Blog 6 - STEMS^2 Free Write

My students were able to design and print on their kihei during their place-based inquiry project days.  They were able to use the 'ohe kapala that they designed and carved out of the 'ohe and make their own design on the border of their kihei, which this class will be wearing during Makhakihi protocol.  This project day is STEMS^2 because the students were able to design their 'ohe kapala from the 'ohe that they gathered in the Maunalaha valley, create geometric patterns and angles that are based on traditional Kanaka Maoli designs,  learn about the mo'olelo of the Maunalaha valley, and to develop a sense of place at the school by understanding they are preparing their garments and ho'okupu for Makahiki protocol.

I had my students research the 5 mass extinctions of the earth.  It is a coincidence that you made us read The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert as a required reading for our class because I had my students start reading this novel from the beginning of the semester.  We have not finished the book yet, but I am incorporating this novel and research of the 5 mass extinctions as part of my science integration curriculum. 

One of the groups decided to create a video as their presentation to show their understanding of the 5 mass extinctions.  I feel this project was STEMS^2  because they were able to use one of the iPad minis that I got funded for my class and integrated several content areas.  They worked on their presentations over a course of about 3 weeks.  I was very impressed by this one particular group that made the video meaningful to them, entertaining, and engaging for the audience.  The following video that my students in one group created is shown below:

My goal is to finish The 6th Extinction with my class by the end of the semester so that we can start planning and developing our Environmental/Sustainability Solution project for my integration project by the start of next semester.  My goal is to have my students identify an issue/problem in the community that Hālau Kū Māna is located (or any community they want to service), implement the solution, assess it at a class, reflect to make improvements in the future, and to create a presentation that they will show their makua and community leaders during our end-of-the-year Lā 'Ohana hōike.

Papa Hana No'eau is taking an end-of-the-year (actually in March) huaka'i to Moku O Keawe (Hawai'i Island).  We usually take our papa to Camp Mokuleia during this time, but Aunty U'i (my co-kumu) and I decided that we wanted to take them to Hawai'i Island with the purpose exposing the haumāna, and of course the kumu, to different hana no'eau and various methods of doing the hana that they are used to that will emphasize the importance of makawalu (multiple perspectives of learning and doing).   As part of our fundraising efforts to go to Hawai'i Island, our haumāna are fundraising by selling the arts/crafts that they make during their project days (kapa, ulana lauhala, lauhala earrings, 'ohe kapala printed bags, 'eke lauhala, etc.)  By learning about the economic and entrapreanurship that can be involved with hana no'eau, we hope some of our students decide to further their study of hana no'eau after they leave Hālau Kū Māna.

Protocol and oli are important areas of study of our haumāna, especially when we are asking permission to enter to gather and to always mahalo ke akua for the materials that we were able to gather safely.  By learning about gathering rights and sustainability, they learn about the connection that we have with the 'aina and that we have the capability of taking care of the 'aina so that it can take care of us...aloha kekahi i kekahi!

Community partnerships are a vital part of each place-based project.  Our community partnership for Papa Hana No'eau is with 'Anakala Wes, who is a hana no'eau practitioner, who speaks 'olelo Hawai'i, knows protocol, and studies hana no'eau not only in Hawai'i but all over the Polynesia.  The following video shows the close connections that our students have with our community partner and the impact these partnerships can have with our students.  His mana'o does not only stay with the haumāna, but he has influenced my life and my love for hana no'eau.

Blog Post 5 - What Should a Strong STEMS2 Unit Look Like?

Based on our reading, discuss the following:

1. What should a strong STEMS unit look like?
2. What experiences should students and teachers engaged in?
3. What qualities and characteristics should be present in all STEMS2 units?
4. How long is a unit and how does it allow space and time for experiential learning (field trips, etc.)?

According to Glatthorn (p. 18), a unit is a subset of a course of study and is organized as a set of related learning experiences offered as part of a course of study, usually lasting from one to 3 weeks.  It is also organized around a single overarching concepts.  As I reflect on how my STEMS2 unit should look like, I feel I should narrow my concept to something like "Sustainability Through Wauke Propagation" instead of a broader concept like "Sustainability Through Papa Hana No'eau."

http://kumuphilfallbreakhaawina.blogspot.com/2015/10/fall-break-physical-science-haawina.html

The planning phases of unit development should include practicing, reviewing, and applying knowledge (Glatthorn, p. 18).  In order for students to be able to incorporate these strategies, there needs to be time for students to be introduced to the new concepts, but should also have time to apply them through experiential learning.  These learning experiences may include field trips, labs, place-based activities, and project-based assignments.  In the Thinking About Curriculum reading, constructivism is a theory of learning based on the principle that learners construct meaning from what they experience; thus, learning is an active, mearning-making process (p. 5). As a result, I feel my STEMS2 unit should be about 3 weeks in order for my students to be able to learn, revisit, and apply the knowledge they are learning through a huaka'i or our place-based project.  

According to the Thinking About Curriculum reading, units should be problem-focused, requiring the student to solve open-ended contextualized problems and to enable the students to have access to research and other knowledge in solving problems (generative knowledge) (p. 5).  All STEMS2 units should pose a question or problem that allows students to conduct research through multiple sources (books, magazines, primary resources, experiences) that allow them to make reason for their solutions.

An important part of a unit should include opportunities for students to spend at least part of their time in group formats, such as cooperative learning and to have students demonstrate learning in an authentic manner (Thinking About Curriculum, p. 5).  All students should be able to work together in small groups in a STEMS2 unit where they are able to collaborate and bounce ideas off of each other and build on the knowledge they build together as a group.  I feel that a STEMS2 unit should have students demonstrate learning an an authentic manner through a deliverable like a final group presentation and/or a finished product that was created by the students that applied the new concepts that they learned in the unit such as a political letter, a blog, a website, a mele (song), an oli (chant), etc. that allows them multiple media to showcase what they learned instead of just a paper test.  According to the Thinking About Curriculum reading, technology should be seen as a way of supporting curriculum objectives rather than as an add-on (p. 7).

A STEMS2 unit should have integrated curriculum, which combiners content from two or more disciplines as a means of increasing student interest and student knowledge (Thinking About Curriculum, p. 6).  Since STEMS2 encompasses, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, social sciences, and sense of place, integration of multiple disciplines in a STEMS2 unit should be required.  The context of what the STEMS2 unit will look like will be developed from the creativity of the teacher, which should be meaningful and responsive to the culture of the students as an individual, as a class, and/or as a school. 
www.papahananoeau.weebly.com

Blog Post 4 - Incorporating STEMS2 Instruction at Hālau Kū Māna

When I hear of the struggles that many of you have to face at your schools just to get a field trip, to have your students get into the stream, or to bring your students outside, I feel very lucky that I have a structure at my school that allows me to practice what we discuss in our cohort regarding place-based and community-based instruction, and cultivating a sense of place.  

In my pre-algebra class, I had my students use Hawaiian measurements as the context of learning how to analyze data and create scatter plots.  They were able to measure different Hawaiian measurements and to be able to discuss relationships with their height and other Hawaiian measurements. 

In my trigonometry/precalculus class, I had them go into Makiki Stream on our campus to find the width of the stream at a particular location by applying what they learned on right triangle trigonometry.  By applying the math concepts that they learned outside in the stream and to make connections with the math content and the place they are at, I feel they retained the content better and felt that what they were learning was applicable and meaningful.

In my physical science class, I have incorporated a lot more STEMS2 ideas and multi-disciplinary science content, specifically environmental science and sustainability.  I have my students utilizing their iPad minis to take pictures of their hana and to and update the class webpage that they created as a class. 
www.papahananoeau.weebly.com  In this website, they explained what Papa Hana No'eau project was about and added pictures to explain the process of making i'e kuku, kapa, 'ohe kapala, and ko'i.  By using technology, they feel more ownership of their work because the webpage will be shown to their 'ohana on La 'Ohana this October 24th.  

In addition to more technology, I have my class reading The 6th Extinction and have a research project of the 5 mass extinctions that occurred in the history of the planet.  My mana'o behind this research project and reading is to have them aware of what a global mass extinction looks like and to have them visualize and connect to the past what a 6th extinction may look like in our lifetime if we do not become leaders in sustainability, resource management, and cultural practices of malama 'aina. 

The conversations that we have been having in our cohort have been very powerful and meaningful to my practice as a kumu and curriculum development.  I am a fairly new teacher, only one year as a licensed math and science teacher, yet my discussions with you all and our collaborative synergy give me confidence in my ability to create meaningful curriculum, apply them, make mistakes, improve on them, and to ultimately keep in mind that our students deserve an education that honors who they are and where they come from. 

Blog Post 1: Eō nā 'opio o Hālau Kū Māna

Eō Nā 'Opio O Hālau Kū Māna

This is my 2nd year teaching at Hālau Kū Māna PCS.  I am teaching pre-algebra, trigonometry/precalculus, and physical science.  In addition, I am teaching Papa Hana No'eau (Hawaiian Arts) with my co-teacher Aunty U'i  and our community practitioner, Uncle Wes and am a senior project advisor. 

For my physical science class (10th grade), I am having my class experience a year long project that has a topic of Finding Solutions to Environmental Issues/Sustainability Through Indigenous Cultural Practices.  Through their place-based inquiry project days (PBI), reading The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert, watching The 11th Hour, etc., they will be able to embark on a class project that allows them to identify an environmental problem that they would like to find a solution, implement their solution, document it, assess it, and present it to their parents and the community at the end of the year. 

I was able to post this project on DonorsChoose.org, where I requested for 5 iPad minis.  I wanted my students to be able to use technology that would give them an opportunity to take pictures/videos, create a class website, record music, make a presentation, conduct research, etc.  Fortunately, this project was fully funded and I was given these iPad minis this past week.  I want them to start taking pictures and documenting what they do in their PBI.  In addition, I was also able to get funded 18 scientific calculators through DonorsChoose.org.

We have started our PBI for Papa Hana No'eau (Hawaiian Arts).  Our students were assigned a la'au (plant) that they will have to malama in the mala.  Some of the la'au that we are taking care of is hall, olena, ko, ulei, koai'a, la'i, a'ali'i, pia, 'uala, wauke, and naupaka.  We teach our haumāna to malama their la'au because they will be using all of these for their hana, whether it be for weaving, la'au lapa'au, making lei, and food.  They are taught that if we malama the 'aina as a resource, it will give us what we need.  

Our students were able to gather the wood they need to make their ko'i in Ualaka'a and Nu'uanu.  We were able to to have them connect to the area and to follow protocol when they enter a place and to mahalo the 'aina for its resources that it provided.  We were able to soak the ko'i in the kai at Ala Moana, which helps prevent terminates from eating the wood.  They also started making their blades for their ko'i. 

'Anakala Wes (Uncle Wes) is our community practitioner that we have created a close partnership.  He brought some ohi'a, keawe, and iron wood for our students to make their i'e kuku.  Our students were able to use modern tools (sander, planer, chisel) and traditional tools (ko'i, traditional drill to make holes, mano niho) to make their lines and watermark on their i'e kuku. 

We were able to bring our students to Bishop Museum to talk to kupuna that practice hana no'eau (feather lei making, basket weaving, kapa making, lauhala weaving, etc.) and to learn about the traditional arts that are displayed in Polynesian Hall and Hawai'i Hall.  

In my content classes (pre-algebra, trigonometry/precalculus, physical science), I have been trying to incorporate aspects of STEMS2 in my lessons.  In particular, I was able to teach coordinates, coordinate planes, and scatter plots in the context of finding relationships with Hawaiian Units of Measurements.  In my physical science class, I wanted to teach motion (calculating speed, graphing distance vs. time) through data collection of finding the speed of Makiki Stream.  I feel through real-life data collection and analysis, my students can retain the content better instead of learning the content with just arbitrary numbers.