Brain implants, often referred to as neural implants, are technological devices that connect directly to a biological subject's brain – usually placed on the surface of the brain, or attached to the brain's cortex. A common purpose of modern brain implants and the focus of much current research is establishing a biomedical prosthesis circumventing areas in the brain that have become dysfunctional after a stroke or other head injuries. This includes sensory substitution, e.g., in vision. Other brain implants are used in animal experiments simply to record brain activity for scientific reasons. Some brain implants involve creating interfaces between neural systems and computer chips. This work is part of a wider research field called brain-computer interfaces. (Brain-computer interface research also includes technology such as EEG arrays that allow interface between mind and machine but do not require direct implantation of a device.)
Brain implants electrically stimulate, block or record (or both record and stimulate simultaneously) signals from single neurons or groups of neurons (biological neural networks) in the brain. The blocking technique is called intra-abdominal vagal blocking. This can only be done where the functional associations of these neurons are approximately known. Because of the complexity of neural processing and the lack of access to action potential related signals using neuroimaging techniques, the application of brain implants has been seriously limited until recent advances in neurophysiology and computer processing power.
Research and applications
Research in sensory substitution has made significant progress since 1970. Especially in vision, due to the knowledge of the working of the visual system, eye implants (often involving some brain implants or monitoring) have been applied with demonstrated success. For hearing, cochlear implants are used to stimulate the auditory nerve directly. The vestibulocochlear nerve is part of the peripheral nervous system, but the interface is similar to that of true brain implants.
Multiple projects have demonstrated success at recording from the brains of animals for long periods of time. As early as 1976, researchers at the NIH led by Edward Schmidt made action potential recordings of signals from rhesus monkey motor cortexes using immovable "hatpin" electrodes, including recording from single neurons for over 30 days, and consistent recordings for greater than three years from the best electrodes.
The "hatpin" electrodes were made of pure iridium and insulated with Parylene-c, materials that are currently used in the Cyberkinetics implementation of the Utah array. These same electrodes, or derivations thereof using the same biocompatible electrode materials, are currently used in visual prosthetics laboratories, laboratories studying the neural basis of learning, and motor prosthetics approaches other than the Cyberkinetics probes.
Breakthroughs include studies of the process of functional brain re-wiring throughout the learning of a sensory discrimination, control of physical devices by rat brains, monkeys over robotic arms, remote control of mechanical devices by monkeys and humans, remote control over the movements of roaches, electronic-based neuron transistors for leeches, the first reported use of the Utah Array in a human for bidirectional signalling. Currently a number of groups are conducting preliminary motor prosthetic implants in humans. These studies are presently limited to several months by the longevity of the implants. The array now forms the sensor component of the Braingate.
Much research is also being done on the surface chemistry of neural implants in effort to design products which minimize all negative effects that an active implant can have on the brain, and that the body can have on the function of the implant.
Another type of neural implant that is being experimented on is Prosthetic Neuronal Memory Silicon Chips, which imitate the signal processing done by functioning neurons that allows peoples' brains to create long-term memories.
In 2016, scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign announced development of tiny brain sensors for use postoperative monitoring, which melt away when they are no longer needed.
DARPA has announced its interest in developing "cyborg insects" to transmit data from sensors implanted into the insect during the pupal stage. The insect's motion would be controlled from a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) and could conceivably survey an environment or detect explosives and gas. Similarly, DARPA is developing a neural implant to remotely control the movement of sharks. The shark's unique senses would then be exploited to provide data feedback in relation to enemy ship movement or underwater explosives.
In 2006, researchers at Cornell University invented a new surgical procedure to implant artificial structures into insects during their metamorphic development. The first insect cyborgs, moths with integrated electronics in their thorax, were demonstrated by the same researchers. The initial success of the techniques has resulted in increased research and the creation of a program called Hybrid-Insect-MEMS, HI-MEMS. Its goal, according to DARPA's Microsystems Technology Office, is to develop "tightly coupled machine-insect interfaces by placing micro-mechanical systems inside the insects during the early stages of metamorphosis".
The use of neural implants has recently been attempted, with success, on cockroaches. Surgically applied electrodes were put on the insect, which were remotely controlled by a human. The results, although sometimes different, basically showed that the cockroach could be controlled by the impulses it received through the electrodes. DARPA is now funding this research because of its obvious beneficial applications to the military and other areas
In 2009 at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Micro-electronic mechanical systems (MEMS) conference in Italy, researchers demonstrated the first "wireless" flying-beetle cyborg. Engineers at the University of California at Berkeley have pioneered the design of a "remote controlled beetle", funded by the DARPA HI-MEMS Program. Filmed evidence of this can be viewed here. This was followed later that year by the demonstration of wireless control of a "lift-assisted" moth-cyborg.
Eventually researchers plan to develop HI-MEMS for dragonflies, bees, rats and pigeons. For the HI-MEMS cybernetic bug to be considered a success, it must fly 100 metres (330 ft) from a starting point, guided via computer into a controlled landing within 5 metres (16 ft) of a specific end point. Once landed, the cybernetic bug must remain in place.
In 2015 it was reported that scientists from the Perception and Recognition Neuro-technologies Laboratory at the Southern Federal University in Rostov-on-Don suggested using rats with microchips planted in their brains to detect explosive devices.
In 2016 it was reported that American engineers are developing a system that would transform locusts into "remote controlled explosive detectors" with electrodes in their brains beaming information about dangerous substances back to their operators.
Current brain implants are made from a variety of materials such as tungsten, silicon, platinum-iridium, or even stainless steel. Future brain implants may make use of more exotic materials such as nanoscale carbon fibers (nanotubes), and polycarbonate urethane.
In 1870, Eduard Hitzig and Gustav Fritsch demonstrated that electrical stimulation of the brains of dogs could produce movements. Robert Bartholow showed the same to be true for humans in 1874. By the start of the 20th century, Fedor Krause began to systematically map human brain areas, using patients that had undergone brain surgery.
Prominent research was conducted in the 1950s. Robert G. Heath experimented with aggressive mental patients, aiming to influence his subjects' moods through electrical stimulation.
Yale University physiologist Jose Delgado demonstrated limited control of animal and human subjects' behaviours using electronic stimulation. He invented the stimoceiver or transdermal stimulator, a device implanted in the brain to transmit electrical impulses that modify basic behaviours such as aggression or sensations of pleasure.
Delgado was later to write a popular book on mind control, called Physical Control of the Mind, where he stated: "the feasibility of remote control of activities in several species of animals has been demonstrated [...] The ultimate objective of this research is to provide an understanding of the mechanisms involved in the directional control of animals and to provide practical systems suitable for human application."
In the 1950s, the CIA also funded research into mind control techniques, through programs such as MKULTRA. Perhaps because he received funding for some research through the US Office of Naval Research, it has been suggested (but not proven) that Delgado also received backing through the CIA. He denied this claim in a 2005 article in Scientific American describing it only as a speculation by conspiracy-theorists. He stated that his research was only progressively scientifically motivated to understand how the brain works.
Concerns and ethical considerations
Ethical questions raised include who are good candidates to receive neural implants and what are good and bad uses of neural implants. Whilst deep brain stimulation is increasingly becoming routine for patients with Parkinson's disease, there may be some behavioural side effects. Reports in the literature describe the possibility of apathy, hallucinations, compulsive gambling, hypersexuality, cognitive dysfunction, and depression. However, these may be temporary and related to correct placement and calibration of the stimulator and so are potentially reversible.
Some transhumanists, such as Raymond Kurzweil and Kevin Warwick, see brain implants as part of a next step for humans in progress and evolution, whereas others, especially bioconservatives, view them as unnatural, with humankind losing essential human qualities. It raises controversy similar to other forms of human enhancement. For instance, it is argued that implants would technically change people into cybernetic organisms (cyborgs). It's also expected that all research will comply to the Declaration of Helsinki. Yet further, the usual legal duties apply such as information to the person wearing implants and that the implants are voluntary, with (very) few exceptions.
Sadja states that "one's private thoughts are important to protect" and doesn't considers it a good idea to just charge the government or any company to protect them. Walter Glannon, a neuroethicist of the University of Calgary notes that "there is a risk of the microchips being hacked by third parties" and that "this could interfere with the user's intention to perform actions, violate privacy by extracting information from the chip".
In fiction and philosophy
Brain implants are now part of modern culture but there were early philosophical references of relevance as far back as René Descartes.
In his 1641 Meditations, Descartes argued that it would be impossible to tell if all one's apparently real experiences were in fact being produced by an evil demon intent on deception. A modern twist on Descartes' argument is provided by the "brain in a vat" thought experiment, which imagines a brain, sustained apart from its body in a vat of nutrients, and hooked up to a computer which is capable of stimulating it in such a way as to produce the illusion that everything is normal.
Popular science fiction discussing brain implants and mind control became widespread in the 20th century, often with a dystopian outlook. Literature in the 1970s delved into the topic, including The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton, where a man suffering from brain damage receives an experimental surgical brain implant designed to prevent seizures, which he abuses by triggering for pleasure. Another example is Larry Niven's science fiction writing of wire-heads in his "Known Space" stories.
Fear that the technology will be misused by the government and military is an early theme. In the 1981 BBC serial The Nightmare Man the pilot of a high-tech mini submarine is linked to his craft via a brain implant but becomes a savage killer after ripping out the implant.
Perhaps the most influential novel exploring the world of brain implants was William Gibson's 1984 novel Neuromancer. This was the first novel in a genre that came to be known as "cyberpunk". It follows a computer hacker through a world where mercenaries are augmented with brain implants to enhance strength, vision, memory, etc. Gibson coins the term "matrix" and introduces the concept of "jacking in" with head electrodes or direct implants. He also explores possible entertainment applications of brain implants such as the "simstim" (simulated stimulation) which is a device used to record and playback experiences.
Another example is "The Alliance ", in which a society is controlled by implants. Gibson's work led to an explosion in popular culture references to brain implants. Its influences are felt, for example, in the 1989 roleplaying game Shadowrun, which borrowed his term "datajack" to describe a brain-computer interface. The implants in Gibson's novels and short stories formed the template for the 1995 film Johnny Mnemonic and later, The Matrix Trilogy.
- The Gap Cycle (The Gap into): In Stephen R. Donaldson's series of novels, the use (and misuse) of "zone implant" technology is key to several plotlines.
- Ghost in the Shell anime and manga franchise: Cyberbrain neural augmentation technology is the focus. Implants of powerful computers provide vastly increased memory capacity, total recall, as well as the ability to view his or her own memories on an external viewing device. Users can also initiate a telepathic conversation with other cyberbrain users, the downsides being cyberbrain hacking, malicious memory alteration, and the deliberate distortion of subjective reality and experience.
- In Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's Oath of Fealty (1981) an arcology with high surveillance and feudal-like society is built by a private company due to riots around Los Angeles. Its systems are run by MILLIE, an advanced computer system, with some high-level executives being able to communicate directly with it and given omniscience of the arcology's workings via expensive implants in their brains.
- Brainstorm (1983): The military tries to take control over a new technology that can record and transfer thoughts, feelings, and sensations.
- RoboCop (1987) Science fiction action film. Police officer Alex Murphy is murdered and revived as a superhuman cyborg law enforcer.
- Johnny Mnemonic (1995): The main character acts as a "mnemonic courier" by way of a storage implant in his brain, allowing him to carry sensitive information undetected between parties.
- The Manchurian Candidate (2004): For a means of mind control, the presidential hopeful Raymond Shaw unknowingly has a chip implanted in his head by Manchurian Global, a fictional geopolitical organization aimed at making parts of the government sleeper cells, or puppets for their monetary advancement.
- Hardwired (2009): A corporation attempting to bring marketing to the next level implants a chip into main character's brain.
- Terminator Salvation (2009): A character named Marcus Wright discovers he is a Cyborg and must choose to fight for humans or an evil Artificial intelligence.
- The Happiness Cage (1972) A German scientist works on a way of quelling overly aggressive soldiers by developing implants that directly stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain. Also known as The Mind Snatchers.
- Six Million Dollar Man (1974 to 1978) Steve Austin suffers an accident and is rebuilt as a cyborg.
- The Bionic Woman (1976 to 1978) Jaime Sommers suffers an accident and is rebuilt as a cyborg.
- Blake's 7: Olag Gan, a character, has a brain implant which is supposed to prevent future aggression after being convicted of killing an officer from the oppressive Federation.
- Dark Angel: The notorious Red Series use neuro-implants pushed into their brain stem at the base of their skull to amp them up and hyper-adrenalize them and make them almost unstoppable. Unfortunately the effects of the implant burn out their system after six months to a year and kill them.
- The X-Files (episode:Duane Barry, relevant to the overreaching mytharc of the series.): FBI Agent Dana Scully discovers an implant set under the skin at the back of her neck which can read her every thought and change memory through electrical signals that alter the brain chemistry.
- Star Trek franchise: Members of the Borg collective are equipped with brain implants which connect them to the Borg collective consciousness.
- Stargate SG-1 franchise: Advanced replicators, the Asuran interface with humans by inserting their hand into the brain of humans.
- Fringe: The Observers use a needle like, self-guided implant which allows them to read the minds of others at the expense of emotion. The implant also allows for short range teleportation and increases intelligence.
- Person of Interest, Season 4. Episode 81 or 13. Title "M.I.A" "One of many innocent people who Samaritan operatives are experimenting on with neural implants."
- In the Outer Limits (1995 TV series), the episode named Straight and Narrow (The Outer Limits). Students are forced to have brain implants and are controlled by them.
- In the Outer Limits (1995 TV series), the episode named The Message (The Outer Limits). A character named Jennifer Winter receives a brain implant to hear.
- In the Outer Limits (1995 TV series), the episode named "Living Hell", season 1 episode 9. A character named Ben Kohler receives a brain implant to save his life.
- In the Outer Limits (1995 TV series), the episode named Judgment Day (The Outer Limits), A character who is judged a criminal has a chip implanted on the medulla oblongata of the lower brainstem . The forcibly implanted chip induces overwhelming pain and disorientation by a remote control within range.
- In the Outer Limits (1995 TV series), the episode named "Awakening", season three, episode 10, a neurologically impaired woman receives a brain implant to help her become more like a typical human.
- Black Mirror, a British science fiction television anthology series, has several episodes in which characters have implants on their head or in their brain or eyes, providing video recording and playback, augmented reality, and communication.
- Earth: Final Conflict, in season 1, episode 12, named "Sandoval's Run", the character named Sandoval experiences the breakdown of his brain implant.
- Earth: Final Conflict, in season 4, episode 12, named "The Summit", the character named Liam is implanted with a neural surveillance device.
- In the video games PlanetSide and Chrome, players can use implants to improve their aim, run faster, and see better, along with other enhancements.
- The Deus Ex video game series addresses the nature and impact of human enhancement with regard to a wide variety of prosthesis and brain implants. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, set in 2027, details the impact on society of human augmentation and the controversy it could generate. Several characters in the game have implanted neurochips to aid their professions (or their whims). Examples are of a helicopter pilot with implanted chips to better pilot her aircraft and analyse flight paths, velocity and spatial awareness, as well as a hacker with a brain-computer interface that allows direct access to computer networks and also to act as a 'human proxy' to allow an individual in a remote location to control his actions.
- The game raises the question of the downsides of this kind of augmentation as those who cannot afford the enhancements (or object to getting them) rapidly find themselves at a serious disadvantage against people with artificial enhancement of their abilities. The spectre of being forced to have mechanical or electronic enhancements just to get a job is explored as well. The storyline addresses the effect of implant rejection by use of the fictional drug 'Neuropozyne' which breaks down glial tissue and is also fiercely addictive, leaving people who have augmentations little choice but to continue buying the drug from biotech corporations who control the price of it. Without the drug, augmented people experience rejection of implants, crippling pain and possible death.
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In “How to Read Fiction Step 4, Part 1,” we discussed four ways that writers create living characters in fiction, focusing on the four qualities readers are most likely to perceive first: Characterization Through Naming (1), Through Physical Description (2), Through “Tags” and Catchphrases (3), and Through Associated Objects (4). These characterization techniques give readers an immediate and forceful first impression of characters as they first meet them in fiction.
As readers read further and deeper into a tale, they encounter fuller and more subtle means of characterization. Narrators and other characters give readers guidance about main characters. Even more powerful, the characters reveal their own personalities and psyches through their own words and actions. Let’s wade in deeper to see how these techniques work to flesh out fully-developed characters.
What Others Say About the Character
5. Characterization by a Narrator
Some writers fashion narrators who characterize primarily by “showing.” These narrators bring characters into being for readers by showing them multiple details about how characters look, how they speak, how they dress, or how they feel. Readers must use these details to construct a complete idea of a character’s personality.
Other writers don’t leave readers so much alone to draw their own conclusions, but instead just tell them directly what to think about the characters. These narrators don’t just “show,” they “tell.” They explain directly the inner lives, personal qualities, and psychologies of the characters.
Sarah Orne Jewett uses this kind of direct narration in her sweet story “A White Heron” when characterizing her 9-year-old protagonist. In the story, shy nature-loving country girl Sylvia is herding home the family cow through the forest when she is surprised by meeting a young man. This handsome young fellow is an ornithologist who is looking for a white heron to shoot, stuff, and add to his collection to study it.
Sylvia develops a crush on the kind young man, and determines to find out where the white heron nests so she can give him this knowledge as a gift. Sylvia knows of a very tall tree nearby. She thinks that if she climbs to the top of it at dawn, she will be able to see the heron flying out of his nest and discover his location.
In describing Sylvia’s thoughts and actions at this point in the story, Jewett’s narrator tells readers explicitly what Sylvia thinks and feels, even how readers should think and feel about her. When in the hands of a narrator like this one, readers do not need to deduce how to feel about a character or her dilemma, because the narrator makes that explicit.
First, the narrator makes sure that readers understand Sylvia’s conflict: if she reports the heron’s location, the ornithologist will kill the bird, consisting of a betrayal of the birds that Sylvia regards as friends. On this point, the narrator comments, “Alas, if the great wave of human interest which flooded for the first time this dull little life should sweep away the satisfactions of an existence heart to heart with nature and the dumb life of the forest!”
Later, as Sylvia begins the difficult climb up the tree, the narrator continues to make explicit remarks to help control readers’ feelings and judgments of her:
“Who knows how steadily the least twigs held themselves to advantage this light, weak creature on her way! The old pine must have loved his new dependent. More than all the hawks, and bats, and moths, and even the sweet voiced thrushes, was the brave, beating heart of the solitary gray-eyed child.”
— Sarah Orne Jewett, “A White Heron”
These kinds of directly-expressed sentiments were a very popular means of characterization in 19th century fiction, when “A White Heron” was written, but were still used by some famous writers well into the 20th century. D.H. Lawrence, for instance, fashioned a very controlling narrator for his strange, hypnotic tale “The Horse Dealer’s Daughter,” in which he describes the characters as having feelings that they themselves cannot identify.
It makes sense for Lawrence to create a “tell”-style narrator, since Lawrence’s main point in this story is that people are motivated more by unconscious drives than by conscious thoughts. Even the characters can’t fully articulate their feelings and impulses for themselves, so Lawrence’s narrator does it for them.
Thus in the story, the moody, silent horse-dealer’s daughter Mabel Pervin and the conscientious young doctor Jack Ferguson find themselves unexpectedly in love after he saves her from drowning herself in a pond. Neither character saw it coming at all. Jack, for one, isn’t even very happy about it. All of this, the narrator must explain, because the characters themselves don’t understand it.
We can see Lawrence’s narrator at work in an earlier passage of this story, where he describes Mabel’s brother Fred Henry. In this scene, the family’s horse-dealing business has gone bankrupt, and the family is having a last breakfast together as the remaining horses are led away by their new owner:
There was another helpless silence at the table. Joe sprawled uneasily in his seat, not willing to go till the family conclave was dissolved. Fred Henry, the second brother, was erect, clean-limbed, alert. He had watched the passing of the horses with more sang-froid. If he was an animal, like Joe, he was an animal which controls, not one which is controlled. He was master of any horse, and he carried himself with a well-tempered air of mastery. But he was not master of the situations of life. He pushed his coarse brown moustache upwards, off his lip, and glanced irritably at his sister, who sat impassive and inscrutable.
D. H. Lawrence–“The Horse-Dealer’s Daughter”
These days, it is more the fashion for narrators to provide signs and clues about characters from which readers must figure out what a particular character is like—to “show” more than “tell.” But in Lawrence’s work, we see a narrator who takes firm hold of readers and tells them exactly what is going on in the minds and souls of the characters. Here he suggests to readers that people can be compared to different kinds of animals, leading to further speculation about what unconscious forces may control human behavior.
Whether a narrator’s remarks are subtle and indirect, or explicit like Lawrence’s and Jewett’s, what the narrator says about characters is a very important means the writer has for conveying a sense to readers that his or her characters are truly real.
6. Characterization by the Other Characters
While the narrator may be the most prominent source of information about a character, the author can also make great use of what the other characters have to say about each other to flesh out an important character.
Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway comes to mind here, since in this novel, everybody thinks and talks about everybody else. Clarissa tells herself things about Peter, Peter talks to Sally about Clarissa, Lady Bruton talks to Richard about Clarissa and Peter, Lucrezia talks to Dr. Holmes about Septimus—and on and on.
Wuthering Heights is another great example of a novel in which the characters’ observations about each other play a large role in depicting them vividly for readers. For example, housekeeper Nelly sums up the young Cathy as “a wild wick slip but with the sweetest smile.” When the Grange tenant Lockwood compliments the portrait of Edgar, who later married Cathy, Nelly disagrees somewhat with Lockwood’s positive evaluation. She says that Edgar “looked better when he was animated; that is his everyday countenance: he wanted spirit in general.”
Although Nelly sometimes goes awry in her understanding of people and events in the novel, she proves herself insightful in these two brief assessments, which taken together pinpoint exactly why Cathy and Edgar, two very opposite personalities, were not completely satisfied by their marriage–one is all energy, while the other lacks it .
At another point, a character helps readers understand another character when Cathy warns Isabelle against indulging her crush on Heathcliff. She tells Isabelle, “He’s a fierce, pitiless, wolfish man.” This description doesn’t deter Isabelle, but it may spur readers to question their own attraction to this violent but charismatic character.
Sometimes Characters come to Life by Resisting the Characterization of Others
Authors can use characters’ speech about other characters another way: they can have a major character contradict those character’s wrong opinions through their thoughts, speech, or actions. Doing this really helps establish a rounded personality for a character, who seems instantly more complex when readers can see the character in a completely different way from how the other characters do.
William Faulkner often turns this character development technique into an opportunity to explore a theme: the all-too-human difficulty in understanding other people. In the famous short story “A Rose for Emily,” the narrator, one of Emily’s fellow townspeople, relates all the mistaken guesses, judgments, and surmises that people made about Emily throughout her whole life. Faulkner gets some grim humor out of showing the stubborn but strange Miss Emily contradict one of the town’s predictions after another, and in the end shocking everyone with how very wrong their guesses had always been.
How Characters Speak for Themselves
Writers don’t always have to be “telling” readers about characters, or having other characters do it for them. Characters can speak, think, and act directly for themselves. Here are three more ways writers use this to establish characters for readers.
7. Characterization Through Speech: How a Character Talks, and Dialogues with Others
The older the fiction, the less likely that the characters will sound different from each other when they talk, because differentiating characters by their speech habits was a technique that writers had to invent and develop. But by the end of the 18th century, writers were taking advantage of this delightful and hard-to-craft means of characterization: giving characters their own unique voice, so they sound distinctively different from the other characters when they speak.
Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a famous character whose voice is unmistakable from his first line. Twain explains so much about what Huck is like just from the way he speaks, coming to life for readers with every word:
You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly—Tom’s Aunt Polly, she is—and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before.
–Mark Twain, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
In Raymond Carver’s wonderful short story “Cathedral,” the distinctively-voiced first person narrator tells the story of how his wife’s blind friend comes to visit them at their not-so-happy home. What he explains, what he chooses to leave out, and his sardonic yet subtly comic tone of voice tells readers a lot about who this guy is. It’s clear from the way he describes the start of the blind man’s visit that he is uncomfortable around people with disabilities. He also seems resentful and jealous of his wife’s friendship with this man:
I saw my wife laughing as she parked the car. I saw her get out of the car and shut the door. She was still wearing a smile. Just amazing. She went around to the other side of the car to where the blind man was already starting to get out. This blind man, feature this, he was wearing a full beard! A beard on a blind man! Too much, I say.
–Raymond Carver, “Cathedral”
Readers get more acquainted with the narrator’s ironic sense of humor when he goes on to describe the uncomfortable dinner that his wife, Robert, and himself eat together. The narrator’s ignorance about blind people is on view, but also a hint that he is developing a little respect for Robert, even if only to admire his method for finding everything on his plate:
We dug in. We ate everything there was to eat on the table. We ate like there was no tomorrow. We didn’t talk. We ate. We scarfed. We grazed the table. We were into serious eating. The blind man had right away located his foods, he knew just where everything was on his plate. I watched with admiration as he used his knife and fork on the meat. He’d cut two pieces of the meat, fork the meat into his mouth, and then go all out for the scalloped potatoes, the beans next, and then he’d tear off a hunk of buttered bread and eat that. He’d follow this up with a big drink of milk. It didn’t seem to bother him to use his fingers once in a while, either.
We finished everything, including half a strawberry pie. For a few moments, we sat as if stunned. Sweat beaded on our faces. Finally, we got up from the table and left the dirty plates. We didn’t look back.
–Raymond Carver, “Cathedral”
The detailed, down-home, sarcastic, humorous voice in itself tells readers a lot about the personality, prejudices, and, in spite of everything, the appealing humor of this character.
Not only do characters talk to readers; they talk to each other. Writers use dialogue to reveal a lot about characters’ personalities, and their relationships to each other.
If you have ever taken a college course in basic fiction or creative writing, you have probably been asked to read Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants.” Written almost entirely in dialogue, this story is a casebook in how writers can subtly convey both character traits and relationships without using hardly any kind of direct narration at all.
In the story, the young unmarried couple (“the man” and “the girl”) are waiting for a train at a small station in Spain. The girl tries to engage in light banter, but the man keeps recurring to his argument that she get an abortion. Eventually the girl shuts down the conversation, but not before the reader glimpses her desire to have the baby. The story is a masterpiece that showcases how complex characters can be built using only one or two means of characterization.
There’s another great piece of dialogue in the story we just discussed, “Cathedral,” when the narrator has a passive-aggressive argument with his wife while she is peeling potatoes to get ready for their visitor’s dinner. In just a few short speeches, readers can see that the man and his wife are not in sync, and make some good surmises why and whose fault that is. Take a look at the story and enjoy watching the characters develop.
8. What the Character is Thinking
Sometimes the writer doesn’t have the character say everything he or she is thinking. In those cases, the portrayal of a character’s inner thoughts is a powerful way of helping readers to experience a character as a real person.
In the early days of the novel genre, writers often turned to “epistolary fiction” to help reveal the inner psyches of characters. In an epistolary novel, the story is told by characters in a series of personal letters. Early novelist Samuel Richardson was famous for this technique, used in the novel Pamela and in the massive tale Clarissa. Through writing letters, characters can reveal their most personal thoughts that would not fit naturally into appropriate dialogue they might have in public with other characters.
By the beginning of the 19th century, especially after Jane Austen invented “free indirect discourse,” through which she used the narrative voice to report the inner thoughts of the characters without putting their ideas into quoted speeches, writers began more and more to report a character’s inner thoughts. Different writers rely on this technique in different degrees.
Recently I have been on a classic detective fiction reading spree, and spent some time with the novels of P. D. James. In her famous characters of DCI Adam Dalgliesh and Detective Inspector Kate Miskin, P. D. James has fashioned two intense people who say very little of what they are actually thinking. If readers had access only to what they say aloud, how they look, and what they do, they would know little about these characters at all, and probably would feel little personal relationship to them.
However, James gives readers a constant window on their thoughts, essential information for understanding what these two people are really like. Portraying their inner thoughts enriches them as characters and also gives James room to develop thought-provoking themes by tying them to the ideas going through the minds of her characters.
In many novels, especially the comic or the suspenseful, the readers’ enjoyment of the plot may be produced by the writer’s careful management of which character’s thoughts we see, and which we don’t. A couple of famous examples occur in Austen’s Emma and DuMaurier’s Rebecca. Both these novels keep readers inside the minds of characters whose views prove to be somewhat unreliable. They see and report many truths about characters and their actions, but are only partially aware of what is really going on in the minds of other crucial characters.
For example, Austen’s Emma Woodhouse is proud of her ability to “read” the minds of other characters; she especially likes to spot characters who she thinks are falling in love with each other. However, as the novel progresses, readers are surprised right alongside Emma herself that she can be quite wrong about everyone’s thoughts and feelings. Indeed, Emma turns out to have misread almost everyone, from the insinuating Mr. Elton, to the reserved Jane Fairfax, to her gentle friend Harriet. Even worse, Emma misunderstands her own inner feelings. Austen has a lot of fun with these discrepancies between Emma’s thoughts and outer realities, and also makes a deft point about human nature.
The narrator of DuMaurier’s Rebecca becomes obsessed with her new husband Max’s former deceased wife. She hears from so many characters how wonderful Rebecca was that she imagines and fears that Max will never get over Rebecca’s loss. She assumes Max is wishing he had never married herself. The reader, like the narrator, is kept outside Max’s thoughts the whole time, and must try, alongside the narrator, to surmise from his words and actions how he really feels. This “Max thought blackout” produces much of the suspense of the novel, as readers gradually figure out, along with the narrator, what really went on between Max and Rebecca.
9. Characterization through Actions
In real life, they say, actions speak louder than words. In fiction, words describing actions speak very loudly indeed about what all the characters in the story are truly like. Interestingly, though, a character’s actions can be used two ways. An action can reveal or illustrate a permanent quality of a character; it can also do just the opposite: an uncharacteristic action can show readers how a character has changed or developed in the course of the tale.
When Actions Reveal Character
Most straightforwardly, writers can use actions to show readers what the characters are truly like. In this case, a character’s actions are usually consistent with their speech, inner thoughts, physical descriptions, and so on, just continuing to reveal more and more about what readers have already begun to surmise about a particular character.
For instance, Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” begins with a town’s inquiry into whether the protagonist’s father, Abner Snopes, is guilty of burning someone’s barn. Readers don’t long question whether he is guilty, since Abner establishes his mean, resentful, and destructive character with every subsequent action, from the cold orders he gives to his wife, daughters, and little son Sarty, to the way he builds a campfire, to the way he walks machine-like through filth and tracks it defiantly onto his new landlord’s expensive rug. Here, the writer has used actions to confirm and illustrate the character’s inner self.
Some fictions mislead readers, and other characters, about a crucial character’s true inner self, then use the character’s actions to reveal the truth about his or her psychology. For instance, in Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad created Mr. Kurtz, a character who at first appears as an upstanding, moral, idealistic person who wants to spread civilization to help others. His speech, appearance, and the opinions of other characters all support this interpretation.
However, Marlowe the narrator eventually learns that when Kurtz had found himself alone deep in the jungle, he set himself up as an idol, ruled over others through fear, and engaged in total debauchery. Thus it is the actions of the character that alone provide a powerful contradiction to the earlier mistaken impressions of Mr. Kurtz. In this case, action is the most powerful means of characterization in Conrad’s story.
Especially in tragic tales, characters are often depicted as having the seeds of their own destruction already embedded in their psyches. Early hints of a tragic flaw will flower into destructive actions by the end of a tragedy.
A famous example from American literature is Moby Dick’s Ahab, who relentlessly stalks the great white whale who has bitten off his leg. The books’ plot springs from Ahab’s implacable anger against nature and this fierce whale who was the cause of his misfortune. In spite of a powerful scene when the ship’s gentle and reasonable first mate gets Ahab to waver, his subsequent actions prove that this need for revenge against the universe is a personal quality too strong to overcome.
Actions Can Show How Characters Change
Characters don’t always behave predictably or consistently. Often, the suspense of a story involves making the reader wonder exactly what action a character will take in a crucial situation, and thus reveal whether a character will change or just stay the same.
In the Faulkner story we discussed above, “Barn Burning,” the protagonist is Abner’s 10 year old son Sarty. Sarty is deeply conflicted about whether he should support his family at all costs—to stick to his “blood”—or to throw his weight on the side of doing “right,” placing himself on the side of people who practice a moral code he admires and believes. As his father Abner prepares to burn down another barn as revenge for a conflict with his landlord, Sarty must decide whether to keep quiet to protect his father, or to warn the man, as he feels is the right thing to do. The action he chooses shows readers whether the character has changed and developed, or not.
One of the most famous changes of heart in literature is the turnaround of mean-spirited miser Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens’s Christmas Carol. In the beginning of the tale, Scrooge is shown taking a variety of actions that establish his overall nastiness: his harsh treatment of his innocent clerk Bob Cratchit, his unpleasantness to his nephew, his disregard for the poor, even his heckling of Christmas carolers. But at the end of the story, his actions demonstrate a very different sort of character: he buys a turkey for Cratchit’s family, gives him a raise, reconciles with his nephew and his wife, and looks after the ailing Tiny Tim. All these actions speak louder than any words could do that Scrooge’s inner character has been revolutionized.
This kind of conversion, if properly prepared and accounted for, can be very satisfying to readers, but only if the characters’ depicted actions clearly demonstrate a true and believable change of heart or mind.
How Developed are the Characters in the Fiction You Are Reading?
In the early days of the novel genre, not all of these characterization techniques had been developed. Thus, if you pick up Daniel Defoe’s great novel Moll Flanders, published in 1722, all the characters talk alike (although they do talk a lot), almost no one has a real name (Moll Flanders is actually just a nickname for “thief”), and we don’t know anything about what anybody looks like. Moll herself is the charming talkative narrator, so we rely on her voice to tell us everything about what the other characters are like, along with observing the few actions allotted to each character.
However, by the 19th century, the greatest novels availed themselves of every characterization technique we have discussed. From Part 1: Naming, Physical Appearance, Tags, and Associated Objects; from Part 2: Narrator Explanation, Comments from other Characters, Character Speech and Dialogue, Character’s Inner Thoughts, and Actions. In the 20th century, minimalism came into vogue, with writers choosing to feature just a few characterization techniques from which readers needed to surmise and piece together what all the characters were truly like.
What about the 21st century? Go on a “reading mission” to find out! Next time you pick up a current novel or short story, notice how many and what kinds of techniques writers use to paint characters and bring them to life. Today’s novels, especially bestsellers, tend to be short, with a minimal number of techniques used to paint a character. As we learned from examining 20th century masterpieces like The Great Gatsby, a skillful minimalist can communicate a rich characterization with careful use of just a few techniques.
But sometimes minimal characterization is just the sign of a lazy writer, or, dare I say, a writer who fears that readers will be lazy? If characterization is lean in a fiction you are reading, decide whether the writer’s technical choices succeed in painting a rich, round character, or just daub a cardboard cutout.
I like my fictional characters rich and round. How about you?
Comments welcomed! All comments will be held for moderation before publication.
Sarah Orne Jewett: See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
Moby Dick Final Chase: By I. W. Taber [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
Mary Jane is a longtime literature lover who lived in the Cincinnati area for many years, then in central Louisiana for three years (what a treat!), teaching literature classes at universities in both locations. Now back in the Cincinnati area, she pampers her grandchildren, experiments with cooking, and visits art museums as often as possible.


Below are links to videos from our winter concert, which happened at the beginning of March. Enjoy!
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” -Dr. Seuss
Our engineering challenge this week was for students to build a treehouse that was 13 stories high and sturdy enough that the “big bad wolf” couldn’t blow it down.
This wasn’t something that came easy to them. They had to use their problem solving skills to figure out how to build a 13 story treehouse that could stand alone.
Kids started to collaborate and help each other. They gave each other feedback and we heard them telling each other that, “Your foundation isn’t strong enough” or “You need to make this part sturdier.” Many kids had to start over, while others had an easier time. The students who finished their 13 stories then went around and helped their friends.
Many of the students got frustrated when their treehouse kept falling down, so we talked about the importance of perseverance and not giving up even when things are hard. That is one of our school’s core values that we have been working on. We wanted to give them this experience so that as they are learning to read, they have started to develop the perseverance and grit they need to succeed. Click here to read more about grit, why it is important, and how it helps kids
We read Jack and Jill Build a Treehouse, we looked at the book Treehouses of the World, and finished reading the 13 story treehouse. This is a chapter book. Students listen to a read-aloud for 30 minutes each day after lunch. Research states that reading books aloud that are above students’ grade level out loud for half an hour each day helps to increase their vocabulary, comprehension, and reading stamina so our students will become lifelong readers. (Click here to read about the research)
This week, students are going to start building their model treehouse out of popsicle sticks and other materials. They will be doing the landscaping for their treehouses as well.
What our students had to say about their learning this week:
“We have our own ideas to build the treehouses that we want to make…”
“Ziplines are cool. They help you get from one place to another without walking.”
“We finished reading the book 13 Story Treehouse. It’s one of the best and funniest books.“
“Our engineering challenge this week was to build a treehouse that was 13 stories high. We had to count and keep checking to make sure we had 13 stories. “
“We finished the chapter book 13 story tree house and are now reading 26 Story Treehouse. “
“We are wondering if we can build a 26 story tree house that would be strong enough for a wolf not to blow down. “
“We had to count 13 stories and use platforms in between the stories. We used materials like different types and sizes of wood, blocks, cardboard squares, plastic bubble squares, cubes, half spheres, cardboard circles and a lot of other stuff. “
“We figured out addition math stories. Not tree house stories. “
“We read the book Jack and Jill Build a Treehouse. We could read a lot of the words in the book. The book has pictures with words. You can read the pictures if you can’t read the words.”
“Our voices are powerful (when we say something we believe in).”
This week was National Engineers Week, so we looked at the question of how we can use technology to inspire girls around STEM. Women are grossly under-represented in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers, so we want to help our girls develop an interest in these fields. We hope to ignite a passion in them so they become doctors, architects, scientists and astronomers. We have an opportunity to start this when they are young so they grow up believing that they can and that they have the ability to do so.
We aren’t trying to leave the boys out, but these are male-dominated fields. We want to continue to encourage our boys of color to pursue these fields as well. STEM will open doors of opportunity for all our students. It will help them get into college, earn academic scholarships to pay for college, pursue a career and have a positive impact on the world.
Harvard sponsored an discussion with women who are at the top in STEM fields about the importance of giving girls experience with STEM from a young age. You can hear the presentation and discussions at http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/15/02/space-their-own-girls-women-and-stem
We have been reading books about and building models of tree houses. We talked about all the different jobs that have to happen for a house to be built. We read a book by Gail Gibbons called How to Build a House and looked at the engineering process of building a house. We watched a video called How a House is Made that gives a step by step process of how a house is built and talks about the different professionals who are needed (electricians, plumbers, contractors, surveyors, brick masons, architects, engineers, etc). Initally, our students had to come up with and write about a house or a treehouse they wanted to build. Secondly they had to draw a blueprint or a plan for what they wanted to build. We have talked about blueprints before (because builders have to read blueprints to know how big to make things), but this was their first make making their own blueprints. Thirdly students had to build their houses or tree houses based on what they drew in their blueprint. We wanted them to understand that builders have to follow blueprints so they build what the architect designed. We went around and asked kids to show us where their designs were in their blueprint. (Can you show me in your blueprint where you put this door?) They had a lot of “Ah-Ha!” moments about the importance of builders having to “read” a blueprint to check their work. The kids have been looking at non-standard measurement as a part of the TERC Investigations math curriculum (students have been using popsicle sticks, cubes and pennies to measure objects around the classroom). This enables them to make connections between math and real life experiences.
Following these steps continues to develop their story sequencing and writing skills. The engineering process is connected to both reading (story sequencing) and writing (beginning, next, and the end). When kids are writing we use a graphic organizer to help them organize their ideas visually. It has beginning, middle, next, and end. It is similar to the engineering graphic organizer they used to design their houses, which had them create a plan, enact their plan and then test it out. We have also continued to build houses that the Big Bad Wolf, the Big Bad Boar, and the “Big Bad Ms. Alicia” can’t blow down. We have continued using a variety of materials including blocks, cups, wooden Kapla blocks, cardboard, plastic lids, and bubble wrap. This week was National Engineers Week, so we looked at the question of how we can use technology to inspire girls around STEM. Women are grossly under-represented in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers, so we want to help our girls develop an interest in these fields. We hope to ignite a passion in them so they become the doctors, architects, scientists and astronomers of tomorrow. We have an opportunity to start this when they are young so they grow up believing that they can and that they have the ability to do so. We aren’t trying to leave the boys out, but these are male-dominated fields. We want to continue to encourage our boys of color to pursue these fields as well. STEM will open doors of opportunity for all our students. It will help them get into college, earn academic scholarships to pay for college, pursue a career and have a positive impact on the world. Harvard sponsored an discussion with women who are at the top in STEM fields about the importance of giving girls experience with STEM from a young age. You can hear the presentation and discussions at http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/15/02/space-their-own-girls-women-and-stem
Dan Cheek from the North Bennett school came to talk to us last week. He talked to the students about his school and explained that he builds cabinets and other things. He talked about the tools carpenters use. The kids told him how we have been looking at pictures of tree houses around the world. He said that he is going to bring in wood from different African countries so they students can see what it looks like.
A tree house, a free house,
A secret you and me house,
A high up in the leafy branches
Cozy as can be house.
A street house, a neat house,
Be sure and wipe your feet house
Is not my kind of house at all–
Let’s go live in a tree house.
This week we are going to delve deeper into looking at tree houses around the world so our students can start to generate ideas additional ideas for their tree houses. We will be reading the book What Happens To An Idea and students will start putting their ideas onto paper in the form of a blueprint.
Following the engineering design process, students have been Imagining what they will use for their tree houses and how they will build them. Next we have been (and will continue to) Exploring tree houses by practicing building houses that the big bad pig, wolf and boar can’t blow down. We read The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Boar and the Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig.
Now students are ready to start designing their treehouses. They will get graphing paper and pens to draw out their treehouse designs. We are going to continue to brainstorm ideas for our class model of an outdoor classroom of tree houses at the Savin Hill Cove. Dan Cheek from the North Bennett School will be coming to talk to our class about designing and building tree houses and other projects using wood. He has some pictures of children engaged in woodworking from a hundred years ago. We are going to be looking at pictures built in countries around the world, including ones in Kenya, Germany and Spain. We will select one to build in the block area.
As they design their treehouses, they will be making a plan for how they are going to build their treehouses. They are going to be thinking about what materials they are going to use and what steps they need to take to build.
We are going to continue integrating the Three Little Pigs across the curriculum. Enjoy!
If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales. -Albert Einstein
This week we started talking about fairy tales. We talked about what the students know and want to learn and when we are done with this unit, we will talk about what they have learned. We read The 3 Little Pigs, Billy Goats Gruff, and the Little Red Hen and with each story, we talked about the title, characters, setting, plot and solution.
Now we are going to focus on the three little pigs story. Next week we will read different versions of the story. The kids are really excited about the different versions we will be reading, particularly The Three Ninja Pigs, The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot, The Three Little fish and the Big, Bad Shark, The Three Little Wolves and the Big, Bad Pig, The Three Little Gators and Big Bad Boar, The Three Little Javelinas, and The Three Little Cajun Pigs. They are just thrilled we will get to read all these different versions.
We are going to connect geography to the stories by looking at where the stories originate. We will be using a map to show the students where those places are.
Going along with the mapping, we want to put our construction unit in a global context for kids by having them build structures from around the world. There are many paths for teaching the Focus on K2 curriculum, and we are developing our own independent path, the Focus on Kindersteam (Steam stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math.)
With this in mind, each day we will put up a picture of a different structure in the block area so students can build their version of it.
Students requested that we read The Three Ninja Pigs first. That story takes place in Japan, so we will be finding Japan on a map, talking about how to find Japan on a map, learning some Japanese words, and then building one of the Japanese buildings that are in the illustrations of this book. We are going to blow up one of the illustrations and have them use the illustrations to guide their building in the block area. As we read all these versions of the Three Little Pigs, we will continue talking about elements of story, focusing on beginning, middle, and end.
Additionally, students are going to design a set from the book so they can act out the story in the dramatic play area, which we are converting in our “Black Box Theater.”
Reading and writing will also be integrated into the curriculum. We will be continuing with the guided reading books and writing responses to what we are reading as well as writing about the beginning, middle and end of the story. In math, we are starting a measurement unit. We will be measuring different objects around the classroom (how many cubes long is my shoe?). We will also be continuing with addition and subtraction.
For engineering, we will be building structures from around the world, working on designing and building tree houses and thinking about how the materials we use impact the strength of the structure.
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. – Benjamin Franklin
During the month of January, we defined what an autobiography is (which is a really big word for a 5 year old) and have been reading interesting autobiographies by Jackie Robinson, Bessie Coleman, and other African American inventors, scientists, engineers, athletes, and activists. Now each student is writing their own autobiography, including their room in their house, a self portrait, interesting facts about them, things they like to do with their family and friends, and how old they are. We also asked them to visualize and then build their favorite place in or outside of their home. Some students chose to build their bedrooms and others chose to make their backyard where they like to barbecue. Teachers looked up the meaning of students’ names. For example, Jamal means handsome and Jael means leader.
Students were very excited to learn the meaning of their names and have internalized that meaning with pride. For example, once Jael found out that his name means leader, he has really stepped up as a leader in our class, has helped other students and has been leading through example and continues to “tell” other people that his name means leader.
Our class has been exploring and practicing how to use shapes as a way of drawing pictures. For example, they can use an oval to make a face and circles to make eyes.
During Writer’s Workshop, students are sounding out words and writing the sounds they hear (you might hear them say, “I’m stretching the word out like a rubber band” at home), making letter and sound connections, using sight words in their writing with standard spelling, leaving spaces between words, and rereading what they’ve written.
Each student built their favorite place in or outside their home. As a part of our storytelling curriculum, students dictated their “story” about this favorite place to a teacher. Storytelling is an important tool to use for kids developing literacy skills.
Building and making is a way for some students to know something deeply, while others learn best through seeing, hearing, and speaking. We want to give you a glimpse of what students are doing in the classroom so you are virtually visiting the Dolphin class and learning with your child. This is a way for you to spark a conversation with your child about what they are learning. We feel that the parent and school connection is vital to student’s success in school.
Below you will find your child’s story and model of their favorite place at home.
“I built my bedroom and kitchen at my house. The living room has my cousin playing games on iPads with me. I used a lot of 3-D shapes; squares, rectangular prisms, a big cube and a small cubes. I also used a triangular prism. In my kitchen, I have my grandpa and grandma, my dad and mom’s friends. My uncle is there too. They are eating pancakes.” -Jael
“I built my bedroom. I built my mom’s bedroom too. I like to sleep in my bedroom and play games on my mom’s phone. I try and read books in my bedroom like fairytale books. I used rectangles, cubes, squares, and rectangular prisms. That’s it.” -Cameran
“My favorite room in my house is the kitchen. I like to cook with my mom. We like to make pancakes, bake cakes, make chicken and rice and beans. Sometimes I color with my mom in the kitchen. I used triangular prism, cubes, rectangular prism and bears.” -Amarilis
“My favorite room is my bedroom in my house. Mommy and Daddy are sitting on the bed with me. I’m the red person, my dad is the yellow person and my mom is the blue person. I used cubes, triangles and a rectangle for the door. ” -Lenin
“The living room is my favorite room in my house. We get to watch TV and watch the Disney Channel. I jump on the chair and put my face in the chair. Sometimes I play with my brother in the living room. We play jump on the chair and that’s all. I used the 3-D shapes like rectangular prisms, flat squares and one cube.” -Jamal
“My favorite place in my house is outside in my backyard. We have barbecues a lot with all of my family. My Great-Grandma, my Mommy, my Nana, Uncle Tim and my big cousin Kendra. We eat a lot of steak and my Uncle Tim loves steak. We have a dance contest. I like to dance and win. That’s the end. I used a lot of cubes, triangular prisms, rectangular prisms, and a pyramid. I also used only yellows tiles and some of the colored bears.” -Nehemiah
“My favorite room is my kitchen. I built a table with my mom, dad, me and my cousin Poppa. We are eating pancakes together. I built the stove to cook the pancakes on and my refrigerator. I used one rectangle, four small cubes for pancakes, a rectangle for my kitchen table. The stove is one big cube, and four small cubes for the knobs to turn on the fire. I like to make popcorn, sometimes muffins and oatmeal.” -KhaiRyce
“My favorite place is my living room. I built a TV with video games. Me and my dad are sitting on the couch playing video games. I used a cone, cubes and rectangles. I used two tiny cubes.” -Jason
“I built the floor of my bedroom first. I’m sitting on the floor in my bedroom. I built my bed where I sleep when I get tired. I have toys in my room and a dresser to put my clothes. I used cubes, squares and rectangles.” -Yuri
Here is a conversation we overheard today.
Stanley and Jamal were working on repairing their dam. Stanley said, “I don’t want to get my hands dirty if we need to repair the dam.”
Jamal replied, “Beavers use their mouth and their paws to mix the mud and they don’t care. Why should you? We can just go and wash our hands.”
Stanley responded, “You make a good point” and then dug in.
Today and yesterday, students have been building marble ramps out of cardboard tubes, plastic marble run parts, and refrigerator packaging. Yesterday, some of the students built a marble ramp in the classroom. In addition to a ramp, they created a wall so the marbles didn’t go flying across the classroom. LaQuan was working on this and told Ms. Alicia that he, “want(s) to draw a blueprint of the Super Marble Run” and “make improvements and test out the marble spheres.” Other students put together plastic pieces to make a ramp.
Today we used long, thick cardboard tubes and three different kinds of balls. We tested what we had to do to make the balls go through the tubes and how the speeds of the different balls compared (the marble was always the fastest!). One of the tubes had a bend in it, and even though the marble would go through, the bouncy ball kept getting stuck. The students loved chasing the balls around the hallway and experimenting with the angle of the tube to make the ball go farther and faster.