PILOT STUDIES

Kidspace , then, was designed to focus on features that met the response-based criteria established by the "Multimedia and Literature Teaching and Learning" project, and revised and refined in laboratory trials. What works in the laboratory, however, does not necessarily work in the classroom; thus Kidspace was also pilot tested in actual classroom settings. Our goals in examining the prototype in actual classroom contexts were threefold.

First, we wanted to see whether the software would/could be used in the ways we had imagined.

Second, we wished to establish what classroom contexts might be most conducive to such imagined practice.

Third, we wished to determine whether and how response-based multimedia contributed to students' development of literary understandings.

Students and Classes

Six elementary classes participated in the piloting of Kidspace . Students and classes were chosen to reflect varying grade levels, student populations, and learning environments from among volunteers who shared a common whole language/literature-based approach to reading instruction and previous classroom experience with computers. Four classes -- two classrooms each from an urban Montessori school (a combined first and second grade and a combined third and fourth grade) and a suburban elementary school (a combined second and third grade and a fifth grade) -- participated in the project over a two and one half month period in the spring of 1995. Because serious technical problems developed during this first trial, Kidspace was reworked and briefly tested, mostly for technical reasons, in two additional classrooms in a private rural elementary school where one of the authors is the computer teacher (a combined third and fourth grade and a combined fifth and sixth grade). This second study took place for two weeks at the close of the 1995/1996 school year.

The student population at the Montessori school was multicultural, with about equal numbers of white, African-American, and Hispanic students from working class backgrounds. Students at the suburban school were predominantly white and came from middle to upper middle class backgrounds. Students at the rural elementary school were exclusively white and represented a full range of socio-economic backgrounds.

Teachers in all six participating classes used a whole language approach to the teaching and learning of reading that relied exclusively on children's literature rather than basal readers for their primary texts. Teachers in the Montessori school seemed to put a greater emphasis on individualized reading, and teachers in the suburban elementary school seemed to put a greater emphasis on skills development, but all six teachers combined individualized reading and skills development with reading group work. All six teachers also classified themselves as "computer literate" and had experience assigning math and language arts activities on computers in their classroom. Without exception, participating students also had experience using computers for math, word processing, and games, both in school and out.

The learning environment in the Montessori classrooms appeared to be in keeping with how we envisioned Kidspace being integrated to best effect. Montessori education is grounded in a constructive philosophy of learning which centers on student creation of knowledge through the guided manipulation of an extensive collection of classroom materials. In addition, the Montessori notion of providing children with opportunities to take charge of their own learning processes and to do so in a social/collaborative framework (Standing, 1962) complements the design and aim of Kidspace .

In the suburban classrooms, one the other hand, the use of Kidspace represented a break from everyday classroom activities. Although the combined second and third grade classroom had an established pattern of small group work, teaching and learning was still predominantly teacher-centered, and independent work on the computer that was not drill-based was still something novel for both the students and the teacher. Establishing a place and a pattern for using the software was, therefore, more subject to constraints. Such constraints were even more evident in the fifth grade classroom, where a pattern of teacher-led activities had been thoroughly established.

The private, rural school classrooms fell somewhere between other public school classrooms. In terms of classroom environment, they were, if anything, more child-centered than the Montessori classrooms. Both classes were very small (12 and 13 students respectively) and project-oriented. In terms of epistemology, however, the classes were more traditional -- somewhat less constructivist than the Montessori classes, somewhat more constructivist than their suburban counterparts. In addition, in these classrooms, use of Kidspace was relegated to "computer times" -- mornings when the "computer teacher" (one of the authors) was available.

Table 9 summarizes the ways in which Kidspace became integrated into the daily routines of the six classrooms. Differences in socio-physical space, scheduling, instructions given students for using Kidspace , and constraints governing its use are outlined.

Table 9
Classroom Implementations of Kidspace

	Socio-Physical Context	Scheduling	Instruction	Constraints
Montessori 1st and 2nd	Computer brought into room on cart as one of many hands-on centers in room.	Teacher sceduled pairs to work in 45-minute sessions throughout the school day.	Children were told to work in pairs and to write and respond to others' work.	Time allotted each child; first graders' lack of writing skills.
Montessori 3rd and 4th	Computer situated as an additional learning center next to the reading center.	Teacher scheduled individual students and, later, pairs for 45-minute sessions	Children were directed to write stories and to examine and respond to others' work.	Distractions from room to room noise; competition for mouse and keyboard control.
Traditional 2nd and 3rd	Computer was in the back of teacher-centered classroom.	Individuals worked for timed 20-minute sessions whenever scheduling permitted.	Children were told to explore the spaces, to compose, and to respond to each others' work.	Distraction from teacher-directed activities; time allotted was too short.
Traditional 5th grade	Computer was in the back of teacher-centered classroom.	Individuals worked for 20-minute periods, three times per week.	Teacher told students to read and respond to each others' writings.	Students unaccustomed to individualized work; distraction from other activities; time too short.
Private 3rd and 4th	Computer located in an activity area separated from main classroom.	Students worked in small groups for one 30-minute session and individually for one 30-minute session.	Children encouraged to compose in Cricket Village, write reading responses in the Exploratory Mission.	Time(total) too short for extended use of spaces; no time allotted outside of computer time.
Private 4th and 5th	Computer located in an activity area separated from main classroom.	Students worked in small groups for one 30-minute session and individually for two 30-minute sessions.	Children encouraged to compose in Cricket Village, write reading responses in the Exploratory Mission.	Time(total) too short for extended use of spaces; no time allotted outside of computer time.

Data Gathering and Analysis

Kidspace was designed for children in the first through sixth grades. The overarching goal was to have children use the software as a thinking, construction, and communications tool centered around student-created stories, poetry, and prose. We also looked to teachers to integrate the use of the software with off-line reading and reading-associated activities. In piloting the prototype in classrooms, we were interested to see whether students and teachers naturally engaged in these activities in the ways we had envisioned. We were also interested in the ways teachers went about integrating the use of the software into the daily classroom routine.



In the first four studies, we collected both observational and attitudinal data. Observational data included teacher logs, classroom observations, and student work saved in their individual and collective Kidspace files. Participating teachers were asked to keep a daily log recounting how Kidspace was being used in their classrooms. This was supplemented by visits made to participating classrooms by graduate students participating in the project, who both observed students' use of Kidspace and made videotapes of such usage for later review. All available student work was also saved for review, but equipment problems made this a less than satisfactory source of information. Attitudinal data consisted of a range of questions asked of participating students during and after the pilot period regarding their computer experience, attitudes toward learning in general and reading in particular, and perceptions regarding how computers figured in their reading and writing learning experiences. Participating teachers were also interviewed during the classroom selection process on similar issues, and their attitudes recorded.

In the second study, only observational data was collected. This consisted of students' individual and collective work and the observations of one of the authors who participated in all the students' Kidspace sessions.

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