I haven’t had much experience in a TBL setting yet. But I taught
a mildly autistic student electronics engineering in a project/ problem based setting
for three semesters . Two things seemed to work in my class.
1) Careful
selection of teams and familiarity: It was essential that at least one or two team-mates
were able to “read” his reactions to questions and continually
invite him to contribute to the discussions. It helped that the team knew
his particular strengths and did seek his input on certain things.
2) Direct
task oriented questions: Socratic questioning or open ended did not work
so well for me. What worked were questions that got him to work towards a
tangible outcome. Questions like “How much current would you need to
drive this part of the circuit? ” or “Can you think of a way to move
as many wires as possible to one side of your circuit board”.
This worked quite well in project/problem
based learning because of the “divide and conquer” approach teams
sometimes had to adopt to respond to the problem. Not sure if it would work for
a TBL session.
Cheers
Preman
Preman
RAJALINGAM | Medical Education, Research, and Evaluation | Duke-NUS
Graduate Medical School | 8 College Road, Singapore 169857 | Tel: (65) 66011565
| Fax: (65) 62272698 | [log in to unmask] |
Web: www.duke-nus.edu.sg
From: Team-Based Learning
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kathryn McKnight
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 10:57 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: TBL & Aspergers, anyone?
Has anyone had
successful experiences with an Aspergers student in a TBL setting? I
currently have an advanced UG in my class who has Aspergers, and it appears to
me that it is difficult for him to participate in group communication. He is a
bright student with a B+ average, but avoids eye contact unless directly spoken
to, and has not said a word in class that I'm aware of, except when I have
directly spoken to him. The campus disabilities resource center is working with
me, and I am going to find out whether the student is willing to share the
information with team-mates, which I think would be extremely helpful. I have
the information that in other classes he has thrived with instructors using a
Socratic method (I'm guessing that means direct and open-ended questions to
him). But, if anyone has experience, I would welcome suggestions.
Thanks,
Kathy
Kathryn J. McKnight
Associate Professor of Spanish
Associate Director for Academic
Programs
Latin American & Iberian
Institute
MSC 02 1690
801 Yale Blvd NE
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001