Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion The ultimate brag thread

This morning Mr W was watching Sesame Street - the episode where Ralphie the Parrot flies off.

There is a segment to the show where origami cartoon birds land on notes for the melody to a song. They did it slowly at first, then sped up.

Mr W got up and walked over to his kiddie piano and banged out the last four notes of the melody - twice.

I really do not know what to think of what this means.

So...W must stand for 'WOW!'
that is great!

My 16 yo son (sophomore) was accepted to the private university on a full-time basis.

This year he has been attending a state university through distance education (telecasts) at the high school and taking AP courses.
We are working at finding scholarships for him, but he is actually too young for most of them. You have to be a junior in high school or have a high school diploma to qualify for most, which he isn't and won't get.
So besides a couple of scholarships we are waiting word on, he will have to wait and apply for more next year. This is a hardship on our family...but I'm hoping it's only one year.

Also, my 17 year old daughter was accepted to the same university, and she has been awarded two scholarships so far. She is graduating with 75 college credits and has a strong gpa, so we are optimistic for more scholarships for her hard work. The scholarship awards arrive mainly in March.

So, I will have 3 (16, 17, 20)of my 4 at the same university next year. Kind of exciting in our house!

(BTW does anyone know of a forum more geared to gifted kids and their parents that are high school/college aged?)

Congrats janyne too all the college entrants! I can't even imagine!!!!

Well DS8.5 surprised me tonight. I was quite impressed with his reasoning even though he didn't get it exactly right. Perhaps most 8yr olds would get this but I was impressed.

This is from Zaccaro's Math book but I used my own numbers b/c I didn't feel like getting the book out.

I said "THere are 10 doors and a prize behind one of the doors. What are the odds of picking the right door?"
he said, "1 in 10."
I said, "So the host opens all the doors except #8 (your choice) and #1." (he doesn't open either door). What is the odd of door #1 being the one?
he said, "1 in 2"
I said, "What is the odd of door #8 being the correct one?" - here's where he shocked me.
He said, "1 in 10." (he got that the odds didn't change for his choice. And we've not done any probability beyond flipping coins).
I said, "Do you stay with your choice or choose door #1?"
He said, "Well the host doesn't want to give me the prize and wants to trick me into changing."
I said, "Don't go on emotion, just look at the numbers."
He said, "I'd stay with door #8."

At this point he smiled and said, "No, I'd choose door #1. That was is 1 in 2 chances of being it."

Now it's really 9 in 10 chance for door #1 but he got that the odds for door 1 was different from door 2, and that the odds for door 2 hadn't changed w/ all the others being opened.

Here's what Zaccaro says:
Zaccaro did the problem w/ just 3 doors rather than 10.

"this problem is so counter-intuitive that some of the smartest people in the world not only answer incorrectly that the contestant's chances are 1 in 2 for both doors, but they refuse to believe the correct answer when they hear it. The correct answer is that if the contestant keeps her original door, her chances of winning are 1 in 3. If she switches doors, her chances of winning would be 2 in 3." (not in 1 in 3). So she has double the chance of winning if she switches.

Dazed,

I need the name of that book, my son will be in love!!!

Here it is. 10 Things Every Mathematician and Scientist Should Know but are rarely taught

Ah, we had a mom scold our dd at pre-school for insisting she could read - because obviously she was lying. That was certainly a confusing message. The next kid insisted that kids "can't" read until they are 5 when they are supposed to start K. So she stopped reading - at least when you were watching - on her 5th birthday she is now reading again. Just don't let anyone tell her she shouldn't have the chapter books or it'll be another long year.

Brag on ds (recently turned 3)

He and a friend had monster truck races today. This evening, as he told his father about the races, he held two pieces of plastic toy fruit in his hands.

"Pretend these grapes are his truck. Pretend the strawberry is my truck. Mine was faster. It went like this: ready, set, race!" He held the fruit up in front of his face and zoomed the strawberry past the grapes.

Okay, so he didn't use all of those consonants, but that's what he was saying. I love little boys: they're too cute! (Especially my own, of course!)

oh Kickball, how horrible for your DD. I certainly hope no one says she shouldn't be reading chapter books but I've heard it said before!