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Video Clips
A Hole Problem Solved
Block building presents interesting little problems
along the way, problems that give children an opportunity to
think. Ria tries to put a dowel through a hole in a cube, but
vertical dowel through the same cube prevents Ria from inserting
the second dowel. Watch.
You saw how the dowel would not go into the hole.
Did you also notice that she started with a short dowel? It did
not fit into the hole nor did it span the distance between the
two cube-towers. So she exchanged the short dowel for a longer
one. Well, it doesn’t fit either. She solved one problem
with the longer block, but still has the problem of the hole
that will not accept her dowel. She tilts her head to look into
the cube from the other hole in the front of the cube. Watch
this little clip again.
Ria is a confident little problem solver. When
the flat block fell off the two towers she confidently says, “I’ll
fix that.” She was probably telling Mary Beth something
like, “Let’s not worry about that flat block now.
I know I can put it on top again. I did it before. Let
me focus for the moment on getting this dowel inserted into the
two holes on each end.” Good problem solvers know how to
prioritize their efforts and to not be distracted by events that
can be dealt with later.
After the dowel is blocked in the hole, Ria sits backs to think.
She then tries again to insert the dowel. Still it does not fit.
Once again she peers into the hole in the front of the cube.
Watch to see
what she does next.
Ria removes the vertical dowel from the cube so that she can
insert the horizontal dowel. In fact, she removes both of the
vertical dowels at the same time. Why mess around with just one,
when she knows that this problem exists on both towers. We see
her intelligence at work. Even though she never tried to insert
the horizontal dowel in the left side, she knows that this cube
will have the same problem that the right cube has. Watch
this clip again and also notice how she realigns the left cube (left
to viewer) so that it will be ready for the other end of the
horizontal dowel.
It is also a testimony to Ria’s ability that she lifts
the cube on the right to get a better angle on the hole as she
inserts the dowel. Once again we see an example of her flexibility.
She understands that this lifting of the cube is only temporary.
She knows that once the dowel is in the hole that she can lower
the cube and dowel as a unit to place it on her structure. Younger
children might be reluctant to pick up the cube because they
anchor on the position where they want the cube to be. Younger
children have more difficulty taking these sort of detours, even
though
the detours simplify the process of construction. See
just this action once again.
Ria continues making her rack-like structure adding a third
rung to her rack. This time she starts on the left instead of
the right. Why not? She knows that both sides are the same. Once
she places the horizontal dowel into the cube on the left she
holds it suspended in the air to keep it level. Watch
this clip and then read the additional comments below.
We now jump ahead a few minutes into Ria’s
block play. Ria has decided to add bobbins to her machine that
she says “makes spaghetti.” She successfully placed
a second tier but is having trouble with the third. Let’s
watch. [Click here for further exploration]
Mary Beth enters Ria’s world by asking. "What's happening
when you put that third one on?" Ria shrugs her shoulders.
With one more wondering from Mary Beth, Ria says, "Let's
watch really closely".As we have seen before, Ria slows
down her action, looks carefully, and with a delicate movement
places the module on top of the structure. She does not release
the module. She feels what is happening as she approaches
a full
release. Listen
to what she says.
Ria seems to understand that because the bobbins are round
that the top module has a tendency to roll off and fall. “It’s
rolls” she says as if she has made the relevant discover.
But back up just a bit when Ria shrugged her shoulders and said “I
don’t know” when Mary Beth asked “What’s
happening.” Ria did not say, “It falls.” Ria,
as the great little problem solver that she is, thinks more toward
causes than effects. She took Mary Beth’s question to mean, “What
makes the module fall off?” Younger children are more often
oriented toward effects and would answer Mary Beth with “It
falls down.” It takes a bit more thinking to move backward
from effect to cause. Ria does this with ease. Watch
this final clip again if you like.
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© 2003 Learning Materials Workshop
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