Development of a University-Community Partnership to Offer Informal Computer Science Opportunities to Children and Youth Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder

该项目的目的是建立和促进亚拉巴马大学和艺术与自闭症之间的新伙伴关系，艺术与自闭症是一个社区组织，为诊断为自闭症谱系障碍的儿童和青年提供有监督的课后护理和外展服务。由于残疾人预先存在的社会障碍，如耻辱和缺乏住宿，患有ASD诊断的青年参与许多学习机会的机会有限。对于ASD诊断的个人来说，还有其他特定的障碍，例如感官敏感性和社交交流减少，这阻碍了他们的充分参与。与一个为ASD儿童和青少年服务的组织合作，将提供一个创新的结构，以定制一个专注于机器人和编码的非正式学习计划。该项目的目标是与利益相关者，包括工作人员（n=4），10-14岁的儿童和青少年诊断为ASD（n=5-10），以及被诊断为ASD的个人的父母（n=10-20），以确定和记录他们的需求和偏好从事非正式的计算机科学学习。该项目将通过机器人技术和编码为患有ASD诊断的儿童和青年开发新的非正式学习机会，作为参与STEM能力建设和社区建设的手段。该项目的目标是：（1）收集和清点利益攸关方的投入;（2）确定合作伙伴和成员的需求和偏好以及可行伙伴关系的必要组成部分;（3）便利伙伴关系登记，并领导关于未来规划的研讨会规划讨论;和4）合作计划未来的非正式研究和开发项目，旨在实施和评估机器人技术和诊断儿童编码与ASD一起创造机会和对STEM的兴趣。为这个项目收集的数据将包括：1）家长访谈和问卷调查，这将有助于研究人员确定适当的方式，让青少年与ASD在机器人和编码在非正式的环境中，2）在非结构化的偏好评估过程中的观察与ASD青少年参与机器人和编码，3）观察，现场笔记，和合作伙伴计划会议的成绩单。将使用并行混合方法设计分析数据。该项目将与一个为被诊断患有ASD的儿童和青年提供服务的组织建立一个新的以STEM为重点的伙伴关系。这一伙伴关系发展和规划项目由促进非正式STEM学习方案资助，该方案支持的项目：（a）促进研究和实践，考虑非正式STEM学习在STEM中的公平和归属感方面的作用;（B）促进STEM中的个人和教育成功;（c）促进公众参与科学发现;（d）培养对STEM职业的兴趣;（e）促进科学、技术、工程和数学领域的发展。（e）为有效的非正式STEM学习建立和加强理论和经验基础;（f）提高社区活力;和/或（g）加强科学传播和公众参与并理解STEM和STEM进程。该项目也部分由学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）计划资助，该计划支持建立对实践，计划元素，背景和过程的理解的项目，有助于增加学生对科学，技术，工程，信息和通信技术（ICT）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 purpose of this project is to establish and foster a new partnership between the University of Alabama and Arts n’ Autism, a community organization that provides supervised after-school care and outreach to children and youth with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). There have been limited opportunities for youth with ASD diagnoses to engage in many learning opportunities due to pre-existing societal barriers for individuals with disabilities, such as stigma and a lack of accommodations. There are also additional barriers specific to individuals with ASD diagnoses, such as sensory sensitivities and diminished social communication, which impede their full participation. Partnering with an organization that serves children and youth with ASD will provide an innovative structure to tailor the delivery of an informal learning program focusing on robotics and coding. The goal of this project is to engage with stakeholders, including staff (n=4), children and youth ages 10-14 with a diagnosis of ASD (n=5-10), and the parents of individuals diagnosed with ASD (n=10-20) to determine and document their needs and preferences for engaging in informal computer science learning. The project will develop novel informal learning opportunities for children and youth with ASD diagnoses via robotics and coding as the means of engagement to build capacity and community in STEM. The objectives for this project are to: 1) Gather and inventory stakeholder input; 2) Determine the needs and preferences of partners and constituents and the necessary components of a viable partnership; 3) Facilitate partnership check-ins and lead workshop planning discussions on future planning; and 4) Collaboratively plan a future informal research and development project aimed at implementing and evaluating robotics and coding with children diagnosed with ASD to generate opportunities and interest in STEM. Data collected for this project will include: 1) Parent interviews and questionnaires that will help the researchers determine appropriate ways to engage youth with ASD in robotics and coding in an informal setting, 2) Observations during unstructured assessments of preferences as youth with ASD engage with robotics and coding, 3) Observations, field notes, and transcripts from partnership planning meetings. Data will be analyzed using a concurrent mixed methods design. The project will produce a new STEM-focused partnership with an organization that serves children and youth diagnosed with ASD. This Partnership Development and Planning project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes. This project is also partially funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.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.