
NSF Org: |
DRL Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL) |
Recipient: |
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Initial Amendment Date: | August 22, 2014 |
Latest Amendment Date: | November 17, 2016 |
Award Number: | 1433724 |
Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
Program Manager: |
Robert Russell
DRL Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL) EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
Start Date: | September 1, 2014 |
End Date: | August 31, 2018 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $1,199,147.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $1,243,285.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2015 = $44,138.00 |
History of Investigator: |
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Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
633 CLARK ST EVANSTON IL US 60208-0001 (312)503-7955 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
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Primary Place of Performance: |
2120 Campus Drive Evanston IL US 60208-2610 |
Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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Parent UEI: |
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NSF Program(s): | ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac |
Primary Program Source: |
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Program Reference Code(s): |
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Program Element Code(s): |
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Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
The FUSE Studios project seeks to engage youth in meaningful ways on sustained pathways towards STEM-related careers and involvement in science in later life. FUSE Studios are organized around sequences of interest-driven challenges (e.g., robot mini-golf, MP3 amplifier, mobile app development jewelry design using 3D/cad) involving both digital and hands-on activities that are informed by authentic science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations and practices, and linked together in a progression modeled after computer-game sequences. The challenges will be designed to broaden youth perspectives about what counts as STEM and provide them with more clearly marked pathways towards deepening interest, developing expertise, and broadening exposure to possible career trajectories in STEM. The interest-driven framework is supported by: (1) online mentoring from STEM industry experts; (2) on-demand video clips of experts discussing career linkages relevant to a particular challenge; (3) individual competitions that involve artifact judging; and (4) studio-wide contests that provide a prize to all members of a studio based on collective achievements. The project has enlisted partnership commitments supporting the development of career-related challenges from eight STEM organizations including large and small businesses, non-profits, and university research centers. The project currently operates in 19 Chicago-area sites, including libraries, schools and community centers, and will expand to additional sites in late 2014.
Project research will study participants' engagement with challenging sequences, considering both how participants engage, and what they learn when doing so. Building upon pilot work and initial evaluation findings, the project will investigate research questions that address whether and how engagement with the industry- and university-themed challenge sequences affect participants' STEM career interests and the widely-recognized dispositional qualities of innovation, adaptive flexibility, and persistence in the face of difficulty. The project will collect quantitative data from: (1) youth participation computer records (e.g., the number of youth who choose specific challenges, how much time they spend, how many levels they complete); (2) self-efficacy surveys; and (3) pre/post surveys of changes in career interest. Qualitative data will be obtained via: (1) micro-ethnographic studies; (2) structured participant and facilitator interviews (administered during and after challenge participation); (3) evaluation of the artifacts produced by participants for each challenge level; and (4) longitudinal follow-up.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Project Summary: In the project, we significantly extended the FUSE Studios model into schools and studied the experience of teachers and students. We also extended the design of the FUSE materials significantly, including adding many new challenges to the program (the core activity in FUSE Studios) and fully redeveloping the website that is the primary interface for students and teachers. Our research, and an external evaluation, has shown that the FUSE model leads to the development of new interests in technology, engineering, and the arts (TEA). Qualitative interviewing strongly suggests that young people develop new career aspirations in these areas because of their FUSE experiences. In general, our research extended and confirmed our general learning findings from our first NSF grant: that students develop important 21st century skills and engage in productive peer teaching and learning throughout the FUSE experience. The project also led to a partnership approach to designing challenges with industry partners, an approach the project used and refined with three well known industry partners.
Intellectual Merit: This project has shown that a distinctly new model for the creation and implementation of classroom experience can be implemented at a relatively significant scale (now nearly 200 schools and about 25,000 students doing FUSE weekly). This is important, because of the known and recalcitrant difficulties of making significant changes to the instruction model of public schools. We are showing that an interest-driven, student-centered approach to learning in schools can be implemented at scale.
Broader Impacts: The question of broader impacts is important. In addition to the significant scale we have achieved, FUSE appears to have helped shift the national conversation about what is possible in schools. It is also being implemented in seven schools in Helsinki, Finland, a school system often considered the best in the world. With a subsequent NSF grant, we are more systematically studying the broader impacts of FUSE, as it spreads to other schools from existing schools and as it affects other parts of the school day in the schools in which it is currently implemented.
Last Modified: 01/03/2019
Modified by: Reed Stevens
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