“Little Professors’” Cognitive Transformation Through Activity Triangles on Mechanics

Teaching approaches that focus on the field of science, adopting the activity theory, combined with the use of new technologies, become particularly interesting when they start with the exploration of alternative ideas and are aimed at students falling on the spectrum of high-functioning autism. In this light, two different detection-teaching activity systems were designed and developed, using semi-structured frameworks of observation, reflection and experimental exploration in real and digital educational environments, adapted and personalized to the specificities of the disorder concerned. The aim was to stimulate learning curiosity and to develop appropriate conditions for teaching interventions, starting from the detection of students’ alternative ideas. The research sample consisted of 10 primary school students of fifth and sixth grade. The results of the research revealed that the adaptability of the specific tools to the individual skills of students with ASD, worked as a supportive factor both in the process of detecting students’ alternative conceptions and in the creation of learning motivation through targeted activities of creative curiosity and participatory interaction.