Vol. 1, No. 1 | Spring 2002
UNDERGRADUATE VOICES
The Fifth Dimension at the Play Pen Escola Jardim school in São Paulo, Brazil, offers computer-based activities to preschool and elementary school children during the school day. In addition to working and playing on computers, children correspond with Golfinho, a magical dolphin who oversees the Fifth Dimension activities. Corresponding with Golfinho gives children an opportunity to develop language and literacy skills. The program was developed in 1999 by Play Pen students and teachers with the assistance of Lora Taub, who had previously worked in California with the Fifth Dimension UC Links site in Solana Beach and with the UC Links Statewide Office in Berkeley.
From Berkeley to Brazil through the Fifth Dimension
BY EVA AGUILERA AND JON PETERSON
Our names are Eva and Jon. One of us (Eva) is from Spain and one of us (Jon) is from California. We were students in two different UC Links courses at UC Berkeley last year. When we graduated, we wanted to keep playing and learning with kids. Now we're spending a year in São Paulo, Brazil, coordinating a Fifth Dimension and building on the work of Lora Taub, who founded the program in the Play Pen Escola Cidade Jardim school. We collaborate with children and their teachers, each of us contributing to the magic and interactive learning of the program through different languages and cultural experiences. The Fifth D here is a wonderful space for bilingualism, and there is a continuous mixture of English and Portuguese (and even a little bit of Spanish once in a while).
One way our Fifth Dimension is different from many UC Links sites is that it takes place in a school during regular school hours. This creates an environment for learning and interacting among teachers and students of various ages that is unlike others we have seen or read about. When we were undergraduates in California, we worked in two different Bay Area UC Links sites, where we interacted primarily with children at one grade level. Here we work with kids at all levels, from preschoolers to eighth graders. Each class spends one hour a week in the Fifth Dimension. Older students in the school, not undergraduates, help the younger kids. These assistants also spend an extra hour in the Fifth D, preparing activities, playing, and writing letters to the smaller children.
One aspect of our program in Brazil that interests us is relationship-building among the students. Kids take a variety of responsibilities depending on the roles they play in the Fifth Dimension. For instance, Golfinho, the magical dolphin who supervises our program, receives weekly letters from younger kids. The fifth- through eighth-grade student assistants are messengers between Golfinho and the younger children. Continuous communication between Golfy and the children helps strengthen friendships and helps build trust in the Fifth Dimension. In addition, each assistant works with the same group of kids for a semester, preparing a variety of activities both on and off the computers to keep the kids challenged.
Right now we are starting a pen pal program. We'd like our students to find out more about other Fifth Dimensions and UC Links sites around the world. Although they are aware of the existence of other programs, kids here don't realize that their magical world is connected with other magical worlds. We would like them to realize that children from other countries have similar experiences. Therefore, please do not hesitate to contact us. Hearing from you would bring lots of smiles and would make Golfinho and all of us very happy.
Beijos com sabor de strawberry shiny stars covered with children's laughs!
Eva Aguilera and Jon Peterson graduated from UC Berkeley in 2001. You can contact Eva via email at emam73@hotmail.com and Jon at jpete210@hotmail.com.
La Clase Mágica: New Communities of Learners
HumaniFest Online: Linking Humanities Out There and the Whittier Fifth Dimension
The Magical Web Fifth Dimension
Digital Storytelling in West Oakland
Undergraduate Voices
Eva Aguilera and Jon Peterson
Brianna Guillermo-Newton, Miranda Cheang, and Robyn Rachac
Links for Kids
How to Make Links: Social Capital and Community-University Collaboration
Growing up with UC Links: An Interview with Jesse Paulos