From: Ayal Goury
Submit: Post Field Note
VisitDate: 11/08/96
Adult-Run:
Children-Run:
Collaborative: Selected
Unclear-Philosophy:
Bottom-up: Selected
Top-down:
Unclear-Approach:
Informal:
Formal:
Unclear-Type: Selected
Date: 10 Nov 1996
Time: 16:40:45
Remote Name: lang-lab-mac29.ucsc.edu
boy, seven, same as previous field note
We were engaged in a wonderful game of mindsweep. At first he was just guessing and not hinking and would just blow up. The I gently put my hand onhis and the mouse and told him to look at me as we go through this together. I held the mouse and would point to a box and ask him if he thought there was a mine. If he said yes or no I would ask him why. If he was wrong I would ask him a question that would indicate so such as "well, if we know that this is a bomb and this box marks one, then is the other one a bomb" he would get it and answer correctly. Anyways we did the whole thing and got down to the last part wher one could not avoid guessing. It was a pure guess between two boxes, and either he will live or blow up. I hyped it up a bit and told him that it's his guess and he gently and slowly and quite nervously pushed the button and "BANG!!" he blew up. He laughed about it.
It was just such a good time. When it came down to that end we both felt how intense it was. Because we got so far together. It was pure enjoyment and I think he loved it. I think it's great that it happened to come down to a guess in the end. It was such a perfect ending. Like a last second shot in a basketball game when everyone is breathlessy waiting to see if it goes in. That's why people continue to watch basketball and that's why kids continue to learn.
I noticed how much more sophisticated and accurate his guesses on a certain box were. By the end he was rarely wrong and could explain very clearly why he thought a box did or did not have a mine.