
NSF Org: |
DRL Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL) |
Recipient: |
|
Initial Amendment Date: | March 16, 2017 |
Latest Amendment Date: | January 11, 2018 |
Award Number: | 1657438 |
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: | April 1, 2017 |
End Date: | March 31, 2021 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $1,799,782.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $1,899,781.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
History of Investigator: |
|
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
633 CLARK ST EVANSTON IL US 60208-0001 (312)503-7955 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
Primary Place of Performance: |
2120 Campus Drive Evanston IL US 60208-2610 |
Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
Parent UEI: |
|
NSF Program(s): | ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac |
Primary Program Source: |
|
Program Reference Code(s): |
|
Program Element Code(s): |
|
Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). The project will foster and research the broad implementation of an integrated suite of science, technology, engineering, arts/design, and mathematics (STEAM) learning innovations into schools called FUSE Studios. FUSE is a new kind of interest-driven learning experience that engages pre-teens and teens in learning technical, STEM workforce relevant skills and trans-disciplinary skills-often called 21st century skills, such as self-regulation, persistence, leadership, and critical thinking skills. The core activities in FUSE are a set of challenges. Each challenge uses a leveling up model from gaming and is carefully designed to engage participants in different STEAM topics and skill sets. FUSE currently has several dozen challenges areas such as robotics, electronics, biotechnology, graphic design, Android app development, 3D printing and more. Current project research demonstrates that FUSE is sparking and developing student interest in STEAM and information and communications technology (ICT) fields, especially among students who have not previously considered these career directions. The insights generated by this project will aid school leaders and teachers in adopting and organizing experiences for their students that emphasize youth interests, choice, diverse modes of interaction with knowledgeable others, and a wide range of innovative and heterogeneous learning opportunities in STEAM and ICT. Over the course of this project, FUSE Studios will double its current active reach by expanding to 40 new schools, with 160 new FUSE studios, and reach 16,000-21,400 new students, particularly underrepresented, minority students in under-resourced schools.
The project will research two distinct but complementary strategies, for significantly broadening the implementation of FUSE. These two strategies are called the direct district engagement model and the industry partnership model. The research will focus on how these strategies are successful (or not) in leading to sustainable adoption and spread. Each strategy is designed to respond to distinct organizational conditions found in local schools and districts. The proposed project will investigate three distinct but related aspects of spreading a successful intervention: (a) the process of spreading FUSE project through the two strategies noted above, (b) the life cycle of an intervention (getting in, getting rooted, and spread) and, (c) the ways in which the project is adopted and adapted in different settings (nature of modifications and their impact on integrity of the program). The project will use the concept of a "tracer" from biological research as an analytic device to systematically follow how different institutions adopt, adapt and sustain the innovation (i.e., the FUSE model). In brief, the research will follow how FUSE gets rooted and spreads when it is introduced to the different schools and districts. The research will be guided by the Actor theory Network (ACT), which provides a set of empirical heuristics and concepts for tracing how ideas, practices and artifacts move and become progressively stabilized within social contexts. Studying the broad implementation of FUSE Studios will produce generalizable understandings of how innovative educational, workforce-related, technology experiences can be brought into schools in impactful and sustainable ways on a large scale. This research will make valuable contributions to the important and understudied question of how learning innovations are effectively scaled up.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Note:
When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external
site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a
charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from
this site.
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.
FUSE Studios is a choice-based, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) learning experience. Its core activities involve STEAM challenges that level up like video games and connect the tools and practices of STEAM professionals (e.g., coding, 3D printing) to the diverse interests of young people (e.g., video games, jewelry). It is designed to ignite interest and provide on-ramps into STEAM learning for young people of widely varying interests and abilities. One of the ways that it does this is by choice (choice over what challenges to work on, who to work with, when to continue and when to stop) and by youth learning from one another, with teachers playing the role of ?facilitator? rather than ?instructor?. Because FUSE involves new educational technologies and suggests different roles for teachers and students than a typical K-12 classroom, it represents an alternative infrastructure for learning in schools. FUSE began as an afterschool and library program, but by the start of this grant in 2017, FUSE had made the jump into the school day and spread to 72 primarily school-based sites in the Chicago area and beyond.
The goal of this research project has been to facilitate and study the further spread of FUSE and to understand how a program like this (and by extension educational innovations, in general) might make their way into new schools. Over the grant period, we have successfully seen FUSE spread from 72 sites across six states to 207 sites across 22 states (growing to 275 schools in 2021?22). While some of these new schools heard about and adopted FUSE because of word-of-mouth recommendations from professional colleagues, the mechanism provided for in this grant?involving industry partnerships with STEM companies?led to most of these new school partners. These partnerships have largely been directed to bring FUSE to under-resourced schools. Our partnerships with STEM companies have also allowed for the co-development of authentic learning challenges relevant to each company?s particular cognate disciplines and the placement of STEM mentors as recurring guests in selected FUSE classrooms.
Over the period of this grant, we also have developed several new STEAM challenges (co-designed with industry partners) and expanded our program?s weekly user base to more than 40,000 young people (during the 2020-21 school year), a majority of whom are low income and/or come from groups underrepresented in STEM (females and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) youth). To date, we have also provided professional development and ongoing support for a network of 793 teachers, administrators, and out-of-school education professionals, helping them learn to facilitate in the distinct and dynamic choice and interest-based learning environment of a FUSE classroom.
As FUSE has grown, this grant has also provided the opportunity to study its growth. We have found that one of the key mechanisms through which FUSE has taken root in particular schools is through the adaptability of the program to local conditions. While FUSE has a set of core design principles, it is designed (and explained to educators) to be adaptable to each specific partner?s particular context. As a result, we have seen a wide range of reasons that educators pursue FUSE, including concerns for equity and inclusion, a desire to engage students? interests, and a desire to build students? 21st century skills and STEM skills. We have seen the program implemented, and adapted, in a wide variety of different, but nevertheless successful ways. This success across different implementations is evident from our observations of a consistent studio culture across sites, involving the ways that a) students organize their own experiences through FUSE, b) how students interact with each other, and c) how students interact with their teachers.
Our interviews with educators and observations of FUSE implementations show that sites where FUSE has been adapted to fit local needs have often seen the most sustained and successful implementations (particularly when those adaptations remain aligned with the core FUSE design principles). As we observe these local implementations and adaptations of FUSE, our analyses highlight the importance of attending to the particular people, ideas, and physical and technological infrastructure that are recruited into each network of implementation. While each of these local networks of implementation is comprised of unique actors, we have identified some commonalties in successful networks of implementation, including: (1) having one teacher or administrator who is an advocate and point of contact for the program but who is supported by one or more other key stakeholders at different organizational levels; and (2) recruiting and sustaining physical and technical infrastructure, such as adequate computers and internet to run the program and dedicated time and space for the FUSE experience.
Last Modified: 08/03/2021
Modified by: Reed Stevens
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.