Principal Investigator(s):
- Professor Ruth Tringham, Department of Anthropology
- Professor Margaret Conkey, Department of Anthropology
- Professor Kent Lightfoot, Department of Anthropology
Contact: Tamara Sturak,
Project Director, tamara@manybits.net
Site Description:
The Expedition Program provides technology-based
and hands-on activities for middle school children
in a very diverse, low-income community in East Oakland. Three
afternoons per week, Expedition connects these children,
many of them recent immigrants, with UC Berkeley
undergraduates in guided informal learning activities,
including digital storytelling, interactive photography
and video projects, and guided explorations of a
variety of educational software and web-based resources.
Children also receive homework help and other tutoring
and mentoring assistance. They also gain literacy
and technology knowledge and skills by working with
undergraduates to create personal narratives about
themselves, their families, their community, and
the world at large. Undergraduates take part in the
program by enrolling in Anthropology 136H at the
Department of Anthropology, UC Berkeley, and by carrying
out practicum field work with children in the after-school
setting.
Course: Anthropology
136H: Theory
and Practice in the 6th Grade After School Program
Participants (based on 2005-06
data):
- Approximately 45 6th–8th grade students
per academic year
- 50% Southeast Asian, 25% Latino, 23% African
American
- 45% male, 55% female
- 23% English language learners
- Approximately 35 undergraduates per academic year
Collaborators:
- UC Berkeley Department of Anthropology and
Archaeological Research Facility
- Roosevelt Middle School in the Oakland Unified
School District
- Roosevelt Village Center in Oakland
Goals:
- Provide safe and healthy places after school
for children to learn and develop a sense of
self as participants in a global world
- Promote academic achievement and encourage
low-income youth to pursue paths to higher learning
- Increase technology literacy through computer-based
multi-media storytelling
- Increase English language literacy and critical
thinking
- Increase children’s and undergraduates’ knowledge
of archaeological inquiry
- Improve the quality of graduate and undergraduate
education by connecting academic coursework to
practicum field experience
- Encourage undergraduates
to explore the possibility of a teaching career
in urban, low-income communities
Activities:
- Digital story telling
- Educational software and educational board
games
- Homework help, academic tutoring, and writing
assistance
Evaluation:
- University of California Student Academic Preparation
and Educational Partnerships (SAPEP) Annual Performance
Report
- UC Links Reading Assessment
- Survey of undergraduate interest in pursuing
graduate or professional school studies
Research Focus:
- A sociocultural theoretical perspective on
informal learning and literacy development
- Mediation of learning by material culture
- Impact of the social framing of program activities
on literacy (specifically vocabulary) development
- Analysis of participants’ standardized
test scores in math and English language arts
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