Learning about technology in a non-instructional environment

Our after-school recreational activity system (called "The Fifth Dimension") has the goal of encouraging multiple literacies in school-aged children, including computer literacy. In keeping with its recreational, noninstructional flavor, there is no formal computer curriculum, despite the prevalence of computer use. The current research addresses the effects of exposure to this environment on children's computer knowledge, hypothesizing that participants' greater familiarity with the meanings and relationships among technical terms would lead to improved performance on a memory task. Memory for words that were neutral with respect to the Fifth Dimension was compared to memory for words that were specific to our computer tools and words associated with other aspects of the Fifth Dimension. Fifth Dimension novices were compared to children who had visited at least eleven times. Experts were biased toward recognizing both types of relevant words over neutral words, while novices showed the opposite pattern. Recall data showed similar effects. This specific improvement in computer knowledge as a consequence of participation is consistent with several other measures of how computer expertise is influenced by Fifth Dimension experience.