From: May Sarmac
Submit: Post Comments
VisitDate: 00/00/96
Date: 19 Oct 1996
Time: 16:42:25
Remote Name: mingong-mac-08.ucsc.edu
Ed asked some questions regarding my last feildnotes. I think Karina and Brenda got bored with the games they were playing because they were not doing anything challenging. What I mean is, they were using a program that let them paint. There was no real objective that they had to try to accomplish. Instead, they had to make up their own objective. In their cases, they just wanted to play with the colors and doodle on the screen. Since they were not working or painting for a goal and were ding so for fun, I think that's why Karina and Brenda got bored and wanted to move on. Another question that Ed wrote was what role does frustration and boredom play in children's learning. I think in some cases frustration can lead a child to want to learn more about the task they're trying to accomplish. I think that if they become frustrated doing something the more they'll want to master the task for their own sense of accomplishment. In a sense, their own frustration becomes their own motivation to learn. In Brenda's case, however, I think that her frustration inhibited her to learn or master a few of the games. I think she just wanted to start a game or find a game that she can easily start and stick with. The game that she was looking for needed to be challenging and fun at the same time. If she didn't or couldn't start a game right away, then she would move on to something that was easier for her and gave her a challenge. I think she said a few of the games she tried was easy because maybe she wanted some pride. Maybe she didn't want me to think she was having trouble because she thinks I'm a teacher-like figure that was looking over her shoulder to "grade" her on the games. She liked the memory block game a lot because she got to put her name on the scoreboard, which gave me the impression that that game fulfilled her need for accomplishment on a task/game. When Laura wouldn't let Marlin play the Lion King game, I think it was because Laura didn't want to share the computer with anyone else. I think she didn't want to wait for a computer with a CD Rom to be avialable so she can play with it. When I asked if Marlin can either play with her or play the next game, Laura replied, "I want to play the game by myself." I guess since the kids have computers at school, but have to wait their turn to play on them, they see playing with the computers at Barrios Unidos as an opportunity to have a computer to themselves since there are less kids there. I don't think Laura didn't let Marlin play on the computer to catch my attention. I think she was learning how to play the game on her own by clicking on different icons to see what kind of games are on the CD. When I asked Juan to help Marlin play the Lion King, I think that Marlin and Juan got more out of it because Marlin was learing to play the game with the help of someone who was a novice at it himself. I think Juan's learning experience with that was he got to show his own expertise to someone less experienced than himself. I think that kids can learn more when they work with someone close to their own age. This may be because they feel more comfortable with each other and use the same or similar communication with each other. See the way we teach or help out the kids is slightly different than the way they help out each other. I think we can be a little more formal and reserved, whereas the kids become more active with each other. Working with different kids has certainly taught me that there are different approaches and methods to teaching, not only kids, but anyone. I have learned how to play different games and working with the kids on PCs have taught me to become more familiar with different programs. What I found interesting was that one of my housemates has a few boardgames at home, but she hasn't brought them to Santa Cruz because she doesn't know how to play them. I told her that I learned how to play some of the boardgames from playing with the kids at Barrios Unidos and I could teach her how to play also. It's interesting that I can teach young adults what I learned from some kids.