Fifth Dimension Overview

Background

The Fifth Dimension in Whittier, California, USA, near Los Angeles, is one in a network of Fifth Dimension sites that extends across the USA and around the world. Nearly all Fifth Dimensions (including Whittier's) meet during after-school hours and serve children of socially-economically-politically marginalized groups. Their primary goal is to extend children's overall cognitive and social development.

Initially developed during the 1980's at the University of California, San Diego's Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition (LCHC), the Fifth Dimension is based in a family of theoretical perspectives that include cultural-historical activity theory and sociocultural psychology. In line with these perspectives, the Fifth Dimension motivates children's participation and situates their learning in everday cultural activities, especially play.

Fifth Dimension activity centers a variety of educational computer games, telecommunications tasks, and Internet investigations that require reading, writing, mathematics, and logical problem solving. These are set in a playful activity system overseen by mythical figurehead said to be the Fifth Dimension's patron. (At the Whittier Fifth Dimension, that patron is the Wizard.) The figurehead corresponds with children regularly through e-mail, complimenting their progress, responding to their personal stories, offering hints and encouragement, and arbitrating Fifth Dimension rules.

Children's participation is always voluntary, and children have recurrent choices of what activities to do and at what level of expertise to do them. Choice encourages participants to form the personal goals that drive learning.

Intergenerational collaboration is also an important part of every Fifth Dimension. At each site, students from a local college or university (in Whittier, undergraduates from Whittier College) play alongside children as partners throughout every activity. In these partnerships, the roles of learner and teacher are flexibly shared by undergraduates and children. While undergraduates may know more about the academic content of activities, the children frequently know more about game procedures and Fifth Dimension culture. Moreover, undergraduate partners are encouraged to follow the principle, "Help as little as possible -- but as much as necessary for the children to make progress and have fun."

Each Fifth Dimension is operated in partnership by a community organization and a nearby university or college. In most locations, the community organization (e.g., Boys & Girls Club, community center, school, church) provides space and other resources for the program. The college or university maintains a Fifth-Dimension-affiliated course through which students serve in the Fifth Dimension. These are located in various departments, e.g., child development, education, or communication. Undergraduates in the affiliated course participate at the community site once or twice each week as a field-based learning experience. University faculty conduct research at the Fifth Dimension.

The Fifth Dimension system honors local contexts and privileges human diversity in site development. Thus, while all Fifth Dimension sites have common theoretical roots and the general organizational features described above, each has a unique culture shaped by its history and context. Whittier's Fifth Dimension, described in detail through these web pages, has been recurrently recognized as an exemplary site by visitors from the worldwide Fifth Dimension consortium and from local organizations.

• Whittier Overview and College-Community Partnership describes the unique operation and organization of the Whittier Fifth Dimension..
  
  
• The Wizard's Guide presents a comprehensive description of the Whittier Fifth Dimension's procedures and rules.
  
  
• The Virtual Fifth Dimension Clearinghouse and Propagation Center provides a discussion of underlying principles, tools and resources for beginning new Fifth Dimension sites, and much more.

Whittier Fifth Dimension in Overview

The Whittier Fifth Dimension has two primary goals: (1) to extend children's cognitive and social development through computer-mediated activity; and (2) to encourage children to build relationships with college students who can serve as friends, mentors, and role models. In addition, the Fifth Dimension provides learning opportunities for Whittier College students who are interested in education, children, or community action.

Whittier Fifth Dimension activity is organized by two tabletop mazes, each about a meter square. One is called simply the Maze and has 21 rooms. The second, with 13 rooms, is known as the SuperMaze. Each room in the Maze and the SuperMaze gives access to two or three different activities. About 90 percent are educational computer games (the Carmen Sandiego games, Oregon Trail, Storybook Weaver, the Thinkin' Things series) or telecommunications activities (Internet searches, e-mail correspondence, etc.). The remainder are board games that involve strategic thinking, math, and reading, e.g., Othello, Mankala, Clue, and Boggle.

Maps of the Maze and the SuperMaze

Children begin their Fifth Dimension journey by "entering" the Maze through one of four outside doors, using a small "creature" to represent them and mark their location. They choose one of the activities available in the Maze room that they have entered. Adventure cards designed for each activity specify challenges to be completed at one of three levels of expertise: beginner, good, and expert. (Whittier's adventure cards and other materials are printed in both Spanish and English.) The child selects a level of expertise and pursues the chosen activity, trying to fulfill the adventure-card challenges listed for the selected level of expertise. A college student "Wizard's Assistant" (WA) plays as the child's partner following the Prime Directive: Help as little as possible-- but as much as necessary for the child to make progress and have a good time.

Nearly every adventure-card challenge includes writing: often a letter to the Wizard or Hints for the Hints Books, sometimes a letter to kids in another Fifth Dimension. Children have to complete these writing activities, along with other challenges listed on the adventure card, before moving on to another room.

The Whittier Maze & SuperMaze

The Fifth Dimension's structure provides a variety of inducements for children to continue play and accept greater challenges. Movement to a new room in the Maze or SuperMaze depends upon the level of play completed -- beginner, good, or expert. Completing the beginner level gives no choice: only one room is available to visit next. Completing the good level results in a few choices. Completing the expert level in a room gives a citizen many choices of rooms to visit next. Consequences maps on the wall -- one for the Maze, one for the SuperMaze -- show the "next room" options from every room, for each play level.

Checking the Consequences Map

In addition, games that children find especially attractive are distributed throughout the mazes, but children can only reach them by completing the activities situated in previous rooms. Completion of the loop of rooms that can be accessed at one play level enables children to "transform" their "creatures": that is, to trade in their current maze marker for a more attractive one. Completion of all Maze rooms, including 10 at the expert level, earns the child the privileged position of Maze Magician. Maze Magicians are entitled to enter the SuperMaze and continue play there, proceeding through SuperMaze rooms and activities in the same manner as in the Maze. Children who complete the SuperMaze can petition for the privileged position of Young Wizard's Assistant (YWA). YWAs wear a special tee shirt, assist new Fifth Dimension "citizens" with their play, and engage in special activities designated by the Wizard. Other goals become personally meaningful for children, too: developing a relationship with a caring college student; getting to play a favored game before a friend does; displaying computer or game expertise to older (and sometimes less adept) college helpers; or handling flashy, high-tech equipment.

A Fifth Dimension Constitution sets forth basic rules that can be modified by collective, community decision. Free passes and other documents dispensed selectively by the Wizard give players greater latitude of movement in each maze. Reference books and maps helpful in many of the games are always available. Each child also keeps a journey log, recording completed rooms and activities.

The Wizard?

The Wizard is the central figure in the Fifth Dimension. It is said that she or he or it (no one really knows!) appeared once upon a time to take charge of the Fifth Dimension when adults could not cope with all the problems of running it. The Wizard is the author of the Fifth Dimension Constitution, the provider of software and games, the arbiter of all disputes, and a valuable source of game hints and strategies. Absent-minded and whimsical, she (he, it) is also reputedly the force behind any and all technological problems. The Wizard dwells only in virtual space and so is regularly accessible only through electronic mail. Occasionally, however, the Wizard also conducts "live" computer chats with Fifth Dimension citizens.

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Whittier's College-Community Partnership

Nearly every Fifth Dimension site is sustained by a partnership between a college or university and a community institution. The Whittier Fifth Dimension provides one example of how these partnerships work.

Whittier's English-Spanish bilingual Fifth Dimension was opened in 1993 at the Boys & Girls Club of Whittier, an affiliate of a nationwide, youth-service organization in the USA: The Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Today, the Whittier Fifth Dimension takes place in three rooms at the club every Monday through Thursday, 3:30 to 5:00 p.m., throughout the Whittier College academic year. The club's location provides easy access for children from five elementary and two middle schools. Many families in the neighborhoods around the club use it for inexpensive, after-school care.

La Ciudad Encantada, a sister site to Whittier's Boys & Girls Club Fifth Dimension, is coordinated by a team of six mothers from Whittier's Latino community. Located at West Whittier Elementary School, it serves over 40 children a day Tuesday through Friday, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., in collaboration with the Whittier City School District's "Reach for the Stars" after school program.

At the Boys & Girls Club, children ages 7 through 14 years participate in the Fifth Dimension on a voluntary basis, choosing it from among the club's other afternoon activities. Although children can leave whenever they wish to, most remain for the entire hour-and-a-half session. During the 2002-2003 school year, 232 children (118 girls, 114 boys) took part in the program. About 85 percent were from Latino (primarily Chicano and Mexicano) families.

The Boys & Girls Club's Executive Director, its Program Director, and its Director of Activities work closely and supportively with Whittier College Department of Education and Child Development faculty who oversee the Fifth Dimension and related programs. The club maintains the Fifth Dimension's physical facilities and helps with the cost of program software and other supplies. Whittier College Computer Center staff provide technical support and maintain equipment. Whittier College undergraduate students assist children with their Fifth Dimension activities, playing alongside them one-to-one as partners throughout every session.

The McCabe Scholars Team, a specially selected group of outstanding Whittier College undergraduates, is essential to the Whittier Fifth Dimension. In addition to assisting children one-to-one with program activities, team members coordinate daily operations and ongoing development (software selection, materials design, procedural revisions, etc.). Other Whittier undergraduates participate in the Fifth Dimension one day a week as a field-experience requirement for an undergraduate teacher-education class: Education 406, Learning and Learners. Still other Whittier College students serve in the Fifth Dimension as volunteers. A team of community members also provides a program that complements the Fifth Dimension with digital photography and video activities.

The B. C. McCABE FOUNDATION, a philanthropic organization located in Whittier, supports the Whittier Fifth Dimension through a generous grant to Whittier College. The greatest portion of the grant provides college financial aid for the McCabe Scholars Team. The McCabe grant also provides Fifth Dimension hardware and software, funds related McCabe programs coordinated by the McCabe Scholars, and compensates parents who serve in La Ciudad Encantada.

The Whittier Fifth Dimension collaborates with other Fifth Dimension sites in California, across the United States, and around the globe. Cross-site site activities for both children and undergraduate students are a regular part of the program.