Following the Intimate Study
Vn117.1 Playing Both Sides 1/14/78 Relevance These data establish that when Miriam plays against herself she does not use the games merely for easy satisfaction of a certain win. Game 3 is especially striking in that it shows the unusual side opening Miriam rarely used before the table-turning sequence for the game of form X …
Vn114.1 The Game Goes Ever On 12/28 & 29/77 Relevance In the first incident, Miriam invents the idea of opening advantage for “Tic Tac Toe two in a row.” I believe this is connected to her introduction to Hexapawn (a pawn capture gain played on a 3×3 board) as a reduced form of chess, and …
Vn106.1 Tic Tac Toe and Nim 10/22/77 Relevance Miriam’s Tic Tac Toe play shows an opening game played only with Glenn before and some surprising rigidity. When we play a subtraction arithmetic form of Nim, Miriam adduces “going second” as the efficient cause of her winning game 2. This appears to be as a consequence …
Vn107.1 Self-Understanding 10/22/77 My cousin’s wedding has been a day of reconciliations, of growing closer to family from whom I had been long and much estranged. After a late breakfast, we attended the wedding. I felt proud of Robby later when he told me the nicest part of the wedding was a piano-organ duet (‘Jesu, …
Vn133.1 4/28/78-5/8 & 31/78 4/28 The calorie counting continues for me, and the adding for Miriam. The sum of Addendum 133 – 1 is interesting because of its error: the left justification of 3 and 4 digit addends in the same vertical grid. Despite this mal-arrangement, with its implication that the place-value basis of column …
Vn132.1 BIG-SUMS Extension 4/21 & 22/78 4/21 “Oog. I’ve got to add all these big numbers.” So I called to Miriam’s attention a situation in which one could make use of the kinds of skills she had developed in adding multi-digit addends: I was summing the number of calories in my day’s diet. Miriam asked …
Vn131.1 Miriam’s 7th Birthday 4/8 & 9/78 4/8/ Miriam began planning her birthday party several weeks ago. On the 3 x 5 cards of Addendum 131 – 1, she listed the friends to bo invited, the candy, and her selection of party games. The children were all from her class at school. The games are …
Vn130.1 4/3 & 10, 11/78 4/3 Miriam noticed a sum in Home Session 7 as I worked on a paper and asked if she could do it. When I wrote the sum on the black board, Miriam added right to left with carries, thus: 1 3 7 4 1 + 2 5 3 0 _____________________ …
Vn129.1 Robby Computes a Tax 4/5/78 Robby caught on fire again today. He approached me inquiring, “How much is half of 423?” Miriam responded to his question from the other room, “2 hundred and 11 and a half.” I told her to stop butting in and asked Robby how much was half of 400, then …
Vn128.1 Robby’s Topological Game 4/2/78 About a month ago, Robby was shown a paper-cutting game by a classmate’s parent. The procedure to follow was this: 1. Cut two paper strips of equal length (8″ will do) 2. Draw a line down the middle of each (using lined paper makes this unnecessary) 3. Bend each strip …
Vn127.1 Moo Shu 3/19/78 There is an old joke of this simple script: Adult Do you know how to read Chinese? Child I don’t know. I’ve never tried. At lunch today I described to Miriam my lunch of yesterday at a Chinese restaurant — showing her then the take-out menu. As we looked at the …
Vn126.1 Turtle on the Bed 3/14/78 This Saturday morning I sat in the reading alcove working away, and Miriam came to join me. Robby was downstairs and Gretchen out of the house. Miriam offered to sit in my lap, but I protested to being busy and turned her down. Miriam moped a little, then crawled …
Vn124.1 Analogical Guidance 2/23/78 This evening at dinner, my family enjoyed a good time at the expense of Scurry, our Scotch terrier. Earlier in the day, Miriam had played tug with Scurry, the object of their contention a squeaking toy mouse she had given the dog. Scurry wrested the toy from Miriam and sat chew- …
Vn123.1 Computation Finale 2/12 & 14/78 2/12 Since completing Vignette 121 (Double Perspectives) I have tried to engage Miriam in executing a difficult addition. My purpose was to introduce the idea of a simultaneous, double perspective as what one needs to appreciate carries by challenging her with a puzzle — “What number is 10 when …
Vn122.1 Carrying Bugs 2/5/78 Invited to play at a friend’s house, Miriam waited for Gretchen to drive her there. During this vacuum of activity, I asked her if she remembered how to add with carries (cf. Home Session 23). Miriam reacted impatiently, as though it were foregone that she did. She agreed to solve a …
Vn121.1 Double Perspectives 2/8/78 While school has been canceled this week due to the Blizzard of ’78, the children have spent a lot of time outside, playing on the snow mountains the plows and people have piled up. Inside much of the time, they have followed their own inclinations, playing the card game War, reading …
Vn120.1 Designing a Box 1/26/78 Miriam approached me holding up a flat, cross-shaped piece of card- board about 13 inches long, marked as below, with this challenge: “Daddy, you’ll never guess what this is.” I gambled: “An airplane?” “No,” Miriam chuckled, “it’s a box, for a Valentine’s day present for you and Mommy.” Miriam showed …
Vn119.1 Multiplying by Twenty 1/25/78 The children love to get mail and when an envelope comes addressed to them, to open it. Each has a bank account concerning which they receive annual earnings statements. The children opened their mail and puzzled over the contents — a statement of account number, social security number, and interest …
Vn118.1 Introducing Peggy 1/26/78 The calculated arrival date for Peggy, our new daughter, was January 24th. Gretchen, because of her past experience with Robby and Miriam who were both late, did not expect the birth until the very end of January. This expectation was a source of some comfort over the past weekend (Jan. 20-22) …
Vn116.1 Transferring a Good Trick 1/3/78 Miriam, not imagining yet that she will one way or another make a living, sees her best hope of getting a lot of money as inheriting my money. Thus my impending demise is a subject on her mind and one that involves her in computations. At lunch today: Miriam …
Vn113.1 Steady State 12/8/77 A few nights ago, Miriam approached me: “Dad, why do we have to spend 6 hours in school every day?” “Why do you ask?” I countered. Miriam continued, “It sure is a long time.” When I first asked what was the problem, the answer came back that the work was too …
Vn112.1 How Her Teacher Sees Miriam 12/7/77 Miriam’s teacher, Sue, sees her as a special child in several ways. Her surprise at Miriam’s easy solution of class inclusion problems (cf. Vignette 90, Meeting Miriam’s Teacher) shows she had reason outside of anything I told her in our first meeting. She learned of Miriam’s continuing work …
Vn111.1 Swears 11/30/77 A few days ago I sat at a terminal with Miriam at the Children’s Learning Lab. In response to the “login” request, Miriam typed “FUCK” then turned to me and said, “Look, Daddy, I typed a swear.” I responded non-committally, “Oh yeah. Why don’t you hit new line and see if it …
Vn110.1 Tic TacToe 10/30/77 & 11/12/77 10/30 When Robby and Miriam agreed to play tic-tac-toe together (intending to use Miriam’s ‘magic slate’ which would have left no record of their play), I suggested they play on the chalkboard in the reading alcove. Miriam was granted first move (letters). Game 1 | D | 2 3 …
Vn109.1 Tic Tac Toe 10/4/77 These 5 games are revealing of Miriam’s knowledge and ignorance both. Game 2 reveals more of my failings than I am happy to admit, but its contrast with game 3 permits a central revelation of her thinking about tic-tac-toe. These two together show by how much good fortune (when it …
Vn108.1 Miriam Doesn’t Stop 11/1/77 I have ceased collecting data for this project, have focused my attention on the data reduction problem, but Miriam keeps growing, making breakthrough after breakthrough. This afternoon, for example, I sat transcribing videotapes in the reading alcove. Miriam, waiting in place the ten minutes till Sesame Street should appear on …
Vn105.1 Hotel Magee; Two Microworlds; Decadal Computation 10/20 & 27/77 10/20 With Robby’s introduction of WUMPUS to Miriam yesterday, the mechanically recorded sessions at Logo cease. Vignettes continue to round out and close off at natural stops various themes of the project. The sense of closing off the mechanical recording is that the project has …
Vn104.1 Back to School 10/14/77 During the last days of our project experiments, I promised Miriam to visit her first grade class as I had visited in kindergarten. I had the mistaken impression that Miriam had arranged my visit with Ms. Fieman. The oversight proved to be no problem, for despite my beard and over-size …
Vn103.1 Reprise 10/15/77 As we have attempted reducing Miriam’s cortisone dosage, she has again begun wheezing severely. Her problem was especially unfortunate today, for she had asked a friend to come visit. Lizzie is an energetic red-haired colleen of 6. At lunch she disclosed to Miriam and Robby all the problems they could expect with …