[MB has come down from evening study hall to do some more protocols with me.
He is a sophomore in high school and one of the strongest readers in the
school, as measured by his standardized test scores. However, he lacks a
certain degree of confidence, and seems to be enjoying himself. Of course,
I'd like to think he was participating because he was having some fun, but
perhaps he just wanted to get out of study hall. As we begin and set up the
tape recorder and microphone, we are talking about the last set of texts he
read, which focused on the work "vedosarn," a nonword substitution for
"taciturn." I ask MB if he remembers what it meant.]
*MB
Into themselves, boring. Not boring, but kind of felt above others. There
were a lot things.
*KW
Not very talkative, right? Laconic.
*MB
Yeah. [there is some unclear dialogue here - I think KW is talking on the
phone or talking about or talking to another student who wanted to come in
and work on the study. MB turns the tape off.]
*KW
[hands him the text set for "quamogerate" and begins to explain the task. MB
turns the tape back on] We're not seeking a synonym for quamogerate, but
more elaborated, fleshed out definition.
*MB
[reads passage 1 aloud, which today appears to be his preferred mode] I
think they reproduce like rabbits. 
*KW
Why?
*MB
Because rabbits reproduce a lot. 
*KW
Okay.
*MB
I'm sorry, I'm supposed to say more here. "Grow in the lab," because it's
also like growing in the lab, quamerate, "quamogerate like rabbits," like
make more of. 
[he turns to passage 2 and reads it aloud] "Two opponents of using embryos,"
[then stops and asks] Two - opponents using embroyos? Like two bad things?
*KW
Sort of.
*MB
[reading aloud]. "this ends the debate. Why "kill anybody," as Senator Sam
Brownback put it," [paraphrasing that verb used to describe the Senator's
speech] To say so! "as Senator Brownback put it, referring to stem cells
from IVF embryos." [stops and interjects his opinion, something KW
encourages MB and his classmates to do while they are reading
collaboratively in her classroom] That's so stupid! Why kill someone?" Do
you know what I mean? If you're saving somebody who's alive and you're not
even, you're killing something that's not even human, that's unborn, I don't
understand. [resumes reading mid-sentence at "when you can instead" and
reads through "They seem to quamogerate more slowly than the embryonic
ones."] Oh, this one is really easy. This one is to make more, reproduce.
*KW
Okay. What gives you that idea?
*MB
Because, "but adult stem cells may not live up to their name. They seem to
quamerate [sic] more slowly than the embryonic ones." So they don't make
more or they're not as strong or they're not as powerful or [inhales loudly
and reads last clause in passage aloud] "so might not provide an
ever-renewing source of new cells to replace those lost to, say, arthritis."
[his voice goes up like a question, then he pauses and concludes] Huh!
*KW
[tape unclear, but the probe was something like:] Does this support your
hypothesis?
*MB
[handwritten notes indicate MB looked puzzles here, as if this confused him]
I don't know. "So might not provide an ever renewing source of new cells." 
[pauses and looks again. Then turns and reads part of passage 3 aloud] "The
Gulf seems to be headed for the same problems that are obvious in the
Chesapeake, but on a larger scale. Fed by a chemical runoff, algal blooms
have spread, causing ever-enlarging oxygen" - yeah, I know it's reproduce,
because algae reproduces - "oxygen depleted dead zones. And jellyfish are
quamogerating, both a native species and a gigantic Pacific species.
Researchers believe the swollen jellyfish population could have a
devastating effect on" - Yeah, it's definitely to make more or make bigger
or reproduce or something.
*KW
Are there any, um, qualifiers that you want to put with "reproduce?" More
like reproduce in a particular kind of way?
*MB
Um [scans and mumbles some words in the text I can't catch]. Yeah, in like
a, uh, a dangerous kind of way.
*KW
Oh! Where did you get that?
*MB
>From the jellyfish making um, there are too many of them. The jellyfish
"attack the eggs and larvae." Yeah. It could also be like a dangerous
species or a dangerous reproduction, like too many or not enough, because
there wasn't enough stem cells from the um, adult, only from the embryonic
ones. So it could be a kind of disadvantage in reproduction.
*KW
Okay. [pauses and makes notes] I am writing this down because I don't trust
my technology.
*MB
[looks questioningly at the little tape recorder and agrees] Yeah.
*KW
[laughs]
*MB
Understand that? [KW nods, so he moves on to passage 4 and reads aloud. He
reads rather recursively, circling back to the target sentence three times
before concluding:] Yeah, it's to make more or to reproduce or in a bad or,
I don't know, in a not needed way, because cancer cells, when they
reproduce, it's really bad, and it's just like replicate in a bad way.
*KW
Okay. So do you feel ready to formulate a dictionary-like definition?
*MB
Um hmm
*KW
Okay What part of speech would you say "quamogerate" was?
*MB
Um, the "cells quamogerate." Uh....I forget, uh, it's a.....An action is a
verb, so "to quamogerate" right, would be a verb?
*KW
Good! You're really good at this. I know you know that. [he closes up the
packet and hands it back to her] I need to give you something harder, huh?
*MB
[a little flattered] No!

"Quamogerate" Passages - MB - April 29, 2002	Page 1
CVA Think-Aloud Protocols - K. Wieland