Any answer is better than 'I don't know'.
for grown-ups
What we actually know
There's nothing to look up here, so this round works it out. The crew is lost between two tracks. Kea picks the left one at once, loudly, as if it were a fact. The Echo repeats it, louder each time, until it sounds settled: "Everyone says so." Rock says it doesn't know, and goes to look for the marker. It points right.
What the round shows is what a confident answer costs when it is only a guess. A guess is fine when you call it a guess. "My best guess is the left track" is a different answer from "It's that way", because the first one invites someone to check. A child who agrees has met something real: in class, saying something does feel better than silence. The round keeps that, and asks what the answer is for.
No study is behind this one, and the round doesn't say "I don't know" is always the best thing to say. It says an answer that sounds surer than it is can send a crew the wrong way.
What kids usually bring
- "In class, saying something is better than saying nothing." True of class, and the round says so. The question is what happens after the answer.
- "Someone told me you should always have an answer." Kea's view too. It's a rule of thumb for staying in the conversation, not a rule about what's true.
- "Saying 'I don't know' means you aren't trying." A common worry. Rock's reply is that looking for the marker was trying.
- "A guess is OK if you say it's a guess." The heart of it, in a child's words. A child who brings this is ahead of Kea.
- "A wrong answer can send people the wrong way." Right, and Kea's own answer nearly does.
At dinner
Try it with a real question. Ask something you don't know the answer to together ("How many steps is it to the end of the street?" or "What time does the moon rise tonight?"). Take turns giving an answer in two ways: "It's 80!" and "My best guess is 80." Then ask which one makes you want to go and count.
Ask: "What could we say instead of 'I don't know'?" ("My best guess is...", "Let's find out.")
Then the one rule: say their reason back before you give yours.
The round never tells your child what to think. This card tells you what we know, so you're never caught out. If your child wants to argue with it, that is the point.
