Capturing Children with Autism’s Engagement in Engineering Practices: A Focus on Problem Scoping

Abstract

In the last two decades, pre-college engineering education has increased, with research on pre-college engineering education emerging as a nascent field. However, limited research, if any, has considered aspects of engineering thinking of children with neurodiversity. In line with calls for broadening participation in engineering education, consideration of neurodiverse children is critical. Among various neurodiverse conditions, the number of children with autism is rapidly growing. In addition, studies have shown that individuals with autism have the potential to perform well in activities that require systematizing abilities. Engineering is one such activity. Prior research has provided evidence of the importance of early engineering learning opportunities in terms of future performance and interest in engineering; therefore, it is critical that children with autism have access to appropriate engineering experiences. We thus need to gain a deeper understanding of how they engage in engineering learning activities. In this study, we conducted a qualitative single-case-study analysis in which we closely looked at ways a nine-year-old child with mild autism engaged in problem scoping along with his mother. We focused on three main components of problem scoping in engineering design: (1) Problem Framing, (2) Information Gathering, and (3) Reflection. The instances that we have seen in mother-child interactions and conversation provided evidence that the child with autism was capable of engaging in all three aspects of problem scoping. The behaviors we have observed were mostly associated with Problem Framing and Information Gathering. However, we have also seen some evidence of Reflection. We believe that the findings of this study lay a foundation for future studies of children with autism and engineering design, and how to effectively engage them in these activities.

Effect of design‐based learning on achievement in K‐12 education: A meta‐analysis

“…Ehsan and Cardella (2020) stated that DBL being in an introductory phase in K‐12 education and our review presents evidence that participating in DBL activities supports student achievement after the intervention, but how students transfer their content gains in other situations needs convincing evidence. To overcome this challenge, future studies can prioritize how to support achievement in state mandated tests to understand DBL's effect on students' content gains in other learning situations.…”

“…Students in the treatment group had statistically significantly higher scores in one of the science topics (heat transfer posttest); on the other hand, students in the control group obtained higher scores in another science topic (erosion posttest) (Guzey et al, 2017). Ehsan and Cardella (2020) stated that DBL being in an introductory phase in K-12 education and our review presents evidence that participating in DBL activities supports student achievement after the intervention, but how students transfer their content gains in other situations needs convincing evidence. To overcome this challenge, future studies can prioritize how to support achievement in state mandated tests to understand DBL's effect on students' content gains in other learning situations.…”

An Instructional Approach to Engage Children with Autism to Engineering Design

“…In Page 2, the Design an Amusement Park Activity is briefly presented which is developed following this guide [3].…”

Figuring "It" Out: Informational Literacy for Problem Scoping in Engineering Design (Theory)

“…Schön (1983) was one of the first to define problem scoping as defining the problem, framing the context in which it sits, and delineating criteria by which design will be evaluated [7]. However, this definition has been expanded to include identification of constraints, goal-development, context, information gathering, problem framing and reflection [8][9][10][11][12]. This paper will focus on…”

“…These behaviors were observed to occur more frequently when parents took on a less directing role. [11] Additional problem scoping competencies found in research include asking questions and explaining cause-effect phenomena [12]. Preschoolers in these studies often rely on human capital, aka "experts" to discern information through questions and feedback mechanisms for their information gathering needs.…”