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Hula Hoop Analogies

One of the most active foci of developmental incidents so far has been Miriam’s use of the hula hoop. Four separate incidents come together as activities centered on this toy.

How we came to buy a hula hoop
Our family was having dinner at the house of a Cambridge friend. My children had been playing with Jenner (my friend’s 5 year old daughter) during the late afternoon. When I arrived from the lab, I found the three children, two bikes, and a red-white-and-blue striped hula hoop on the sidewalk. Since it fell my lot to put the toys away, I noted it well.

Because Miriam suffered some confusion about right and left turns in using SHOOT (see, for example, Logo Sessions 1 and 3), I decided to undertake “playing turtle” with the game (i.e. playing SHOOT with the floor taking the place of the display screen and Miriam and me taking turns being the turtle and being the turtle commander) Which we did in Logo Session 3. With this intention, I manufactured a hoop from some polyethylene tube lying in a pile of oddments in the music room. The hoop was adequate for playing turtle, but not as a hula hoop (Miriam attempted to so use it). Miriam suggested that we buy one at the Coop. (We had walked there the day before to buy the puzzles for Logo Session 2). Miriam had not seen any hula hoops at the Coop. When I asked her if she knew whether or not they were sold there, she said, “Maybe.” Other lab members had seen them on sale there, so we agreed to get one from the Coop before our next session.

The following Monday snow kept us from walking to the Coop. I asked Miriam if she would mind my buying the hula hoop the next day before she came to MIT. Miriam agreed to that on condition that I buy one with red-white-and-blue stripes. I argued the Coop might not have such a kind. In that case, Miriam responded, she would have to pick one out. Luckily, Jenner’s hoop had been purchased at the Coop also.

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