In this grant, we developed and conducted research on a new model for STEAM learning in schools called FUSE Studios (https://www.fusestudio.net/).  Learning is organized differently in FUSE Studios than in traditional science, mathematics, and technology classes, and our research has documented different outcomes for students because of these differences in how we organize the learning environment. FUSE Studios are organized around a collection of challenges that we have designed and refined over the span of the grant. Challenges ‘level up’, getting more complex at higher levels, modelled on a familiar activity structure to today’s young people: video game play. 

During the span of the grant, we developed 15 new challenge sequences and significantly redesigned 7 existing challenge sequences. These new challenges are based on a variety of STEAM topics, including architecture, graphic design, renewable energy, 3D printing, video game design, robotics, coding, and 3D animation. With these new challenge sequences, FUSE can be offered in schools for two full years. Another key component of FUSE is that it is interest- and choice-based. Students choose which challenges they work on, how they navigate through those challenges, and whether they work with others or alone, based on their interests.   Teachers play new roles in FUSE classrooms; rather than focusing on instructing, grading, and testing, they focus on collaborating, coaching, and generally helping and encouraging students’ own interest pathways through FUSE challenge sequences.  Supported by the grant, we have developed a complete, coherent suite of program elements including a youth-friendly web site, tools for teachers to follow and support student progress, hundreds of support videos and help resources for students, and professional development for new FUSE teachers.

Among the most significant achievements of the grant has been to show that “an alternative infrastructure for STEAM learning in schools” is sustainable and scalable. At the start of the grant, we were in just a handful of schools and out-of-school learning environments; at the end of the grant we are in more than 130 schools, serving at least 16,000 students, on a weekly basis. Some schools and districts are in their fifth year of including FUSE Studios in their school day and have institutionalized it as part of their offerings to students. FUSE has also been adopted in six schools in Helsinki, Finland, as an exemplar program, to meet their new national curricular goals. FUSE is now one of four “digital expansion” programs the city is testing for eventual district-wide adoption.

Our research has developed new concepts and new methods for studying learning. Our new methods have been designed to respond to the unique opportunities of conducting research in a choice- and interest-based learning environment. A few examples of key findings from our research include:

• FUSE is an effective learning environment for students to develop new STEAM interests and extend prior out-of-school interests. FUSE has also been an effective ‘on ramp’ to student’s own continued interest-based projects, what we alternatively call off-roading and productive deviations. Extended interviews with students support the generalization that FUSE is highly valued by students and recognized as meaningfully different from their other school-based learning experiences.
• The dynamics of FUSE Studios promote an enormous amount of peer-to-peer learning and the development of what we call relative expertise, which is when particular students in classes become recognized and are sought out by their classmates for their expertise, such as with programming or 3D printing.
• FUSE has proven to be a productive environment for developing what have been called 21^st century skills such as creative problem-solving, persistence in the face of ‘failure’, and collaboration. Similarly, FUSE has been shown to develop meta-disciplinary skills, that correlate with future STEM success, such as spatial thinking.

Our research efforts have been complemented by multiple rounds of external evaluation by a distinguished team from the University of Colorado Boulder. Among their findings, from interviews and surveys, are that 97% of students participating in FUSE Studios develop more positive attitudes toward science and engineering as a result of their experiences in FUSE.

With regard to ethnic diversity, 57% of FUSE student participants are designated as under-represented minorities. And at 59%, FUSE serves a substantial population of low-income schools (defined as having greater than 30% low-income students).  We take this as promising evidence that FUSE is capable of significantly broadening participation in innovative STEAM practices, in schools serving populations of students underrepresented in STEAM fields. With regard to gender, our qualitative case studies and descriptive statistics suggest that FUSE provides an equitable experience for girls and boys, as suggested by the graphic showing that girls complete challenges at the same or higher rates than boys. This is significant, because the kinds of STEAM activities that form the heart of FUSE challenges have, in many past studies, been found to be much more strongly associated with boys’ interests.

Last Modified: 12/15/2017
Modified by: Reed Stevens