IDEAS (Inventing, Designing, and Engineering on the Autism Spectrum) was a 3-year, $1.2-million NSF-ITEST funded project. It brought together a team of researchers, educators, and students to create an inclusive design and engineering program for middle-schoolers with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder. The after-school program was initially tested and implemented in 3 schools between 2016 and 2019, and is currently in multiple NYC middle schools.

Project NSF award link: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1614436

I WORKED ON

Lesson & teaching supports design, teaching & facilitation, curriculum testing, graphic design of materials, 3D printer setup and management, presentation at conferences.

I COLLABORATED WITH

Subigya Basnet, The Education Development Center (EDC), ASD Nest Support Project at NYU Steinhardt (Nest), NY Hall of Science (NYSCI), NYU Tandon School of Engineering (NYU SoE), SRI International’s Center for Education and Human Services (SRI).

STUDENT PROJECTS

The idea behind this project is that by engaging in the Engineering Design Process (EDP) around projects based on their interests, students will develop the abilities, awareness, and motivation necessary to pursue higher education and careers in engineering and design. The program we designed covered 12 lessons on the topics ranging from circuits, to prototyping with molds, to 3D design and 3D printing. The idea was that in the first half of the program students learned the basics of working with different materials and interactive parts, and in the second half they built their own projects. The most inspiring part of this initiative was seeing the incredible projects students would build: from a European Colonialism board game, to mini-helicopters, to custom Rubik’s cubes and fidget spinners. The students’ creativity and imagination was limitless.

SUPPORTS FOR TEACHERS

To ensure the program was successful beyond our involvement, we designed a series of teacher supports to help them facilitate the program. These supports were truly user-centric, as we iterated on them over the course of 2 years and implemented changes from the feedback we received from teachers throughout. The materials we created were: activity checklists, posters, a set of stickers, a 3D printer trouble-shooting guide, certificate templates, print-ready activity supports for students. We designed everything so it would be easy to use both digitally and in print.