BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Kern County students rank last in California assessments, but Gridstone Inc., a local tutoring organization aims to change that by providing hands on learning experiences.
- Video shows students at Gridstone Inc. participating in STEM day learning activities
- Students at Gridstone Inc. tell 23ABC before they began the turtoring sessions, they brought home C's and D's, but now they're earning A's and B's and expect more success in the upcoming school year.
Hands on learning here at the Martin Luther King Community Center has made a difference for students in Kern County who continue to struggle to meet grade level requirements.
Pouring the water out of this bottle is the first step to prepare eighth grader Noe Silva’s science experiment.
With Gerald Gridiron’s help to pump the air into the bottle, they launched this bottle rocket to learn about the states of the elements.
“I really hated school because I feel like the teachers, no offense to teachers, but I feel like they blabbered what they were taught to say and then they just moved on,” Noe Silva, one of the students at Gridstone Inc., said.
He tells 23ABC he had C’s and D’s on his report card.
“It just made me feel kind of like dumb and like I was missing out on something and there was something wrong with me, but I needed to be taught differently,” he said.
Now, he says he brings home A’s and B’s.
“Show me the positive end on this battery,” one of the teachers said to a group of students.
That hands on learning approach has made a difference for students like sixth grader Esias Sims.
“Now show me that negative end and you touch that negative end tell me what it do,” the teacher continued.
When Sims connects the power to the device, it beeps.
“See, because you didn’t do it right,” the teacher instructed Sims.
Sims says this contrasts his experience in school.
“They [teachers] just keep telling me to do the same thing in different ways and it’s not really helping me because I need like up close help,” he said when talking about what it's like asking for help.
“Mr. Gridiron, I did the electricity," Sims tells Gerald Gridiron, the founder of Gridstone Inc.
“How’d it go?” Gridiron asked.
“Really good," Sims said. "I burnt out one of the lights on accident.”
Gridiron complied data from the Kern County Superintendent of Schools showing of the 58 counties in California, Kern County students rank last in California assessments.
“We want to make sure that we are able to teach each and every student that comes through our program a way they feel comfortable learning,” Gridiron said.
He adds 84.1% of African American students fail to meet expectations in math according to their grade level.
That’s why he says Fun STEM Fridays make a difference for the students in the program to instill confidence and create expectations of success, and Silva credits his good grades to the support and patience from his teachers at Gridstone Inc.
“I just wouldn’t be where I am right now without this," he said.
Gridiron says he offer these programs free of charge to help students in Kern County stay academically competitive in the new school year.
If you want more information on how to get involved, you can visit their website.
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