COLLABORATIVE LEARNING WITH STUDENTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER. AN EXPERIENCE FOR TEACHING ELECTROMAGNETISM

Researchers agree that cooperative learning can produce positive effects on student achievement but requires the implementation of group goals and individual accountability. Furthermore, there is a strong consensus that cooperation promotes greater interpersonal attraction among individuals than do interpersonal competition or individualistic efforts.

According to this, a teaching sequence for the learning of electromagnetism has been designed based on a constructivist approach for the teaching/learning process, using collaborative learning aimed to the development of group projects.

The teaching sequence has been tested and evaluated on a group of nine children in Secondary Education, eight of them with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The objective of the study was to evaluate whether the use of cooperative learning in children with ASD can lead to a improvement of the individual's social skill, as well as to confirm that the findings in children with a typical neuro-cognitive development can be apply to such a population of children with ASD.

Results suggest that this kind of methodology is well-accepted by children with ASD and have positive effects on their motivation to learn and in their self-esteem. It can successfully be used to promote an attitudinal change toward science and linking to the task; also, a significant increase of their appropriate social interactions have been observed.

Additional outcomes seen in the study include the necessity for developing evaluation strategies adapted to characteristics of children with ASD and the benefits of using peer buddy to regulate social interaction.