Engaging Teachers and Neurodiverse Middle School Students in Tangible and Creative Computational Thinking Activities

National Science Foundation CS4All Award | $998,712

August 15, 2021 - July 31, 2025

Senior Personnel: Sha Xin Wei (Principal Investigator), Seth Thorn (Co-PI 25%), Mirka Koro (Co-PI), Margarita Pivarvorava (Co-PI)

Students with disabilities, particularly those with autism, experience unequal outcomes in STEM education and employment. Despite frequently reported strengths and interests in STEM disciplines, individuals with autism often do not receive the support—those related to communication, transitions, and flexibility—needed to succeed. In working with teachers, parents, and employers, this project will create pathways to position students with autism spectrum disorder for success in school and also the larger community.

The project is based on embodied learning and cooperative learning approaches that inform the team’s development of Telematic Embodied Learning (TEL) activities: activities that engage participants in using movement and their bodies to understand concepts, and can be conducted in hybrid or remote teaching situations when students and teachers are in different locations.

NEWMT grew out of earlier research into “wearable music,” a stream of work focused on collectively playable instruments and playful, body-centric interaction. Wearable music here is not framed as technical mastery but as a way of merging computational and musical literacies in new and inclusive forms, particularly resonant with neurodiverse movement practices.