(230d) K-5 Stem Enrichment Activities with Guilford County Schools and North Carolina a&t State University

The development of increased numbers of future engineers and scientists in the United States, especially from impacted rural and urban communities, will require strong partnerships between academia, K-12 institutions, local and state government, corporate partners and community-based organizations. For students from economically-disadvantaged backgrounds, the use of tangible rewards such as candy, inexpensive toys, and fast food treats, for positive behavior reinforcement can be quite an effective motivator for student achievement. The establishment of professional, personal relationships between students and faculty which inspire trust show success in student achievement. These professional relationships can be initiated and maintained via such preplanned activities as classroom visits by faculty and students, enrichment efforts (i.e., tutoring, reading, etc.), and field trips.

The historical challenges in closing the academic achievement gap from current educational research appears to be more influenced by psychological and sociological phenomena as opposed to intellectual, economic, or technological factors. The most important tool for the promotion of student achievement success in underrepresented and also economically-disadvantaged groups had been noted to be the project of the expect high academic success without the presence of stereotypical attitudes and also without the use of emotionally and psychologically stressful consequence-based student learning evaluation techniques. In this work, the use of science and mathematics-based activities to educate students from impacted elementary schools in the Guilford County Schools will be discussed.