What is FUSE?

FUSE ignites and nurtures STEAM exploration
through an innovative challenge-based approach and studio environment.

Teachers in FUSE support student learning as facilitators. Students become the content experts.

STEAM EXPLORATION

FUSE facilitates learning through ‘making,’ develops 21^st-century skills, and builds collaborative, youth-centered learning communities. FUSE is designed for students in middle and high school, but is also implemented in community colleges and in lower elementary in some contexts.

OUR DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Elementary school students work together on the Selfie Sticker challenge.

FUSE CHALLENGES

FUSE challenges, the learning activities of the program, are designed to introduce STEAM concepts and skills in a engaging and enjoyable way. Students choose the challenges they want to work on and progress at their own pace, working alone or with others. Challenges are based in STEAM topics likes 3D design and printing, robotics, architecture, music mixing, animation and more.

VISIT OUR CHALLENGE GALLERY

My favorite thing about FUSE by far is choice. When you give students choice, it’s something they’re not used to having. At first they say, “What do you mean, I can just choose?” Yes, you can just choose what you want to do and how far into it you want to go and how you’re going to do it. It gives them a sense of power. It’s amazing.

Facilitator, Middle School

You have choice, you have hands-on, you have exploration, you have figuring things out on their own. Fuse is teaching adolescents problem solving and real world skills that they’re going to need in college and careers and beyond.

Principal, Middle School

I’m actually not a science type of person. I’m more of an English person. But this actually opened my eyes to more opportunities for science. I love FUSE. It’s really fun.

Student, High School

FUSE is the only high-end STEAM program I’ve ever seen in my career that works right out of the box, with minimal set-up, minimal tear-down, minimal maintenance.

Teacher, High School

Why FUSE?

FUSE IS

21ST CENTURY LEARNING

FUSE’s focus on interest-driven learning creates a unique studio environment in any classroom. The facilitation training provided by FUSE prepares educators to support students with guiding questions and youth-centered classroom management.

NATURAL ALIGNMENT WITH

NGSS

FUSE supports STEM/STEAM educational initiatives in schools as well as informal learning environments. FUSE helps to meet the NGSS standards and to build transferable skills. FUSE encourages students to be creative, ask questions, think critically, and solve problems.

ACCESSIBLE

ONLINE PLATFORM

FUSESTUDIO.NET

Our website, Fusestudio.net, facilitates learning, collaboration, evaluation, and research for all FUSE stakeholders including youth, facilitators, partners, program designers, and researchers. The site hosts all of the FUSE challenges and provides support to complete the challenges and extend learning.

What is a FUSE Studio?

A FUSE Studio is a space where youth creatively and independently work on FUSE challenges. Adults serve as facilitators and support student work. Schools use computer labs and classrooms as studios.

SETTING UP A STUDIO

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Our Partners

FUSE has diverse program design, implementation, and funding partners. These partners provide STEAM expertise, support, and feedback that help to improve the program and expand its reach to more students.

Siemens has supported development of three challenges with FUSE: Solar Roller, Wind Commander, and Smart Castle.

FUNDING PARTNERS

FUSE research, program design and staff are generously supported by grants from the National Science Foundation under NSF grants DRL-1348800 and DRL-1433724. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

The Nellie Mae Foundation, Creating IT Futures, CompTIA, Boeing, The MacArthur Foundation, Hive Chicago, Siemens Industries Inc., IBM, and Motorola Mobility have also funded FUSE. A cohort of schools in the 2017-18 school year is funded by a generous grant to FUSE from the NextUp campaign, which is funded by CompTIA and managed by Creating IT Futures. Additional schools are funded by grants from Siemens and the Nellie Mae Foundation. FUSE has also been funded by the the MacArthur Foundation and Hive Chicago.

WATCH: PARTNERING WITH FUSE

FUSE is tailored to meet a lot of the goals of the next generation of science standards. FUSE provides those real world-learning opportunities. It integrates the science and engineering practices that those standards demand that our students are proficient in, and I think it also, in a lot of different ways, shows students the crosscutting concepts that reach across science and engineering domain. They’re able to see how solving one problem in one area can translate into all kinds of other areas as well.

District STEM Coordinator

There are students who emerge as leaders and they’re not always the kids who are leaders inside the classroom. FUSE allows students who might not be a social or academic leaders to shine. It gives them an avenue and a feeling of success in school that they might not otherwise have.

Elementary School Teacher

FUSE is the only high-end STEAM program I’ve ever seen in my career that works right out of the box, with minimal set-up, minimal tear-down, minimal maintenance.

Teacher, High School

Students are very engaged in FUSE. From the time they walk in, they have a goal. And they want to get to that goal, whether it’s leveling up on a challenge or working with a certain student, they really have engagement throughout the entire process. The engagement level is there because there is such a variety of explorations and choices for them to have within the FUSE structure.

Teacher, Elementary School

We kept doing all these different things in FUSE, and every day that I would go back to actual class, you know, I would do my work, I would be more attentive, I would actually raise my hand in class, and I would actually try to interact with my physics class. Things that I did in FUSE, I would bring it back to my actual class. And that’s a thing that I never thought I’d do, you know? I never thought that I would actually want to try.

High School Student

Some of the kids that aren’t always as successful in the General Ed classroom for the general content, they come in here and they just shine. Some of our Special Ed students, they can print out on a 3D printer, they can level up in those challenges.

Principal, Elementary School

My favorite thing about FUSE is definitely peer collaboration. Unlike other classes I found myself getting bored, zoning out, but I’m like always on task with this, cuz I’m a bad procrastinator in other classes but here I get my stuff done on time, I get it done fast. Me and my friends, we are always working together and it’s a blast!

8th grader

My favorite thing about FUSE is the accomplishment and success you feel after you finish a challenge, figure out a problem or find a solution. I like how great you feel like after you like finally figure it out.

8th Grader

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