Design by, with, and for Neurodivergent Learners: Part 3 — Zoombinis Allergic Cliffs Flashlight Scaffold
By Teon Edwards
In the Zoombinis puzzle Allergic Cliffs, players must try to get their Zoombinis—small blue characters with different combinations of Hair, Eyes, Nose, and Feet—across a chasm. The challenge? There’s a cliff face below each of the bridges, and these faces are allergic to some of the Values of the Zoombinis—e.g., ponytail hair, sleepy eyes, a yellow nose, or spring feet—and will sneeze back any Zoombinis with these Values. Figuring out which cliff is allergic to what Value(s) and how to get all the Zoombinis across is the fun of the puzzle.
In our early research on Zoombinis, which engages players’ logic, data visualization, and problem-solving skills, teachers told us that students who typically struggled in school sometimes excelled at the game. Moreover, in many situations, their fellow students recognized this skill, changing perceptions. Playing this game allowed those students to shine!
Excited by this, we extended our research to focus on neurodivergent players, and we found that Zoombinis can showcase the cognitive assets of many of these players. However, we also found that aspects of the game, not related to the intended challenges, could cause barriers. So we set out to try to address some of those barriers.
As part of INFACT (DOE; EIR-U411C190179), we designed, tested, and conducted research on Executive Function (EF) scaffolds to accompany three of the Zoombinis puzzles, including Allergic Cliffs. One of those scaffolds was a Flashlight Tool.*
Players who could see the patterns and figure out the cliffs’ allergies sometimes made mistakes because they simply couldn’t keep track of all the Zoombinis and their Values. For example, they’d figure out that the allergies are related to Hair and that the bottom bridge lets all the Zoombinis with ponytail hair across, but they’d miss a Zoombini with ponytail hair in the visual clutter of the screen. By providing a simple flashlight tool, by which players could make all the Zoombinis with a particular Value glow, we scaffolded players’ experience without changing the intended challenge and difficulty of the puzzle at all.
And that’s nothing to sneeze at!
* Unfortunately, the Flashlight Tool is not generally available currently.
Coming soon in the Designing by, with, and for Neurodivergent Learners series:
Part 4 — Zoombinis Allergic Cliffs Expression Scaffold
Part 5 — Brightness Controls
Part 6 — Red Alert
Part 7 — Word Cards
Part 8 — Anatomy of Activities
In the Zoombinis puzzle Allergic Cliffs, players must try to get their Zoombinis—small blue characters with different combinations of Hair, Eyes, Nose, and Feet—across a chasm. The challenge? There’s a cliff face below each of the bridges, and these faces are allergic to some of the Values of the Zoombinis—e.g., ponytail hair, sleepy eyes, a yellow nose, or spring feet—and will sneeze back any Zoombinis with these Values. Figuring out which cliff is allergic to what Value(s) and how to get all the Zoombinis across is the fun of the puzzle.
In our early research on Zoombinis, which engages players’ logic, data visualization, and problem-solving skills, teachers told us that students who typically struggled in school sometimes excelled at the game. Moreover, in many situations, their fellow students recognized this skill, changing perceptions. Playing this game allowed those students to shine!
Excited by this, we extended our research to focus on neurodivergent players, and we found that Zoombinis can showcase the cognitive assets of many of these players. However, we also found that aspects of the game, not related to the intended challenges, could cause barriers. So we set out to try to address some of those barriers.
As part of INFACT (DOE; EIR-U411C190179), we designed, tested, and conducted research on Executive Function (EF) scaffolds to accompany three of the Zoombinis puzzles, including Allergic Cliffs. One of those scaffolds was a Flashlight Tool.*
Players who could see the patterns and figure out the cliffs’ allergies sometimes made mistakes because they simply couldn’t keep track of all the Zoombinis and their Values. For example, they’d figure out that the allergies are related to Hair and that the bottom bridge lets all the Zoombinis with ponytail hair across, but they’d miss a Zoombini with ponytail hair in the visual clutter of the screen. By providing a simple flashlight tool, by which players could make all the Zoombinis with a particular Value glow, we scaffolded players’ experience without changing the intended challenge and difficulty of the puzzle at all.
And that’s nothing to sneeze at!
* Unfortunately, the Flashlight Tool is not generally available currently.
Coming soon in the Designing by, with, and for Neurodivergent Learners series:
9/2/2025
AuthorTeon Edwards is the director and a co-founder of EdGE at TERC. Her current work focuses on the use of virtual reality and other technologies to design and develop inclusive STEM learning experiences, with a particular focus on neurodiversity and sensory, attention, and social differences.
SummaryTeon Edwards, PI of Broadening Participation in Informal STEM Learning for Autistic Learners and Others through Virtual Reality, shares how a game tool provided a scaffold for success.
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