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Vn029.01 Making Puzzles 6/18/77
Archive of posts tagged Q28
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Vn63.1 Another Birthday Party 8/12/77 This was a party for Robby’s Boston friends, boys he has met while at school here. With respect to planning, this party was pretty much a rerun of the party in Guilford (cf. Vignette 53). The party favors were the same: Hershey bars, bubble gum, and balloons. Match box racers …
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Vn62.1 Multiplication 8/7 & 11/77 8/7 Robby has many times now seen Miriam on my lap receiving some instruction in addition. Complaining of feeling left out, he has asked for help in math. Robby said he needs help with addition of numbers such as 9 plus 6 and 8 plus 7. I found him a …
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Vn60.1 Surprise Party 8/8/77 Spoiled by living in the air-conditioned comfort of our Connecticut home during the mid-July heat wave, when the next spell of hot weather found us in the hot air heated loft of our Boston carriage house little persuading was needed to induce Gretchen to join Miriam and me at Logo yesterday. …
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Vn58.1 Owning an Angle 8/4/77 As far back as the end of June (in Logo Session 32) making hexagonal mazes has been a part of both children’s Logo work. Before our Connecticut vacation both children worked together generating pictures of mazes (7/8/77: Logo Session 36). During that session, Miriam “discovered” the 60 degree angle input …
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Vn57.1 Desserts 8/3/77 When I was a small child, there was rarely dessert in my house. On special occasions my mother might make some rice pudding or tapioca (when cooked, the large size tapioca became transparent balls we children pretended were the eyes of frogs). When my children pester after every meal for dessert, I …
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Vn55.1 About Taxes 8/1/77 Since the beginning of the High School Studies Program, the children and I have come to Logo to use the system from 8 to 10 am. One consequence is that we occasionally skip breakfast. Even when we do not, the children have become accustomed to mid-morning snacks. The favorite: apple pie …
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Vn53.1 A Birthday Party 7/28/77 Robby’s birthday comes in August. Connecticut friends whom he would like to have at a party can not come to Boston. When he suggested an early party during our vacation, we agreed. Preparations for the party focused on choosing activities and procuring treats and prizes. If you have ‘prizes’ at …
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Vn52.1 Fort Griswold 7/26/77 From many places in Boston when you look to the north you can see the obelisk on Bunker Hill rising above the buildings of Charlestown. There is a similar but smaller monument in Connecticut, at the site of the lone major battle of the Revolutionary War that took place in that …
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Vn51.1 Paper Ships 7/25/77 This has been a rainy, midsummer day with both children at home in an acoustically live house. Having slept ill last night, under pressure of the noise and our common confinement, I went to bed early. When the children failed to fall silent instantly, I “yelled” at them, i.e. I told …
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Vn50.1 The Go-Cart 7/25/77 Kept inside on a rainy day and with me working in the living room, Robby and Miriam were constrained to play quietly (more or less) in the kitchen-dining area of our Connecticut house. Since we vacationed in an unfurnished house, they had few of their usual toys and a limited selection …
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Vn47.1 Losing a Tooth 7/20/77 Miriam lost her first baby tooth today. The fact is easily stated, but to show how Miriam considers this a watershed defining event in her life requires some elaboration. About a month ago, Miriam visited the dentist. The occasion was the existence of a small abscess above a dead tooth …
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Vn46.1 Rotten Hints 7/19/77 Two years ago, Miriam took swimming lessons. She was in the class of ‘Blueberries.’ Their course of instruction amounted to splashing at the edge of the lake. Their most advanced achievement was to say their names with faces held in the water. Last year, in our move from Connecticut to Massachusetts, …
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Vn45.1 Going Home 7/15/77 When today’s Logo Session (#39) and errands were finished, we hurried home to pack up provisions for a 2 week vacation in Connecticut. The house is empty between tenants, and since we are renting it unfurnished, it IS empty. What did the children expect of this vacation? What did they look …
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Vn44.1 A Boring Session 7/12/77 Riding home after this morning’s session (Logo Session 38) Miriam said she thought the work was boring today. When I asked why, she said, “Oh, I don’t know.” I have to look otherwheres for an explanation. Today I tried to exhibit for Miriam the relation between closed polygons and in-going …
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Vn43.1 Binary Counting 7/7/77 At dinner this evening, the topic of counting on fingers arose. After performing some finger sum, Miriam turned to Robby with 2 fingers of her left hand raised and all the fingers of her right and asked: Miriam Robby, how much is this? Robby 7. Miriam No. It’s 25. Tricked by …
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Vn42.1 7/6/77 Because the High School Studies Program begins next week and the lab will be filled with teenagers all day every day, we moved into my office the equipment not to be used by the high school students: the slot machine, the floor turtle, and the music box. Since moving things around brings change …
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Vn41.1 7/5-7/77 Whenever we ride to Logo in the MG, Miriam has a standing request that we follow Memorial Drive down past the underpass at Massachusetts Avenue. The children like the magnification of their voices provided when they shout in a closed place. Over the past several years, we have agreed that they may do …
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Vn40.1 Logo After Hours 7/4/77 During the bicentennial year Miriam was too young to enjoy the fireworks. She was frightened by the noise of amateurs’ exploding firecrackers and so sleepy by 9 o’clock that we abandoned a half- hearted attempt to watch the display from the vantage of Corey Hill in Brookline. Radio forecasts promised …
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Vn39.01 Good News 7/1/77 At lunch today we told the children that Gretchen is pregnant. When the children and I finished our morning’s experiment (Logo Session 33), we joined Gretchen at home, picked up a stack of their favorite books, and all went to the doctor’s office. We all suffered a delay (the doctor was …
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Vn38.01 Robby’s Place in the Project 6/28/77 Robby raised a very difficult question today — how much of the work he does at Logo will be a part of my doctoral thesis. The answer Robby required, and it is a superficial answer, that the thesis will be about Miriam’s development, was bound to disappoint him. …
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Vn37.1 Explaining SHOOT 6/26/77 While visiting some friends with a summer place at Lake Winnepesaukee, the nature of our work at Logo came up in conversation. When I asked the children if they would like to explain any part of it, they agreed to explain how SHOOT works. They designated a mid-floor hot air register …
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Vn034.01 Candle Fire Crackers 6/23/77 We usually dine by candlelight. We enjoy making candles and using them, and the ill distribution of light in our dining area makes this practice a useful enjoyment. Having agreed that he will not play with fire, Robby has the responsible job of candle man: he brings the candles to …
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Vn031.01 Collecting Tolls 6/19/77 Robby and Miriam each receive a nominal ‘allowance’ weekly, regardless of whether they’ve been ‘good’ or ‘bad’ or done what we parents have wanted them to. They know it is computed by multiplica- tion: for each child the ‘allowance’ is 5¢/year times the child’s age. Thus Miriam recently began receiving 30¢/week. …
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Vn004.01 The Clever Hack (2) 5/12/77 At dinner this evening we talked over some of the incidents of the day. It had been one of novelty for Robby. His friend John (the son of a former naval officer with whom Robby shares an interest in naval battles and model building) came to Logo with Robby …
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Vignette 26.1 The Clever Hack (3) 6/13/77 After not using the SHOOT programs for nearly a month, today (in Logo Session 24) Miriam returned to playing with that game. She started using the Clever Hack to run up her score (keying ‘H’ followed by ‘SHOOT 0’; the former locates the turtle inside the origin-centered target, …
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Vn024.01 Writing Stories Robby called me from Miriam’s bedroom: “Dad, come see the puppet show.” They have played with, even made, hand puppets for a while and enjoy giving shows — whose typical script has been, “Hello, my name is Owl. Goodbye.” I was in high spirits after a very successful arithmetic session with Miriam …
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Vignette 23.1 Arithmetic Ripples 6/5 & 11/77 Miriam does not yet recognize the existence of negative numbers. The typical problem this causes her was shown as we rode home from buying a Sunday paper (the children go with me to buy chewing gum). Miriam was discussing making change with Robby. She knew that paying for …
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Vignette 21 Miriam’s Room 6/5/77 Miriam is suffering a change about which she is unhappy but which I believe is for the best. Until last night, she and Robby shared a bedroom. Yesterday Robby moved into the third bedroom of the carriage house in which we live. Miriam has complained that it’s lonely in her …
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Vn20.2 In the Gymnasium (2)6/3/77 This evening I asked Miriam whether she usually stood aside from the games in gym as she did yesterday (except for Animal Farm). She replied that she doesn’t like running around (her allergy to dust and its chronic incipient wheezing make her feelings quite understandable). But Miriam justified her alternative …
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Vn017B Arithmetic Ripples5/30/77 As Robby and Miriam came in from play for a little refreshing juice, I heard from the kitchen the squabbling one expects of near-aged siblings: Miriam I can add big numbers. Rob Oh brother! Miriam I can. I can do one thousand and thirty five plus two thousand. Rob Easy. Miriam No. …
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Vn009.01 Tic Tac Toe (2) 5/22/77 Miriam asked Robby to play with her this afternoon, offering “Sorry,” “Raggedy Ann” and “Chinese Checkers.” All were refused. Robby finally agreed to playing TIC TAC TOE. I asked the children to come sit in the reading alcove. They did so while I got out my tape recorder. Two …
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Vn007.01 A Willing Subject 5/18/77 Today was the most difficult experiment of the initial series, separating the variables implicated in the flexibility of bending rods (Cf. The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence, Inhelder and Piaget). Of the many experiments through which one may distinguish concrete from formal thinking, this one shows best …
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Vn005.01 Tic Tac Toe 5/13/77 Years ago I bought a tic-tac-toe game for playing with Robby. The board is 12 x 12; the X’s and O’s are large yellow pieces. At that time I taught Robby a single strategy for playing the game: look for two ways to win. Robby quickly became quite good at …
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Vn003.02 Journals5/11/77 When collecting the data reported in ‘Pre-Readers’ Concept of the English Word,’ I was shown by one of the children, Tina, a 3×5 notebook her mother gave her for writing down any words she wanted to learn to read. I bought Miriam such a notebook (a green one) some weeks ago for such …
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Vn002.01 Productive Cheating 5/9/77 Today was a difficult day. Snow in mid-May for a beginning. Before that problem appeared, Miriam came early with me in to Logo in our joint expectation of going to the Coop to buy a hula hoop. With that option closed by inclement weather, Miriam pushed me early in the afternoon …
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Vn001.02 Commutativity 5/8/77 As I sat transcribing the dialogue from recent logo sessions, I heard Robby inquire of Gretchen, at work in the kitchen, how many were 5 twelves. Gretchen simplified the computation by elaborating the problem: 5 twelves is half of 10 twelves. How much is 10 twelves? As Robby worked away on that …