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(pseudonym) who worked with him throughout the day. Following the
observations, we interviewed the students general education teacher.
To assess engagement we used an observation protocol adapted
from the Scale for Teachers Assessment of Routine Engagements
(STARE; McWilliam, 2000). STARE looks at what the person is doing,
how they participate, what can they do on their own, and their
communication and social skills. The scale has five levels: (1) none of
the time, (2) little of the time, (3) half of the time, (4) much of the
time, and (5) all of the time. Associated with each number is a level of
engagement: (1) nonengaged, (2) unsophisticated, (3) average, (4)
advanced, and (5) sophisticated. We used these scales of engagement.
An example of observation form is presented in Figure 1.
Routine X
minutes
With adults
With peers
With materials
Independence:
Social Relationships:
Other students are:
Unengaged
Unsophisticate
d
Average
Advance
d
Sophisticate
d
Horatio could independently get his computer from the cart, open the
computer, and log in to his user account. During the second, fourth,
and seventh observation, Horatio also independently logged into
code.org, but he required assistance on this step during the third
observation. On the fifth observation he required assistance logging
into scratch.com. On the first, third, fifth, and sixth observation,
Horatio had little opportunity to demonstrate his skills as Mrs.
Sharaton, the paraprofessional who supports him, throughout his day,
logged onto the computer for him. Horatio is also able to follow verbal
directions from Mrs. Sharaton, observed during Observations 3 through
7 when Horatio easily tried different suggestions Mrs. Sharaton made
when he could not log into the computer because of a technical
difficulty. Table 1 is a summary of how Horatio was engaged during the
total number of minutes of set-up activity.
Table 1
Set-up 54
Unengage Unsophisticat
minutes
d
ed
With adults
33
9
With peers
54
With materials
26.5
9.5
Note. Numbers represent minutes
Averag
e
11
Advance
d
13
Sophisticat
ed
1
5
Unengaged
3
13
5
Unsophisticate
d
5
1
3
Average
6
6
Advanced
Sophisticate
d
Averag
e
43
Advance
d
1
36
Sophisticat
ed
The close of coding was brief and, during this time, Horatio was
required to log off of his account on the computer and return the
Table 4
Close 4 minutes
Unengage Unsophisticat
d
ed
With adults
3
1
With peers
4
With materials
2
1
Note. Numbers represent minutes
Averag
e
Advance
d
Sophisticat
ed
opinion, what you put into coding is what you get out of it, so youve
got to be going in with a good attitude or good mind-set. Mr. Mitchell
questioned if Mrs. Sheraton, Horatios one-on-one paraprofessional,
had a positive attitude about coding, and speculated that, as a result,
she may not be able to provide the best support for Horatio during that
activity.
Mr. Mitchell expressed that he felt that implementing strategies
to maintain students motivation over time to prevent students from
getting frustrated when they are working through more difficult levels
of coding would help all students stay engaged with coding, including
Horatio.
Overall, Horatios teacher feels like, [Horatio] kind of embraces
it [coding]. I mean, I dont think he minds his coding time. I dont think
he looks at is as a chore. Mr. Mitchell felt that Horatio had the ability
to learn to code but that he and Mrs. Sheraton lacked the skills and/or
the time required to successfully support Horatio as he learned.
Implications
Given our observations of Horatio during coding time and our
interview with his teacher, we concluded that Horatio needs supports
across his school day to be successful and that these same supports
are also necessary during coding time.
First, given the limited access he had to the computer during
coding time while Mrs. Sheraton worked to try to figure out the coding
task, it was difficult to ascertain to what extent Horatio had the skills to
code independently. Often, by the time Mrs. Sheraton resolved a
coding predicament, coding time was over and Horatio had not had
much access to his computer. Thus, Horatio may benefit from being
partnered with a staff member who is familiar and proficient with the
coding programs so that the staff member can provide explicit
instructions to support Horatio while coding. In addition, a second
computer may be provided for the paraprofessional so she can
troubleshoot while Horatio continues to work on the problem on his
own.
Second, given that Horatio requires special education supports
for math and many math concepts are incorporated into coding,
Horatio may benefit from supprts that help him develop the conceptual
skills necessary for coding. He may benefit from being allowed to work
at a slower pace than his peers so that he has time to independently
accomplish his coding tasks. Horatio may also benefit from having
visual prompts of step-by-step instructions, including pictures, to help
him complete coding with less adult assistance, as these supports are
often helpful for children with autism and other developmental
disabilities, but such supports have not been tried with Horatio.