<p>Research in pre-college engineering education
has been on a sharp rise in the last two decades. However, less research has
been conducted to explore and characterize the engineering thinking and
engagement of young children, with limited attention to children with special
needs. Conversations on broadening participation and diversity in engineering
usually center around gender, socio-economic status, race and ethnicity, and to
a lesser extent on neurodiversity. Autism is the fastest growing neurodiverse
population who have the potential to succeed in engineering. In order to
promote the inclusion of children with autism in engineering education, we need
to gain a deep understanding of their engineering experiences. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The overarching research question that I intend
to answer is <i>how do children with mild autism engage in engineering design
tasks</i>? Grounding this study in theories of Constructivism and Defectology,
I focused on children’s engagement in engineering design practices and the ways
their parents supported their engagements. To engage children with mild autism
in engineering, I have developed an engineering design activity by considering
suggestions from these theories and previous literature on elementary-aged
children’s engagement in engineering design, and by focusing on individuals
with mild autism strengths in STEM. This activity provides opportunities for
children to interact with their parents while solving engineering design
problems. The families are asked to use a construction kit and design their
solutions to the problem introduced in the engineering design activity. The
engineering design activity consists of a series of five challenges, ranging
from well- to ill-structed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This is an exploratory qualitative case study,
using a multiple case approach. These cases include 9-year-old children with
autism and their families. Video recordings of the families are the main source
of data for this study. Triangulation of data happens through interviewing
parents and children, pictures of children’s artifacts (i.e. their prototypes),
and use of the Empathizing-Systemizing survey to capture background information
and autism characteristics. Depending on the data source, I utilized different
methods including video analysis, thematic analysis and artifact analysis. </p>
<p>This study expands our understanding of what
engineering design can look like when enacted by children with mild autism,
particularly as engineering design is considered to be a very iterative process
with multiple phases and actions associated with it. The findings of this study
show that these children can engage in all engineering design phases in a very
iterative process. Similarities and differences between these children’s design
behaviors and the existing literature were discussed. Additionally, some of the
behaviors these children engaged in resemble the practices of experienced
designers and engineers. The findings of this study suggest that while children
were not socially interacting with their family members when addressing the
challenges, their parents played an important role in their design engagement.
Parents used different strategies during the activity that supported and
facilitated children’s engineering design problem-solving. These strategies
include soliciting information, providing guidance, assisting both verbally and
hands-on, disengagement and being a student of the child. </p>
<p> </p>
This study provides aspirations for future research
with the aim to promote the inclusion of children with neurodiversity. It calls
for conducting similar research in different settings to capture the
engineering design engagement of children with mild autism when interacting
with teachers, peers, siblings in different environments. Additionally, the
findings of this study have implications for educators and curators of
engineering learning resources.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/12732890 |
| Date | 30 July 2020 |
| Creators | Hoda Ehsan (9181898) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/A_Multiple_Case_Study_to_Capture_and_Support_the_Engineering_Design_Thinking_of_Children_with_Mild_Autism/12732890 |
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