Publication

A central way in which FUSE provides powerful learning affordances is by breaking down the silos of A key way in which FUSE provides powerful learning affordances is by breaking down the silos of traditional STEM disciplines, and engaging learners in more authentic, interdisciplinary, and personally meaningful experimentation ICLS 2016 Proceedings 1029 © ISLS and making (e.g., Dewey, 1897; Resnick et al., 2009). Consequently, FUSE activities have the potential to not only motivate students to engage in future STEM learning, but also to provide them with a toolkit of knowledge and practices to use in future STEM learning endeavors (e.g., Vossoughi & Bevan, 2014). However, to understand whether or how students take knowledge and practices learned in FUSE and apply them in other STEM learning contexts, we must follow students as they traverse these boundaries across contexts. The goal of this study was to do just that, focusing on three specific questions: (1) What practices are learned in FUSE; (2) How do learners use these practices in other STEM learning contexts; (3) How is thinking and learning in both FUSE and other STEM contexts contingent upon the sociomaterial conditions of the respective contexts (e.g. Cole, 1996)?