Adaptive Training of Representational Flexibility for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

Cognitive representational flexibility is the ability to use multiple external representations, switch flexibly between them, and select or generate appropriate representations for particular tasks. This cognitive capability is critical for the practices of computational thinking and problem solving across STEM and computing domains. However, the development and enactment of representational flexibility in cognitive processes is effortful and demanding for most learners, but particularly so for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Evidence suggests that students with ASD enrolling in colleges are more likely than members of the general population or other disability groups to gravitate toward STEM-related majors, but their need for training in representational flexibility has been identified as a barrier to their college enrollment. This project aims to study individualized training of representational flexibility for STEM and computational reasoning and problem solving among adolescents with ASD, hence addressing a significant barrier to college enrollment of this learner group who otherwise have the potential to become future sources of STEM talent. Researchers will utilize 3D virtual reality (VR) with body sensory technologies to create an adaptive, representational flexibility training program that helps participants learn how to design and code simulations and games in a 3D virtual-reality context. This program, called Force and Motion-Adaptive Representation (FM-AR), will facilitate participants' ability to select, connect, convert, and construct multimodal representations of physics and mathematics problems while practicing and experimenting with computational concepts during VR-based simulation design and programming. As a result of the powerful innovation and application of computing in STEM disciplines, the STEM+C program supports research and development of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to the integration of computing within STEM teaching and learning for preK-12 students in both formal and informal settings. This interdisciplinary project will advance the research and practice of STEM+Computing education by investigating representational flexibility as the critical threshold for integrating computational thinking in and across STEM domains, and specifying the conditions that lead to the development and manifestation of representational flexibility, especially for learners with special needs. Via a design-based, mixed-method research of the computational behaviors of adolescents with ASD and their learning outcomes in the FM-AR program, the following research questions will be investigated: 1. What representational practices will adolescents with ASD implement during FM-AR-supported simulation design and programming? 2. How and under what circumstances will adolescents with ASD demonstrate representational flexibility for computational reasoning and scientific/mathematical problem solving? 3. How will adolescents with ASD interact with adaptive representational-practice support in FM-AR? What is the effect of the adaptive support on participants? development of representational flexibility during physics- and math-related computational practices? Researchers will study the above research questions with (a) individualized selection and presentation of representational-practice tasks in variant types and flexibility demands; (b) representational performance assessment via real-time learner data mining and modeling; and (c) assessment-driven cues and prompts to scaffold representation interpretation, comparison, coordination, and adaptation during physics- and mathematics-related computational practices. This project aims to generate a conceptual and design framework governing the design and research of a STEM+Computing learning environment that scaffolds representational flexibility for a heterogeneous learner group. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.