Design, Development, Implementation, and Testing of an Accessible Computational Thinking Curriculum for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

该项目将1）确定自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）学生将面临的可访问性问题，为主流学生设计的计算思维（CT）课程，2）设计说明，使自闭症谱系障碍学生可以访问主流学生的现有CT课程，3）在一所学校实施无障碍CT课程，并在另一所学校实施自闭症谱系障碍学生的原始CT课程，4）比较无障碍CT课程与原有课程的有效性，以评价其成功性。这将是第一项为ASD学生设计，开发，实施和评估无障碍CT课程的研究。它旨在提供一个公开访问的CT课程资源与学习目标，教学设计和信息呈现方法，评估，反馈，学习环境和专业发展材料，教CT自闭症学生。该项目是专家从业人员和研究人员之间的合作，共同努力实现两个目标。第一个目标是确定适应和住宿，使现有的计算思维（CT）课程与ASD的学生访问。这一目标将通过以下方式实现：1）分析ASD学生学校七年级学生的特征，2）开发适应和住宿，使为主流学生开发的现有CT课程对七年级学生开放。为实现这一目标而收集的数据包括系统的适应和适应文件，包括学习目标、教学设计、信息介绍、评估、反馈和学习环境。第二个目标是在一所学校实施无障碍CT课程，并在另一所学校为ASD学生实施未经调整的原始CT课程，并通过两组重复测量研究来测试其在改善ASD学生的CT概念学习（CTCs）和提高其CT实践流利性（CTPs）发展方面的有效性。为此目的而收集的数据将包括测量学生学习计算机翻译能力的前测和后测，以及测量学生计算机翻译能力流利程度的两次人工制品访谈。ANCOVA测试将确定无障碍CT课程是否有效区分两组CTC的学习和CTP流利性的发展。这将是第一个为ASD学生设计，开发，实施和测试无障碍CT课程的研究，并将为ASD学生提供第一个公开访问的CT课程库。该项目由CS for All计划资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The project will 1) determine accessibility issues students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) would face with a computational thinking (CT) curriculum designed for mainstream students, 2) design instructions to make an existing CT curriculum for mainstream students accessible to students with ASD, 3) implement the accessible CT curriculum in one school and the original CT curriculum in another school for students with ASD, and 4) compare the effectiveness of the accessible CT curriculum to the original one to evaluate its success. This will be the first study to design, develop, implement, and evaluate an accessible CT curriculum for students with ASD. It intends to provide a publicly accessible CT curriculum resource with learning objectives, instructional design and information presentation methods, assessments, feedback, learning environments, and professional development materials to teach CT to students with ASD. This project is a collaboration between expert practitioners and researchers working together to accomplish two objectives. The first objective is to identify adaptations and accommodations to make an existing computational thinking (CT) curriculum accessible to students with ASD. This objective will be accomplished by 1) analyzing seventh graders’ characteristics at a school for students with ASD, and 2) developing adaptations and accommodations to make an existing CT curriculum developed for mainstream students accessible to the seventh-grade students. The data to be collected for this objective consists of systematic documentation of the adaptations and accommodations, including learning objectives, instructional design, information presentation, assessments, feedback, and learning environment. The second objective is to implement the accessible CT curriculum at one school and the original one without the adjustments at another school for students with ASD, and test its effectiveness in improving students with ASDs’ learning of CT concepts (CTCs) and increasing their development of fluency in CT practices (CTPs) through two-group repeated measures study. The data to be collected for this objective will include pre- and post-tests to measure students’ learning of CTCs and two artifact-based interviews to measure their development of fluency in CTPs. ANCOVA tests will determine if the accessible CT curriculum was effective in differentiating the two groups on their learning of CTCs and their development of fluency in CTPs. This will be the first study to design, develop, implement, and test an accessible CT curriculum for students with ASD, and will provide the first publicly accessible CT curriculum repository for students with ASD. This project is funded by the CS for All program.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.