Launch your FUSE STEAM Studio
Getting started is easy! We are here to help.
Many partners choose FUSE for a new STEAM Studio or STEM Lab. Others rely on FUSE to provide structure to a school makerspace, or to complement other STEM curricula.
FUSE is designed for students in grades 4-12, with most partners implementing in grades 5-8. More than 250 schools across the country have launched FUSE: public and private, urban and rural, elementary through high school.
Design your Implementation
FUSE is available in three Packages with up to 33 custom Challenges.
Packages include kits, technical support for teachers, and, at the Innovate and Create level, 3D printers and vinyl cutters.
We help you build a successful implementation plan.
Most of our partners are schools, offering FUSE as a class that meets regularly.
We train you to facilitate FUSE.
Training and ongoing support are provided at all levels of partnership.
Build your FUSE Team
Teachers play a different role in FUSE! Instead of being the sole expert in the room, you’ll support your students as they make their own discoveries and develop individual expertise.
You don’t need to be a STEM expert to run a FUSE Studio. While we have partnered with science and STEM teachers, we also work with educators from a variety of backgrounds, including art teachers, librarians, and grade level instructors.
Our training addresses all aspects of this new approach to instruction. Once you are trained as a FUSE facilitator, we offer continuing support via video calls, email, a Slack channel and knowledge base.
Confirm Technology & Space Resources
FUSE will work in most classrooms and with most school technology plans.
Our program has been implemented in converted computer labs, science labs, libraries, and traditional classrooms. Wherever FUSE is located, we suggest set-ups that encourage collaboration and freedom of movement within the room.
You can find our detailed tech and space requirements in our Launch Guide!
Pricing & Funding FUSE
The Innovate package—33 Challenges, Kits, 3D Printers and a vinyl cutter—is our standard package for schools.
The pricing sheet below provides details about each package. Startup costs include training and all equipment and hardware that you will use throughout your FUSE implementation.
The annual renewal fee includes a resupply credit to keep your studio stocked, as well as access to new challenges as they are released.
FUSE is a not-for-profit program within the context of a University-based research project. FUSE receives funding from federal and private foundation grants; licensing fees help support ongoing program development and operations.
| PACKAGE DETAILS | Discover | Create | Innovate |
|---|---|---|---|
| # of Challenges | 12 | 27 | 33 |
| All Kits and Hardware for included Challenges | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Facilitator Training | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Facilitator Support | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 3D Printers | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Startup Cost | $7,000 | $17,500 | $20,000 |
| Annual Renewal | $2,500 | $5,000 | $6,000 |
Testimonials
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.
What I like about FUSE is you can work alone independently or you can work with your friends. You work together and solve problems.
FUSE creates an environment where every single person has value.
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. You have choice, you have hands on, you have exploration, you have figuring things out on their own, problem solving, real world skills that they’re going to need in college and careers.
FUSE is really fun! It’s practically my favorite subject, because I love using computers, and you can do something with your friends or you can be independent.
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. The open-endedness of it, itself, and the open-ended structure of it allows it to be flexible for implementation at the school level and at the district level.
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.