What is a Challenge?
Each FUSE challenge is based on a STEAM topic and designed to appeal to students’ personal, non-STEAM interests.
Challenges are carefully designed educational activities composed of levels of increasing difficulty. The level structure of our Challenges allow for personalized learning: the early levels hook students and provide early success, while more advanced tasks in later levels build confidence and ability.
Over 30 Design, Engineering & Coding Challenges
Teachers choose which Challenges to make available.
Our STEAM Challenges have something for everyone. Students work in flexible groupings, and can switch Challenges at any time.
Students choose from the Challenges, and work at their own pace.
Challenges Designed for Every Interest
Play the short video trailers to get an overview of our Challenges. Most schools select our Innovate package, which offers over 30 Challenges, over 20 custom kits, 3D printers, and a vinyl cutter.
Digital Challenges
We have eight browser-based digital Challenges, covering coding, animation, 3D art, and architecture.
Game Designer
Design your own multi-level platformer and a custom hero to star in it.
Beats Builder
Produce your own music with professional audio mixing software.
Tangible Challenges
Ten engaging Challenges explore electronics, solar and wind power, and rollercoasters.
LED Color Lights
Combine and control three LEDs to produce a rainbow of different colors.
Coaster Boss
Can you build the fastest Roller Coaster in FUSE?
3D Printing Challenges
We offer six different 3D Printing design Challenges. Design in a browser and then transfer to a desktop computer for 3D printing.
Cookie Customizer
Design and print unique cookie cutters and make awesome cookies.
Print My Ride
Design your own model car and print it out in 3D.
Hybrid Challenges
Nine hybrid Challenges connect Making & Digital skills using Arduino and Makey Makeys.
Smart Castle
Bring a castle into the 21st century by adding intruder alerts, remote control doors, and more.
Get in the Game
Create custom controllers to make online games more fun.
Flexible across Platforms & Devices
Testimonials
FUSE provides choice, hands on, exploration,figuring things out on their own, problem solving—real world skills that they’re going to need in college and careers and beyond.
FUSE is helping to reinforce that concept with students, that failing is a part of learning. It is a part of finding the right answer, and the path to the solution.
FUSE is such a great fit for the school, and especially the students, because being teenagers at a middle school, it’s developmentally appropriate for them to be able to explore the many different aspects of the FUSE program.
The open-ended structure of FUSE allows it to be flexible for implementation at the school level and at the district level.
I’ve seen students who get so easily frustrated be able to handle that failure and bounce back and be able to try again, and again and maybe a dozen times until finally they pull it off. When you exist in a world where failure is an okay thing, that makes success the greatest thing.
I think the suitability for us is that it’s flexible—the way that it can be disseminated related to time periods and content and structures. You can run FUSE in a computer lab, you can facilitate FUSE on laptops, kids can explore at home.
I learned that I love technology, and being creative. I never knew that before – that I would love to mess around with the computer or make stuff or be creative, but now I know that.
FUSE provides those real world-learning opportunities. It definitely integrates the science and engineering practices that standards demand our students are proficient in, and I think it shows students the crosscutting concepts that reach across science and engineering domain, things like patterns, and they’re able to see how solving one problem in one area can translate into all kinds of other areas as well.
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 just like how great you feel like after you finally figure it out.