April 13, 2006

RAMP-UP is a Family Affair

RAMP-UP fellows from NC State University and Shaw University are ready for Family Math Night at Bugg Creative Arts and Science Elementary Magnet School in Raleigh. Left to right are Kate Caldwell, NC State graduate student in mechanical and aerospace engineering; Matthew Lewis, NC State doctoral student in chemistry; Denice Young, NC State graduate student in materials science; Mike Geci, NC State senior in mechanical engineering; Tania Coleman, Shaw sophomore in math education; Travis Williams, NC State graduate student in electrical and computer engineering; and Tenea Miller, NC State sophomore in biomedical engineering. (Photo: Kathi McBlief)

It was family math and science fair night at Bugg Creative Arts and Science Elementary Magnet School in Raleigh. Some parents and students had gathered to admire student science projects, and others to participate in Family Math Night.

Running the Family Math Night events were Liz Parry, project director of RAMP-UP, a program at NC State University officially known as Recognizing Accelerated Math Potential in Underrepresented People, and a crew of RAMP-UP fellows who are college students from NC State University and Shaw University. Parry and her crew all sported bright red polo shirts stenciled with the white RAMP-UP logo. Armed with bins of hands-on math activities, the crew spread out to several classrooms to set up and facilitate grade-appropriate activity stations. Fellows, students and parents settled in for an hour of fun and learning.

RAMP-UP is a five-year, $2.5 million grant project funded by the National Science Foundation’s GK-12 Program and the GE Foundation. The program partners NC State’s colleges of Engineering and Education and Shaw’s Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics with the Wake County Public School System to increase the number and diversity of students who enroll and succeed in higher level math courses.

NC State’s Dr. Laura Bottomley, the director of Women in Engineering and Outreach for the College of Engineering, and Dr. Karen Hollebrands, assistant professor of mathematics education in the College of Education, are the principal investigators for the project. Dr. James Nelson, professor of natural sciences and math, is the lead collaborator at Shaw University.

NC State and Shaw students are the cornerstone of the program. Approximately 40 graduates and undergraduates who are studying engineering, computer science, mathematics and education are placed in eight Wake County schools (five elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school) to act as resources and to collaborate with teachers to create “hands-on” activities that foster enthusiasm for mathematics among K-12 students.

Jaimi Neuf, fourth grade teacher at Bugg Elementary, is excited about the RAMP-UP program. “The kids get excited about working with college students, which gets translated into getting excited about math. The [RAMP-UP] fellows are very prepared. We teach, and the fellows reinforce the concepts. The kids now want to know how to get into Math Club — it’s considered cool. Parents are very supportive, too.”

For Parry, who directs the fellows, RAMP-UP is her “passion.” “I absolutely love what I’m doing. I tell people I would do this for free, but I don’t have to, which is really nice,” she said, grinning.

Family Math Night is a new tool among many that RAMP-UP uses to tap the math and science potential of students who may be left behind. The goal of Family Math Night is to reach children through their parents. According to Parry, parents’ attitudes, especially those of mothers, have a tremendous impact on their children’s views toward math and science. If the parents do not have confidence in their own math and science skills, then their children tend to lack confidence as well.

		Parry recently received a $5,000 grant from the Friday Institute to hold a community Family Math Night event in a faith-based building. The pastor at Saint Matthew A.M.E. church in East Raleigh has agreed to hold the event at his church May 4 from 6 to 8 p.m. Parry said, “We will invite members of the community around the church plus the parents from two nearby high-needs schools. I'm excited to see if a faith-based venue will make parents more comfortable coming out than going to a school would.”

“Parents are really key,” Parry continued. “In North Carolina,” she explained, “children are tested in third grade to determine if they are academically gifted. The academically gifted children are then on track to take algebra by eighth grade and calculus by twelfth.” According to Parry, the children who are not deemed academically gifted are at a disadvantage unless they have strong advocates. Parry said, “Parents can be that advocate. Part of our mission is to educate them about doing that.”

Family Math Night is one way of educating the parents. “We get to the parents by helping them to see their own abilities and therefore those of their children,” Parry explained. “We developed Family Math Night last semester. The approach I took was to make it simple — drill and kill.”

On Family Math Nights, Parry and her fellows take six bins, marked K through 5, to the elementary schools. Each bin contains five activities tied to the math curriculum of the grade. The fellows explain the rules of the activities, and the parents and children participate in the activities together. Activities range from kindergarten patterning exercises, such as stringing a necklace with items to match a drawn card, to fifth grade percentage exercises, such as fishing items from a bowl of water and then determining the percentage of what was caught.

Family Math Nights are extremely popular. When Parry held a Family Math Night at Willow Spring Elementary School, 400 parents showed up. “It was the largest parent event in the school’s history,” Parry said. At another school on Family Math Night, parents ended up taking over one of the card games. Parry said, “We had to corral the parents and remind them to let the kids play. They love it.”

For the children, part of the attraction of Family Math Night and other RAMP-UP activities is interacting with the college students. Parry said, “The role model aspect was something we knew would be there, but it has been huge—for our kids and our teachers. [Bugg Elementary] credits one of our guys for turning around several troubled boys. He would go on field trips with them and tutor them after school.” Another of Parry’s NC State students, Travis Williams, an African-American who is working toward his master’s in electrical and computer engineering, tutors four African-American students each week.

Williams enjoys his role as mentor to these young students. “I’m the type who likes to explain, to help others understand and learn. I like demonstrating to the students that if they want to, they can achieve their goals.” Antanette Thomas, a junior in electrical and computer engineering at NC State, has similar motivation: “Being a double minority in engineering, I know it can be discouraging. I like giving the students confidence — to help them like math because if they don’t, it is because they don’t understand it.”

No one can deny that RAMP-UP is a positive influence in the schools. Sometimes the benefit is profound. A fellow from Shaw collaborated with one math teacher to teach Algebra I to students who were not supposed to be ready for that level of math, yet the entire class passed the end-of-course exam.

At other times, the effects are subtle but equally powerful. Ann Thiani’s daughter, Stephanie, is in fifth grade at Bugg Elementary and “loves” the RAMP-UP fellows. Thiani said of her daughter, “She is a bright girl and an excellent student, but before [RAMP-UP] she talked about becoming a dancer, a lawyer or a doctor. Now she talks about engineering. It has opened up a new world for her.”

For Parry and the fellows of the RAMP-UP program, opening up new worlds is their goal and passion.

Mike Geci, a RAMP-UP fellow from NC State, helps fourth grader Lauren Koop with an assignment. (Photo: Kathi McBlief)		RAMP-UP fellow Tania Coleman, a sophomore in math education at Shaw University, helps fifth grader Alice Adebari with a Family Math Night activity. (Photo: Kathi McBlief)		RAMP-UP fellows Kate Caldwell (left) and Tenea Miller assist Bugg Elementary School students Jordan Williams and Jonathan Hansley in comparing two brands of diapers to determine which brand can hold the most liquid. (Photo: Kathi McBlief)

— mcblief —

Technical Contact:
Elizabeth A. Parry, 919-513-8521, eaparry@ncsu.edu

Media Contact:
Kathi McBlief, 919-515-2283, kathi_mcblief@ncsu.edu

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