The Doodlebugs discovered yesterday afternoon that testing “the turtle paradox” with their cousin in Grandma’s huge backyard did not work. I am not sure that Zeno’s Paradox of the Tortoise and Achilles can be replicated in real life, but they are determined to do it. That evening they sat down at the kitchen table to figure out why. With pencil in hand, they both began to try to replicate proofs in the spirit of Vi Hart with varying degrees of success.
When I was little, mathematical proofs and logical paradoxes were fun to read and think about – but I did not act them out to see how they would work in real life. This is the life of a home schooled child. They are totally and completely immersed in what they are learning. The Hub has a friend who is a child psychologist who told us that children have to use all their senses in order to truly understand something. I see that in the Doodlebugs this has become a method they naturally fall into with every new concept they learn.
So the failure of the turtle paradox test with your cousin in Grandma’s backyard needs further investigation, but we have plenty of time.
