Micro-Theory
3V0495.03 Putting herself into things: hats and more (6/01/79) Peggy has played with Robby’s Boston Red Sox protective helmet. The children or I place it on her head when she brings it to us – and replace it when it falls off, as it always does. Peggy extracted a large colander from those low shelves, …
3V0495.02 Pretending; incorrect choice as a joke (6/01/79) Late in the afternoon I found myself waiting at home for two telephone calls while Gretchen took the cub scouts on a trip. Peggy played in my care and during the hour and more the following incidents occurred: Pretending: Peggy of pulls dishes and other utensils from …
3V0494.01 Speech as intensifier of interactions; interrelations of idioms, names, prosodics (5/31/79) HOW’S THAT? (cf. toe grabbing, 5/22) — Peggy continues to grab my foot and shake it when I prop one leg up over the other. She laughs delightedly whenever I cry out in surprise and mock distress /ah ah/. Sometimes I don’t respond …
3V0493.01 Fragmentary sound knowledge contrast to prosodics (5/30/79) Diaper = /dai/ — Peggy needed changing this morning — so I believed — and Gretchen upstairs agreed to do it. Peggy was complaining loudly, toddling around and smacking her plastic pants. To make certain, I asked, “What do you want, Peggy?” She replied [die] (/dai/) and …
3V0491.01 Peggy hiding by closing her eyes; no sense of how others see her (5/28/79) Peggy likes to hide and play chase. The way she hides is reminiscent of playing peek-a-book [sic]. She will run to the corner of a wall and its perpendicular projection and put her head in the corner. When I cry …
3V0485.03 Napping and Symbolic Play (5/22/79) Napping — Sometimes when Peggy is playing in my lap, she will stop for a while and lay her head down on my chest. She keeps her eyes open. Peggy does this in other situations, not on people. For example, yesterday she was bouncing on Miriam’s bed (she stands …
3V0485.02 Game-agent flexibility precursor to language (5/22/79) Toe grabbing — We grownups tickle Peggy (so do the older children) and she enjoys it. She has begun to try tickling us in return. Her attempts are good imitations although not very effective. (She holds her hand over a patch of skin and scratches [with] all her …
3V0485.01 Action initiation; observations of symbolic ‘up’ from discussions with Mimi Sinclair (5/22/79) I discussed Peggy’s development with Mimi Sinclair and we reviewed a video tape or two. She encouraged me to continue with the study till Peggy is at least two years old. We discussed several topics. Peggy and shoes — Peggy has no …
3V0465.01 “Have Peggy”: adults adjust speech to her understanding (5/early/79) Peggy has wanted to be picked up a lot lately. Her way of indicating this is very annoying — she typically comes to where Gretchen is, grabs Gretchen’s pants leg, and wails. Could we get her to say ‘Up’? No. Gretchen began saying “Have Peggy?” …
3V0453.01 A question: [What that is ?] interior dialogue: (4/20/79) Peggy toddles around the bedroom-study while Gretchen and I work on the thesis. Today, she sat by the fireplace in a pile of dried leaves and wood chips, she spoke to herself [what that is ?] as she patted a “dust mop” then gave her …
3V0440.01 A declarative sentence (04/07/79) Scurry looms large in Peggy’s world. She knows her name is Scurry; she thinks of the fox pictures as dog pictures (especially note the videotape where she first makes that identification). Today Gretchen asked me, “Bob, did you hear that?” (I hadn’t.) “Peggy said, ‘That’s Scurry.’” I remarked that it …
3V0432.03 Problem solving: bad bugs; insensitivity to the “obvious” (3/30/79) Problem solving: bad bugs; insensitivity to the “obvious” (3/30/79) | One of those many times she has sat in my lap, Peggy began trying to uncap pens. (She has seen me put the cap on firmly many times, so that when she put them in …
3V0432.01 First example of symbolic thought: “doll-up” for herself (3/30/79) Miriam has been making fantastic figures by cutting out paper. She displays them by taping them up below my mantle motto at the second story fireplace. Peggy caught sight of them and wanted to ‘see’ them. She indicates this by a high pitched noise of …
3V0415.01 Functional classification: two examples, one in error (3/13/79) Peggy has begun to classify objects by what she knows their use to be. Some examples are equivocal, though I remain convinced of their interpretation. For example, Peggy has been “brushing” her hair. This could be from having her hair brushed, from seeing Miriam brush her …
3V0410.01 Activity –> social game; flexible roles and naming things (03/08/79) Jigging — Jumping up and down rapidly, i.e. bending at the knees while holding on to something, has been one of Peggy’s favorite actions since she became able to stand. She does that by herself at the couch. She jumps up and down in …
LC1bT10 Protocol 10 Included Text Pages Included Materials None
LC1bT09 Protocol 9 Included Text Pages (2) Included Materials (5)
LC1bT06 Protocol 6 Included Text Pages (2) Included Materials (2)
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 …
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, …
Vn86.1 An Unexpected Test 9/8/77 Today, the children’s first day of school, was a tough one for me. The combination of a late arrival at Logo and logistics problems put our work under an unusual time pressure. Miriam was tired (and later said she wished she had taken a nap) and didn’t pursue with enthusiasm …
Vignette 30.1 temporary upload Original Fair Copy, Scanned page 1 Original Fair Copy, Scanned page 2
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Vn101.1 The Death of Robin Hood 9/29/77 “Did Robin Hood really die in the charge of the Light Brigade?” This peculiar question of Miriam’s, rising from no external cue that I noticed, recurrently perplexes me. Its background is this. Months ago, Robby, Miriam, and I watched the movie “Robin Hood” wherein Errol Flynn performed at …
Vn100.1 Arithmetic Ripples 9/26/77-10/2&7/77 9/26 Miriam tells me today was her first day of doing math at school. “But we did it differently there from what we [she and I] did here.” She explained that school math was playing with cuisiniere rods. I told her I thought that was great, and asked what she did …
Vn99.1 Puns 9/26/77 At a recent visit to the library, Robby borrowed two books which both he andMiriam have read and re-read since then (cf. Vignettes 84 and 94). The first book is one of Knock-knock jokes, the second is one of riddles. I believe this second book broadened Miriam’s view of making jokes and …
Vn96.1 Tic Tac Toe 9/19/77 After the final arithmetic session of this date, Miriam wanted to play some tic-tac-toe. (Her purpose was to get the material over with so she could have a friend come play with her on the morrow; her assumption that such was necessary was an error.) These games began with a …
Vn87.1 Turtle Tactics 9/7/77 This night is the last of summer, so defined by the children’s beginning school on the morrow. Over this summer they have gradually become accustomed to going to bed late, and now, in order to rise early, they should go to bed early. No one found this argument convincing. We negotiated …
Vn84.1 Go Cart Demon; Knock-Knock Jokes 9/5/77 The third-floor tenant in our landlord’s mansion was moving out today. Robby and Miriam went to help. One comment of Miriam’s came floating up from the court yard. When she chanced upon a collection of records brought down in a wooden case, Miriam said, “Hey, Robby, let’s ask …
Vn82.1 Hanging Designs 9/3/77 After today’s session was complete, I asked Miriam why she had not pinned on the wall — as she had said she intended — those designs made in yesterday’s session (Logo 58, 9/2/77). She explained that she had started to do so earlier but needed help. I separated the designs from …
Vn85.1 9/6/77 When we started playing tic-tac-toe, I asked Miriam how many different ways can you start when you move first. She claimed 9 ways, one for each block in the frame. I pushed the point further by inquiring whether these three frames were really different or the same: X | | | | | …