Compose and Code (NSF Award #2122807)
Disability DCL (NSF AISL #23-0232)
Development of a University-Community Partnership to Offer Informal Computer Science Opportunities to Children and Youth Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (NSF AISL #23-0232)
The project will focus on developing informal learning opportunities for children and youth ages 8-18 with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) via robotics and coding as the means of engagement to build capacity and community in STEM. This project expands and enhances new partnerships with organizations that serve children and youths diagnosed with ASD. Project activities will generate descriptive and prescriptive knowledge for ways to broaden the participation of those diagnosed with ASD in informal learning about computer science.
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The goal of this NSF AISL Partnership Development and Planning project is to establish and foster a new partnership among the University of Alabama and Arts n' Autism, a community organization that provides supervised STEM after-school care and outreach to children and youth with a diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) from low-income families in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. This project addresses NSF's Dear College Letter 21-114, Research to Improve STEM Teaching, Learning, and Workforce Development for Persons with Disabilities, for research to improve STEM teaching and learning for persons with disabilities.
This team will leverage our expertise in computer science education, community partnerships, and evaluation of individuals with ASD to establish a new partnership among the University of Alabama and Arts n' Autism, and identify future collaborative projects that are based on the needs, experiences, and preferences of our partners and the youth they serve. |
RAPID: DRL AI
The Development of a Digital Platform for Evaluating and Using AI-Generated Content for Academic Purposes
What approaches and strategies inhibit and enhance students’ abilities to use and critically evaluate content generated with AI?
What uses of AI inhibit and enhance students’ abilities to integrate AI-generated content into their writing in ethical ways? To what extent and in what ways do teachers and students in grades 4-8 find Compose with AI to be useful and usable for integrating AI-generated content into their science-focused writing? |
As a recently funded project, the purpose of this project is to develop a web-based platform, called Compose With Artificial Intelligence (AI), aimed at guiding students to evaluate AI-generated content and use factual information to compose common types of science-focused writing (e.g., composing arguments, claims or solutions related to science topics).
Our digital platform, Compose with AI, will guide students to gather and critically evaluate content produced by AI tools such as ChatGPT, guide students on beneficial and ethical uses of content produced by AI, and scaffold students’ use of AI-generated content as a model and resource for composing science-focused texts that make arguments, make claims, and/or provide reasoning. To maximally support a range of students, Compose With AI will include embedded videos to inform and support learners, includes self-regulated learning prompts (Sanders et al., 2019), scaffold computational thinking, be designed with Universal Design for Learning principles, and help students collect relevant information to generate digital compositions. |
K-5 Computer Science (NSF Award #1837380)
Preparing K-5 Teachers to Integrate the Computer Science Standards of Learning in Inclusive Classrooms to Support Students with High Incidence Disabilities
Researchers will generate and implement a usable, comprehensive model of professional development to support K-5 computer science integration in elementary instruction for all learners, with an emphasis on supporting students with high-incidence disabilities (i.e., learning disabilities, emotional or behavioral disorders, mild intellectual disability, high-functioning autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder).
To create this model, researchers will work in partnership with a large public school district in Virginia. School personnel will use a Design-Based Implementation Research (DBIR) process to refine an effective professional development model to support elementary teachers in inclusive classrooms in integrating recently mandated computer science standards into math, science, and literacy instruction in ways accessible to students with high-incidence disabilities.
How do multiple stakeholders collaboratively refine and develop effective and sustainable professional development related to the integration of computer science in K-5 inclusive classrooms to support students with high incidence disabilities?
For this project, we developed a set of lessons plans for grades K-5 with the Universal Design for Learning Framework that use foundational literacy concepts to teach computational thinking and provide an introduction to coding.
View the complete set of lessons here.
To create this model, researchers will work in partnership with a large public school district in Virginia. School personnel will use a Design-Based Implementation Research (DBIR) process to refine an effective professional development model to support elementary teachers in inclusive classrooms in integrating recently mandated computer science standards into math, science, and literacy instruction in ways accessible to students with high-incidence disabilities.
How do multiple stakeholders collaboratively refine and develop effective and sustainable professional development related to the integration of computer science in K-5 inclusive classrooms to support students with high incidence disabilities?
For this project, we developed a set of lessons plans for grades K-5 with the Universal Design for Learning Framework that use foundational literacy concepts to teach computational thinking and provide an introduction to coding.
View the complete set of lessons here.
Developing and Testing Innovations (DTI)
Fostering STEM+C career aspirations and self-efficacy in young learners with a physiological computing curriculum
As a recently funded project framed on the notion that future generations of engineers and scientists need skills related to creating computer applications and programs associated with our movements and emotions via electrical activity, the proposed project aims to engage diverse young learners (grades 4 & 5) in a curriculum through the construction of physiological computing applications.
Our strategic and innovative integration of physiological computing, STEM, and career enrichment to engage upper elementary students in developing STEM+C self-efficacy and career aspirations will advance research in STEM+C education in several ways. By combining an innovative technology experience and authentic career exploration activities, we will develop elementary-level physiological computing educational resources that currently do not exist and test the implementation with more than 20 afterschool educators and 350 upper elementary students, most from historically underrepresented groups in Alabama. The impact of this project will be further enhanced by leveraging existing community partnerships outreach programs, which will create opportunities to attract and sustainably engage young students in STEM+C activities throughout and beyond the project span. Our project efforts will have a long-term impact on preparing STEM+C problem solvers to address the talent shortage challenges.
This project will be led by Dr. Feiya Luo (Principal Investigator), Dr. Amy Hutchison (Co-PI), and Dr. Chris Crawford (Co-PI).
Our strategic and innovative integration of physiological computing, STEM, and career enrichment to engage upper elementary students in developing STEM+C self-efficacy and career aspirations will advance research in STEM+C education in several ways. By combining an innovative technology experience and authentic career exploration activities, we will develop elementary-level physiological computing educational resources that currently do not exist and test the implementation with more than 20 afterschool educators and 350 upper elementary students, most from historically underrepresented groups in Alabama. The impact of this project will be further enhanced by leveraging existing community partnerships outreach programs, which will create opportunities to attract and sustainably engage young students in STEM+C activities throughout and beyond the project span. Our project efforts will have a long-term impact on preparing STEM+C problem solvers to address the talent shortage challenges.
This project will be led by Dr. Feiya Luo (Principal Investigator), Dr. Amy Hutchison (Co-PI), and Dr. Chris Crawford (Co-PI).