Considerations from Co-design with Special Education Teachers: Integrating Computational Thinking with Executive Functioning Skills for Autistic Middle School Students (RTP, Diversity)

Robert Hayes; Jennifer Cross; Elissa Milto

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Conference: 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Publication Date: June 22, 2025
Start Date: June 22, 2025
End Date: August 15, 2025
Conference Session: Inclusive and Reflective Practices in Pre-College Engineering Education
Tagged Division: Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 19
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/56142

Paper Authors

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Robert Hayes Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach

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Jennifer Cross Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach orcid.org/0000-0002-1201-2901

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Dr. Jennifer Cross is a Research Assistant Professor at the Tufts University Center for Engineering Education and Outreach where her primary research interests include human-robot interaction with a focus on the educational applications of robotics and diversity in engineering education.

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Elissa Milto Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach

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Elissa Milto is Director of Outreach at the CEEO. She holds two masters degrees in education allowing her to focus on special education and engineering. Currently, she leads Novel Engineering, an interdisciplinary engineering literacy project. Her work fo

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Abstract

We report on the co-design of technologies for {full project name here, removed for anonymity, hereafter referred to as Project}, an educational robotics program for autistic middle school students designed to integrate learning computational thinking (CT) practices with executive functioning (EF) skills. We are developing this program through a research-practice partnership between researchers at a private northeastern university and practitioners at a local public school with a sub-separate, special education program designed for autistic students. Our program comprises a sequence of CT and robotics activities and student-facing scaffolds, co-developed with teachers through an interactive design and feedback process. The robotics program was designed around the LEGO® SPIKE™ Prime platform. We initially set out to develop a digital coding environment tailored to the needs of autistic middle school students—guided by universal design for learning (UDL) principles—and accompanying activities aimed at supporting students’ CT and EF skills, but soon identified the need for student-facing scaffolds that aided students making connections between classroom learning and {Project}. We report on the first three of six planned co-design workshops with teachers, focused on exploring design goals, learning goals, and needs; testing iterative prototypes of digital coding environments; and developing an instructional sequence for practicing CT. In this paper, we explore the following question: What design considerations inform structuring the {Project} program technology to support students developing independence in computational thinking alongside executive functioning skills? We collected audio and video data from all co-development workshops, along with artifacts generated during workshops. We analyzed data through an iterative process of coding for themes related to the design of supports and tools, as well as rationales relating to CT and IEP goals. We then checked and refined themes with teachers. We identified themes motivating teachers' design feedback, which informed three design considerations: 1) {Project} curriculum and technology should support a teacher-mediated, dynamic trajectory of scaffolds towards students’ independent participation in robotics and CT practices, 2) task structures should include feedback mechanisms and routines to support students’ continued independent participation by attending to executive functioning needs, and 3) {Project} resources should include multiple means of representation to enhance the bidirectional transfer between the {Project} program and other classroom resources that are already part of the students’ routine. We exemplify how to implement these three design considerations through three design embodiments that emerged in our co-design workshops: a physical planning board, introductory robotics coding missions, and a poster-style glossary. The design embodiments are intended to work together to provide support to students at all phases of using the {Project} program with the intention of building students’ independence to engage in CT and robotics practices.

Citation
Format

Hayes, R., & Cross, J., & Milto, E. (2025, June), Considerations from Co-design with Special Education Teachers: Integrating Computational Thinking with Executive Functioning Skills for Autistic Middle School Students (RTP, Diversity) Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/56142

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - We report on the co-design of technologies for {full project name here, removed for anonymity, hereafter referred to as Project}, an educational robotics program for autistic middle school students designed to integrate learning computational thinking (CT) practices with executive functioning (EF) skills. We are developing this program through a research-practice partnership between researchers at a private northeastern university and practitioners at a local public school with a sub-separate, special education program designed for autistic students. 
Our program comprises a sequence of CT and robotics activities and student-facing scaffolds, co-developed with teachers through an interactive design and feedback process. The robotics program was designed around the LEGO® SPIKE™ Prime platform. We initially set out to develop a digital coding environment tailored to the needs of autistic middle school students—guided by universal design for learning (UDL) principles—and accompanying activities aimed at supporting students’ CT and EF skills, but soon identified the need for student-facing scaffolds that aided students making connections between classroom learning and {Project}. We report on the first three of six planned co-design workshops with teachers, focused on exploring design goals, learning goals, and needs; testing iterative prototypes of digital coding environments; and developing an instructional sequence for practicing CT.
In this paper, we explore the following question: What design considerations inform structuring the {Project} program technology to support students developing independence in computational thinking alongside executive functioning skills? We collected audio and video data from all co-development workshops, along with artifacts generated during workshops. We analyzed data through an iterative process of coding for themes related to the design of supports and tools, as well as rationales relating to CT and IEP goals. We then checked and refined themes with teachers.
We identified themes motivating teachers&#39; design feedback, which informed three design considerations: 1) {Project} curriculum and technology should support a teacher-mediated, dynamic trajectory of scaffolds towards students’ independent participation in robotics and CT practices, 2) task structures should include feedback mechanisms and routines to support students’ continued independent participation by attending to executive functioning needs, and 3) {Project} resources should include multiple means of representation to enhance the bidirectional transfer between the {Project} program and other classroom resources that are already part of the students’ routine. 
We exemplify how to implement these three design considerations through three design embodiments that emerged in our co-design workshops: a physical planning board, introductory robotics coding missions, and a poster-style glossary. The design embodiments are intended to work together to provide support to students at all phases of using the {Project} program with the intention of building students’ independence to engage in CT and robotics practices.
AU  - Robert Hayes
AU  - Jennifer Cross
AU  - Elissa Milto
CY  - Montreal, Quebec, Canada 
DA  - 2025/06/22
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Considerations from Co-design with Special Education Teachers: Integrating Computational Thinking with Executive Functioning Skills for Autistic Middle School Students (RTP, Diversity)
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/56142
ER  -