A research program in the Curriculum Research & Development Group (CRDG) at the College of Education (COE) has been awarded $150K by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Bay Watershed Education and Training program. The grant will help support Our Project in Hawai‘i’s Intertidal (OPIHI) over a two-year period.Under the direction of CRDG Assistant Specialist Joanna Philippoff, and co-directed by Leeward Community College Place-Based Lab Manager Anuschka Faucci, OPIHI is a citizen science program for middle and high school teachers and students. Participants monitor the understudied rocky intertidal areas in Hawai‘i, collecting authentic scientific data while improving their understanding of the local watershed and scientific process.“This award will allow us to continue to immerse teachers and students statewide in the scientific process,” Philippoff said. “It will also allow us to support continuing OPIHI teachers as well as bring on a new cohort of novice OPIHI teachers.”
In OPIHI, educators, scientists, and cultural practitioners form a supportive community engaged in understanding their local ahupua‘a. Teachers gain classroom and field experiences, which they use to create activities with their students.
Over the past 10 years, OPIHI has made significant educational, scientific, and societal contributions. Through OPIHI’s professional development program, teachers and students have increased their content and skills knowledge, critical thinking and investigative skills, and knowledge of ecological concepts and conservation issues. Most recently, the program produced a new field identification guide to Hawai‘i’s coastal organisms.
Applications for the new cohort of OPIHI teachers are due October 19, 2018. For more information or to apply, check out this OPIHI flyer.
