- The EDCS 433 Interdisciplinary Science Curriculum focuses on sustainability, Indigeneity, and the many connections among the first peoples of Hawaiʻi and Taiwan.
- This 3-credit course runs from May 10–August 15 and has a sustainability (SUST) designation. Participants from across the university are welcome.
- Apply here: https://go.hawaii.edu/3j8 (scroll down to International Study Opportunity for the course description and dates)
Background from Curriculum Studies Professor Pauline Chinn
Aloha mai kākou!!!
Join us on an immersive journey toward becoming “Locally committed, globally prepared.”
Six thousand years ago, Taiwan’s original people island-hopped to the present-day Philippines, invented the outrigger, and began blue-water sailing. Their descendants, Polynesian voyagers, sailed and settled the greatest expanse of earth at the fastest pace of all peoples.
The Curriculum Studies/Polynesian Voyaging Society/Taiwan collaboration began 15 years ago. Faculty from Taiwan universities participated in an Indigenous Science Education Conference at the College of Education (COE) hosted by Professor Pauline Chinn with support from a Native Hawaiian Education award. They sailed with Master Navigator Nainoa Thompson on Hōkūleʻa, planted the kou tree at the COE, and were hosted by Michelle Kapana-Baird, Kaiser High School, MEd, PVS educator, and student of Dr. Isabella Kauakea Aiona Abbott.
When we visited a Tribal school in Taiwan, we found lima meant five, just as in Hawaiian. At the beach, an elderly man collecting limu said it was a dying practice. When I asked college students in a program where 50% are tribal to draw a map of Taiwan with significant features, tribal students drew mountains, streams, plants, and animals. Non-tribal students drew cities and temples. Tribal educators reached out to the COE for guidance on revitalizing culture and language. These enduring collaborations culminated in EDCS 433 Interdisciplinary Science Curriculum.
Join us for a respectful, week-long return to this ancestral island to learn from and with tribal educators and community members. After which, we welcome Taiwanese educators when they visit Hawai’i. Our shared goal is to forge pathways that look to ancestral knowledge for guidance towards a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient future.
