University of California, San Diego

Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition

Project Coordinator
Honorine D. Nocon, Ph.D.
hnocon@weber.ucsd.edu

World Name: Fifthdim
 

Project Description

Dr. Michael Cole and researchers at the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, LCHC, have been conducting research in learning with computers and implementing after-school informal education programs since 1982. Fifth Dimension programs, based on a model originally developed at LCHC, are currently running at all University of California campuses,, other California campuses, including San Diego State University and Whittier College, and in North Carolina, Delaware, and New York, New Fifth Dimensions are under development at the University of Miami, Florida, and the University of Colorado, Denver. There are also Fifth Dimensions running in Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Finland, Russia, Australia, Denmark and Sweden. One special characteristic of the Fifth Dimension research projects is that the researchers and practitioners associated with the different projects are linked through telecommunication and visits between sites. Currently our colleagues in Ronneby, Sweden, and Copenhagen, Denmark are experimenting with real-time international communication and co-construction in the "femtedim" world in Active Worlds. We have been very impressed with the learning opportunities mediated by participation in Active Worlds. Therefore, we are seeking to introduce Active Worlds into our local, LCHC-run, Fifth Dimension program. This program runs at a Boys and Girls Club and is supported by a practicum class in child development that places UCSD undergraduates at the Fifth Dimension of 1.5 hours a day, for days per week during three academic quarters per year. We are interested in introducing Active Worlds as an activity in the Fifth Dimension that will coordinate with the local Boys and Girls Club program, Project Learn. We see great promise in using Active Worlds as a learning tool and as a potential medium for communication and collaboration with Fifth Dimensions in the Western United States and Mexico. Because the Fifth Dimension is a teaching, service, and research project, we will have both the interest and the mechanisms in place to study the introduction of Active Worlds in the Fifth Dimension and its role in development of the project's social learning context. I am attaching brief descriptions of the Fifth Dimensions and the associated practicum course.