Controlling by Touch: BioVlog 9 of 384

Mr. Brian uses physical, three-dimensional games and puzzles to teach us to think logically and to analyze how objects can be physically manipulated with our fingers and touch. 

One hands-on game is an ancient logic puzzle called, The Tower of Hanoi. After mastering it I realize it’s possible to use cards to play a more challenging version of Tower of Hanoi as the cards will hide the formula. I call my new game, BATTY, because, “it drives me Batty!”

However, my favorite class time is when Mr. Brian teaches some magic, such as transforming a stack of nickels into dimes, or cutting and restoring a length of string by putting the snipped ends into his mouth as my VH pal, Reuben and I hold the ends, only to pull the uncut string out from between Mr. Brian’s lips. I absolutely love this! Learning magic tricks is another dexterity-heightening skill that gives me an opportunity to master the control of objects that I can hold in my fingers. 

It’s my turn to amaze. I take out my cards but Ruben stops me. “Hold it!” He says. “You said you can do your tricks with my cards. Use these!”

“Okay,” I tell him.  “I’ll use your deck.”  I spread out the cards and say, “Ruben, pick a card and look at it.”Like me he places it an inch from his eye to identify it then shows Mr. Brian and Mrs. Smith before he returns it to the deck. To everyone’s amazement, I immediately locate his card. Mrs. Smith watches as Ruben and I play games of cards, noticing that Ruben is baffled by how I always win. Mrs. Smith asks questioningly, “Ricky, why do you like cards so much?”

“It’s because some tricks I don’t need to see,” I explain, “with my fingers I can feel what I am doing.”