Is there a particular learning model that is most effective for engaging autistic children?

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Exploring a Question Group Project
Child and Adolescent Development 169

As a future educator or helping professional, what kinds of things do you wonder about related to children’s learning and development? Perhaps you wonder why some children are more eager to learn than others. Is it learned or are some youngsters just more engaged and curious than others? Can this eagerness to learn be taught? How? Or, maybe you’ve always wanted to know the most effective way to prepare children for formal, K-12 education. What’s the “best” way to go? Play-based or academic preschools? Montessori? This project is an opportunity for you to ask a question that you are curious about related to child development and motivation. Each group will develop a question related to motivation, identify a setting in which to explore this question, create a method(s) by which to answer the question, and then investigate the question.

1. Ask a question.
Your group will come up with a question related to child development and motivation. The possibilities are virtually limitless and should be based on the interests of individuals in the group. To get you thinking, examples of questions might be:
• How intrinsically motivated are children who attend school in non-traditional settings (e.g. Waldorf, home schooling, or other non-traditional setting)
• How do the arts contribute to academic achievement or engagement?
• How do health issues (e.g. cancer, cystic fibrosis, etc.) impact children’s learning and motivation?
• Is there a particular learning model that is most effective for engaging autistic children?
• What’s the best way to teach math and science that gets youngsters excited about learning?
• How can toys and play facilitate learning?
These examples are intended to help you get started. Please do not feel limited by them as you and your group formulate your questions. All group members should contribute to question formulation. One or two group members should not decide upon the question. This question is due on February 18, and should include:
*Research Question(s)
*Background Research: a summary of research that has been conducted on the topic.
*Methods: how will your group attempt to answer your research question(s)?
2. Identify a setting. Once you’ve formulated your question, your group will need to decide upon a setting in which to answer it. Some settings that you might consider:
• A preschool (e.g. Waldorf, Bing Preschool, Challenger, or a play-based preschool)
• A museum
• A hospital
• A non-traditional academic setting (e.g. a school for autistic children, a non-graded elementary, middle, or high school, a toy store, or computer lab)
• An after-school or summer program or camp

3. Develop your methods
How will you go about answering your question? This step will require two tasks:
a. Background research: your group should familiarize itself with your issue. Each group member should read and contribute information from at least two peer-reviewed research articles on your topic of interest. The background research will be helpful to you in refining your question and will also help to connect whatever you discover from this project to literature in the field
b. Observation and Interview. Once you’ve decided on a question and a setting, and your group has done its background research, you’re ready to go out into a real-life setting to do your observations and interviews. For example, if your question relates to learning in a non-traditional setting, you might contact the school or program and arrange to observe the program in action. You could also interview teachers and/or administrators about the program ‘s curriculum and on its philosophy on motivating its students. Please note that each group member must do a minimum one-hour observation. This can be alone or with other members of the group.