This project aims to study individualized training of representational flexibility for STEM and computational reasoning and problem solving among adolescents with ASD, hence addressing a significant barrier to college enrollment of this learner group who otherwise have the potential to become future sources of STEM talent. Researchers will utilize 3D virtual reality (VR) with body sensory technologies to create an adaptive, representational flexibility training program that helps participants learn how to design and code simulations and games in a 3D virtual-reality context. This program, called Force and Motion-Adaptive Representation (FM-AR), will facilitate participants’ ability to select, connect, convert, and construct multimodal representations of physics and mathematics problems while practicing and experimenting with computational concepts during VR-based simulation design and programming.
