Developing Abilities and Knowledge for Careers in Design and Engineering for Students on the Autism Spectrum by Scaling Up Making Experiences

这是提交给学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）计划成功项目扩展和传播链的提案。自闭症患者非常有能力过上富有成效的生活，他们的兴趣和能力使他们能够为社区做出有价值的贡献。例如，研究表明，上大学的自闭症年轻人选择科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）专业的比例高于普通大学生。在美国，每59人中就有1人患有自闭症，因此有必要制定一些计划，让这部分人做好充分参与劳动力市场的准备，这样我们的社会才能从他们所提供的独特视角中受益。该项目扩大了名为IDEAS的学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）项目：自闭症谱系上的发明、设计和工程。在该项目中，一个多学科团队改编了一个基于博物馆的创客项目，并在纽约市的三所自闭症中学进行了测试。该项目将以该项目的经验教训为基础，将创客编程引入更广泛的学生、教师和学校，并提高教育界对创客编程如何帮助自闭症年轻人获得设计和工程职业所需的社交、功能和沟通技能的理解。该项目的目标是(1)将项目扩展到更多的自闭症包容中学，(2)将项目扩展到自闭症包容小学和高中，(3)通过促进自闭症包容学校的当地适应使项目可持续发展，(4)将项目的所有权转移到自闭症包容学校和城市的专业发展提供者和特殊教育办公室。(5)更广泛地探索如何在总体上支持自闭症包容工作。为了实现这些目标，我们将建立一个协作的共同设计过程，包括现有的合作伙伴（教育发展中心、纽约大学自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）巢支持项目、纽约科学馆）、自闭症包容学校（教师和校长）以及纽约市教育部特殊教育办公室的一名顾问。在这个为期三年的项目结束时，将有12个创客项目，由24名教师管理，每年约有150,180名学生参与其中。该团队还将探索如何维持这样一个项目，并建立ASD巢支持项目的能力，以便在该赠款的生命周期之外，将工程设计制造商编程提供给他们的自闭症包容模式正在扩展的其他地区。这些活动将在更大的特殊教育和非正式教育社区中积累知识，了解如何加强自闭症包容努力，并最终提高自闭症谱系年轻人在STEM职业中的参与度。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

This is a proposal submitted to the Successful Project Expansion and Dissemination strand of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program. People on the autism spectrum are very capable of leading productive lives and have interests and abilities that can enable them to make valuable contributions to their communities. For example, research shows that young people with autism who go to college choose science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors at higher rates than college students in the general population. With one out of every 59 people in the United States on the autism spectrum, it is essential to create programs that prepare this segment of the population for full participation in the workforce so our society can benefit from the unique perspectives they have to offer. This project scales up an Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) project called IDEAS: Inventing, Designing, and Engineering on the Autism Spectrum, in which a multidisciplinary team adapted a museum-based maker program and tested it in three autism inclusion middle schools in New York City. The project will build on the lessons learned from that project to bring maker programming to a wider range of students, teachers, and schools, and to increase the education community's understanding about how maker programming can help young people on the autism spectrum gain the social, functional, and communication skills necessary for careers in design and engineering. The goals of the project are (1) to expand the program to more autism inclusion middle schools, (2) to expand the program to autism inclusion elementary and high schools, (3) to make the program sustainable by facilitating local adaptation in autism inclusion schools, (4) to shift the ownership of the program to autism inclusion schools and the city's professional development providers and special education office, and (5) to explore more broadly how making can support autism inclusion efforts in general. To achieve these goals, we will establish a collaborative co-design process that will include current partners (Education Development Center, New York University's Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Nest Support Project, New York Hall of Science), as well as autism inclusion schools (teachers and principals) and an advisor from the New York City Department of Education's Special Education Office. By the end of this three-year project, there will be 12 Maker Programs run by 24 teachers, reaching approximately 150,180 students on and off the spectrum each year. The team also will explore what it will take to sustain such a program and to build the capacity of the ASD Nest Support Project to have engineering design maker programming available beyond the life of this grant to the other districts to which their autism inclusion model is expanding. These activities will build knowledge in the larger special education and informal education communities about how making can enhance autism inclusion efforts and eventually increase the participation of young people on the autism spectrum in STEM 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.