Principal Investigator(s): Professor
Kris Gutierrez, Graduate School of Education & Information
Sciences
Contact: Professor Kris Gutierrez, krisgu@ucla.edu
Site Description:
Las Redes offers technology-based and hands-on resources
and materials to elementary school children in a low-income,
predominantly Latino community in Los Angeles. An
adaptation of the Fifth
Dimension model for after-school learning, Las
Redes engages these children with UCLA undergraduates,
four afternoons per week, in guided informal learning
activities, including digital storytelling, supervised
online (email) communications, and interactive projects
and games using both educational software and hands-on
materials. Children learn multi-media skills by creating
personal narratives about themselves, their families,
and their community. Undergraduates take part in the
program by enrolling in the Ed 194 and Ed 182 series
of courses, in the Graduate School of Education and
Information Studies at UCLA, and by engaging in practicum
field work in the after-school setting.
Courses:
Participants (based on 2005-06
data):
- Approximately 250 K–5th grade students
per academic year
- 93% Latino, 5% African American, 2% Native
Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander
- 40% male, 60% female
- 75% English language learners
- Approximately 120 undergraduates, and 5 graduate
students
Collaborators:
- Graduate School of Education & Information
Sciences, UC Los Angeles
- Moffett Elementary School in the Lennox School
District in Los Angeles County
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
- Improve problem-solving narratives and biliteracy
skills
- 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:
- Collaborative play
- Computer and board games
- Supervised email correspondence
- Digital storytelling
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
- Affect of project literacy activities on student
motivation to participate in literacy learning
- Affect of project literacy activities on the
nature of children’s participation in literacy
activities
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