From: Dave Scott
Submit: Post Field Note
VisitDate: 10/04/96
Date: 05 Oct 1996
Time: 04:44:58
Remote Name: tsa-34.ucsc.edu
A.C. girl, 6 years old.
I spent some time with A.C., the young girl Jacob also wrote about. I found it interersting how she often said "I can't" and threw up her arms in distaste. It was very cute. This happened while we trying to assemble a house using these new-fangled building tiles. They were very difficult to piece together, and I found myself wanting for some good ol' Legos. We weren't making much progress because she couldn't get any tiles together without me helping her more than I felt comfortable with. I didn't want her to get frustrated, so I suggested she check out the "Lion King" game she had noticed earlier playing on a computer.
A.C. said that she couldn't speak English, but obviously she knew the words "I can't". I wonder if anyone had bothered to teach her the words "I can".
I realize that it is important to provide support and encouragement for any child who is trying something new. But not all of the activities will be appropriate for the entire range of children's ages we will be dealing with. It might be useful to play the computer games a little to get an idea of the difficultly involved.