Honouring Diversity in a Middle School Classroom
All About Autism: A Research Project
by Dawson Kennedy
The following project is based on the premise that knowledge breeds compassion. As students learn more about autism, the goal is produce empathy. Students will use research skills to create a performance task outlining a specific aspect of autism.
Students can work in pairs or groups of 3 for this project. Each group of students will be given a specific topic relating to autism.
Topics can include anything related to autism. For example:
2. Social Skills
3. Sensory Sensitivity
Students will begin by creating a list of 3-5 questions that will define their research. Next they will complete a web quest (a pre-made webpage created by the teacher with steps of completion and including links to applicable resources) to guide their online research about autism. Once students have answered all the questions, they will individually complete a performance task related to their research.
Performance task options:
Students will be graded on:
Once students have completed their performance task, they will be asked to share their work with the class in an oral presentation. These presentations will facilitate more discussion about autism and help to clear up any other misconceptions that might remain.
This activity was adapted from http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/ed_autisminc.pdf on Jan. 22, 2013.
Students can work in pairs or groups of 3 for this project. Each group of students will be given a specific topic relating to autism.
Topics can include anything related to autism. For example:
- An overall description of autism
- Causes or Diagnoses
- Challenges of autism:
2. Social Skills
3. Sensory Sensitivity
- Resources for People with Autism
- Terms Related to Autism
- How does a person with autism learn?
- How can I better relate to someone with autism?
Students will begin by creating a list of 3-5 questions that will define their research. Next they will complete a web quest (a pre-made webpage created by the teacher with steps of completion and including links to applicable resources) to guide their online research about autism. Once students have answered all the questions, they will individually complete a performance task related to their research.
Performance task options:
- Poster
- Short Research Paper
- Powerpoint Presentation
- Visual Presentation
Students will be graded on:
- Accuracy of information
- Completeness of information
- Oral presentation of performance task
- Visual display (if appropriate)
- Overall Appearance of Project or Paper
Once students have completed their performance task, they will be asked to share their work with the class in an oral presentation. These presentations will facilitate more discussion about autism and help to clear up any other misconceptions that might remain.
This activity was adapted from http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/ed_autisminc.pdf on Jan. 22, 2013.