53.030 - FUSE Studios: Exploring the Adoption and Sustainability of an Informal STEM Education Innovation in and out of School

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium brings together three different perspectives on the adoption and sustainability of FUSE Studios, an alternative STEAM learning infrastructure. Since its launch, FUSE has been adapted successfully in 149 different implementations operating across five different states and three different countries (USA, Finland, and Israel). Yet, despite being tailored to each context-specific needs, FUSE has managed to preserve its coherence as an educational innovation. Each contribution explores the adaptability of FUSE with data from implementations of FUSE in the US and in Finland. In addition to adding to the critical question of how new educational innovations are adopted and sustained, this symposium argues for the need to balance adaptability to local constraints and the integrity (rather than fidelity) of implementation

Sub Unit

• Division C - Learning and Instruction / Division C - Section 3a: Learning Environments

Chair

• Reed Stevens, Northwestern University

Papers

• Adaptation Begets Adoption: How an Unusual Educational Innovation Became Part of the Regular School Day - Jaakko Hilppö, Northwestern University; Reed Stevens, Northwestern University; Kemi Jona, Northwestern University

• Designing and Supporting Productive Adaptation: Cross-Context Teacher Perspectives on Using FUSE in Classrooms - Daniela Kruel DiGiacomo, University of Colorado - Riverside; Katie Van Horne, University of Colorado - Boulder; William R. Penuel, University of Colorado - Boulder

• How Do Teachers Make Sense of a New Infrastructure for Learning? Introducing the FUSE Studio in Finnish Schools - Antti Juhani Rajala, University of Helsinki / Department of Teacher Education; Kristiina P. Kumpulainen, University of Helsinki

Discussant

• Ola Erstad, University of Oslo