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Watch this 2-year-old child explore the buttons on a music synthesizer and take note of what she learns about the conditional logic of the button functions; that is, how the lower button, B will turn on the drum cadence or turn it off but only if the power button, A is in the “on” position. We can define this conditional logic as follows: If A is x then B can be x or y. If A is y then B can only be y. By reflecting carefully on her play she discovers this conditional function (B’s function is conditional on, or determined by, the settings on A). Piaget would call this video an example of “self-regulated learning.” We should not reduce this form of learning to the common phrase “trial and error.” To the child’s credit she understands which “trials” will give her the most information. So her trials are not random. What she decides to try comes from her assumptions about possible patterns, possible contingencies.

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Keywords: Music, Logic, Twos

Runtime: 4 minutes 47 seconds