it to the 7 person Council on Earth. \u00a0But before you make your recommendation to the Council, you first get to make a predication whether each colonist will agree with your plan. \u00a0The Council will then approve your decision or ask\u00a0you to do something else.\u00a0What I like about Quandary, is that\u00a0it gives\u00a0a framework for kids to approach\u00a0ethical decision-making without telling them\u00a0what to think.<\/p>\n

Once you play all three Quandary story lines, you’ll be wanting to play\u00a0through more. \u00a0Fortunately, the makers behind the Quandary app and website are already working on some new episodes! \u00a0Quandary was created by a team of multidisciplinary talents in the fields of child development, social and emotional learning, and game design across a number of universities including Harvard, Tufts University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a MIT non-profit spin-off. Quandary has won a number of awards including an Parents’ Choice Award in 2013 and Games for Change Festival – Game of the Year award in 2013.<\/p>\n

To appeal even more to older children, children\u00a0aged 13 and up access the Character Creator tool on the app and create new colonists…complete with alternate viewpoints in response to new challenges. \u00a0There is also a classroom version which would be very interesting for classes as a whole to go through together.<\/p>\n

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Quandary is available free online at QuandaryGame.org<\/a> as well as a free Quandary app download from Google Play<\/a> and Apple App Store<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Family<\/a><\/p>\n

A Mom’s Perspective<\/span><\/h2>\n

We played all three episodes over a week’s time span. \u00a0I loved that, after finishing a episode and seeing what the colony thought of a decision, my daughter wanted to play the same episode again and see what would happen if she chooses another solution. \u00a0Her curiosity drove her to learn more, not a drive to “get more points,” and to to end up with a better score. \u00a0I believe that the Quandary app has opened my daughter’s eyes to understanding on a deeper level where people are coming from and how a diverse group of people can have such different opinions.<\/p>\n

Through Quandary, my daughter is learning to “listen” to others more effectively, seeking people’s’ knowledge, but also their values, attitudes, and possible intentions. \u00a0Will this help her in her life as she grows? \u00a0Yes. \u00a0But Quandary does even more than this. \u00a0It opens up an opportunity for my daughter and I to discuss values, attitudes, and intentions of others. \u00a0Although all colonists have a common goal, to thrive on the planet of Braxos, not everyone has the same opinion of colony first, individuals second.<\/p>\n

A lot of thought, time, and coordinated effort lies behind Quandary. \u00a0Quandary appeals to kids through its\u00a0futuristic and galactic story telling, yet the scenarios are translatable to problems we can face today on earth. \u00a0As with our everyday lives, and\u00a0those in leadership positions, we must often make decisions without knowledge of how our solutions will pan out. \u00a0Taking other people’s’ opinions in considerations can be overwhelming, especially those with strong opinions. \u00a0But helping kids break down the problems into Facts, Solutions, and Other Opinions can help make solving problems more manageable.<\/p>\n

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* \u00a0\u00a0 This is a sponsored post for QuandaryGame.org. \u00a0All\u00a0opinions and insights\u00a0are my own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking for an app that teaches your kids about making decisions based on facts and deciphering people’s opinions and values? The free Quandary app is it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2162,698,12,13,14,16,498],"tags":[468,2372,2783,2371],"class_list":["post-14356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apps-2","category-games-2","category-iphone","category-kids","category-moms","category-phones","category-tablets","tag-apps","tag-decision-making","tag-kids","tag-quandary","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2014\/11\/Quandary-App-Main.jpg?fit=567%2C313&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}