Program Name:  The Magical Web

Location:  Cottage Elementary School, 2221 Morse Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95825

Principal Investigator(s):  Professor Lynda Stone, Department of Child and Human Development

Site Description:

The Magical Web after school computer club, an adaptation of the Fifth Dimension model, serves elementary school students at Cottage Elementary School in Carmichael.  The Magical Web provides motivating learning activities that involve a variety of academic content for two days each week. Activities include collaborative online and offline activities:  together with CSU Sacramento undergraduates, children read, write stories, do art projects, and sports activities. An important goal of this site is to nurture positive motivations for learning through project-based activities that encourage reflection and critical thinking. Undergraduates participate as mentors and tutors by enrolling in the service learning course offered by the Department of Child and Human Development at CSU Sacramento; this department-wide course includes a special mini-course that explores sociocultural theories of learning, literacy, and identity development for UC Links undergraduates.

Courses: 

• Child & Human Development 144 (undergraduate) or 244 (graduate): Community Service Learning, Developmental and Educational Settings
•  Sociocultural Theories of Development and Tutoring

Participants (based on 2005-06 data): 

• Approximately 40 1st-6th grade students per academic year
• 56% White, 15% Latino, 12% African American, 5% Asian
• 56% male, 44% female
• 27% English language learners
• Approximately 10 undergraduates and 1 graduate student per academic year

Collaborators: 

• Department of Human Development, CSU Sacramento
• Cottage Elementary School in the San Juan School District

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
• Promote literacy development and competency in problem-solving.
• Conduct research focusing on motivation and self-regulated learning during literacy learning
• 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: 

• Game play
• Literacy activities

Evaluation: 

• University of California Student Academic Preparation and Educational Partnerships (SAPEP) Annual Performance Report
• UC Links Reading Assessment
• Comparison of site participants with a matched group of non-participants on the English language arts and math  components on the CA Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR)
• Survey of undergraduate interest in pursuing graduate or professional school studies

Research focus:

• A sociocultural theoretical perspective on informal learning and literacy development
• Children’s motivations related to complex literacy learning over time
• Vocabulary development
• Undergraduates perceptions of the value of participation at the site
• Parents’ perceptions of the value of their children’s participation