How can we bring world-class climate research conducted in the Pacific into our classrooms and homes? At the 2021 STEMS² Symposium, we invited the audience to share their insights on teaching climate change and brainstormed ideas on how to inspire students to cultivate their curiosity for science. We sought to gather perspectives and experiences from participants so we could improve accessibility and knowledge of climate science across the Pacific. Since then, the Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center (PI CASC) education team has dedicated their efforts to creating the PI CASC Education Hub, a platform that offers an abundance of resources on climate. The PI CASC Education Hub provides place-based lesson plans, interactive data and tools, and supplementary resources to support students, teachers, and researchers in deepening and expanding their climate science expertise. Join us in our poster session where we will share our journey of creating the Hub and provide a comprehensive overview of the resources and benefits that PI CASC offers to students, educators, and researchers. We aim to empower educators to tackle the difficult topic of climate change in and out of their classroom and are committed to supporting their efforts through this growing resource and community.

STEMS² Pillars: Aʻo

There are many students with disabilities (SWDs) whose academic success is impeded due to their challenges with learner self-perception and the ways we assess academic achievement. Poor learner self-perception can lead to symptoms of learned helplessness, which further impacts academic achievement for SWDs. Through improving learner self-perception and decreasing learned helplessness, it is hoped that students will feel confident about their abilities, thus allowing them greater access to the general-ed curriculum and beyond. To address the poor learner self-perception and academic achievement observed among students, inquiry-based integrated Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) that is grounded in the STEMS2 construct was used to improve learner-self perception and academic achievement among students with disabilities in a 9th grade math workshop class.

STEMS² Pillars: Aʻo, Makawalu, Moʻolelo, Sense of Place, Advocacy

Based on a STEMS^2 framework, the project ʻIke Wai o ka ʻĀina connected local educators in East Hawaiʻi Island with ʻāina-based community partners to explore what it means to be grounded in educational practices that value a sense of place, purpose, and participation. The site visit experiences at a loko iʻa, a Hawaiian-based learning farm, and a restored native wet forest provided educators an opportunity to listen to the stories of the land stewards of each site, engage in a service project, and experiment with methods for implementing concepts of ʻāina education in their classroom spaces. The study focused on how the ʻIke Wai o ka ʻĀina experience can potentially impact personal and professional development in ʻāina-based education and cultivating connections with community partners.

STEMS² Pillars: Makawalu, Moʻolelo, Sense of Place, Advocacy

This presentation will share details of my self-study, investigating my understanding of sense of place and how this awareness impacts my teaching identity, pedagogical strategies, and practices. To understand any impact, I am examining and comparing artifacts (i.e., reflections, essays, lesson plans, etc.) from different periods of my college student and teaching careers. Preliminary and emerging themes will be discussed, as data analysis and research are ongoing, and results are still forming.

STEMS² Pillars: Aʻo, Makawalu, Moʻolelo, Sense of Place

This study begins from my sense of self and place in California community colleges as a Latina graduate student and professional and reveals findings and implications that are discovered through the support of critical friendship. Several critical examinations, research and experiences on issues of language, culture, power dynamics and social capital play an influential role in my promotion of Latino advocacy in colleges with the help of a critical friend. Data analysis on self reflections and critical friendship conversations evolved into how to operate with critical consciousness towards Latino advocacy in post secondary education.

STEMS² Pillars: Sense of Place, Advocacy

This research is that of a reflective self-study embarked on by an informal educator from Moku o Keawe. The project revolves around the essential question of, what did I, an informal Kanaka ʻŌiwi educator, learn about working with Kanaka ʻŌiwi communities on Moku o Keawe on a project instigated by Outsiders? By engaging moʻolelo and coding methodologies the researcher shares her understanding of what was learned in her work with a Kanaka ʻŌiwi community in a collaborative response to a kāhea from the realm of Kanaloa. The culture of bureaucratic scientism confine policy guidance to Eurocentric methodologies and determine what is considered the truth. This view limits Kanaka ʻŌiwi interaction with Hawaii’s natural resources and encourages the dismissal of Kanaka voices regarding management and policy initiatives. This moʻolelo shares the exploration of a pivotal time in her development as an educator and how she understands the impact and influence it continues to have on her practice.

STEMS² Pillars: Aʻo, Moʻolelo, Sense of Place, Advocacy

Project, Place, and Problem (3-P) based learning are approaches that many educators understand and implement, but there is room to use these techniques in new and increasingly effective ways. This pedagogy is commonly used to engage with students in curriculum areas such as science, social studies, art, and writing however to my knowledge, it is not utilized to build literacy foundational, language aquisition, and comprehension skills in early educational settings. The aim of this project is to discover teacher’s efforts in implementing and the barriers in this approach, gauge the effectiveness of the impact on learners, and utilize it to support their success in reading advancement. Focusing on 3-P instruction provides learners and teachers the opportunities to make reading authentic which they need to increase reading achievements for the student of the modern world. This project is an exploration of the teachers perspective, evaluation of effectiveness and technique, and implementation of the (3-P) instructional approach viewed through the lens of in person interviews for a documentary styled podcast.

STEMS² Pillars: Makawalu, Moʻolelo, Advocacy

At-risk youth, particularly young girls, feel more disconnected than ever. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of an overnight educational program offered by Surfrider Spirit Sessions (SSS), a non-profit organization that offers ocean-based, experiential mentoring programs for Hawai‘i’s at-risk youth. Through this research, the investigator explores the idea that connection to place can foster a stronger sense of connection to self and others, as well as encourage youth to become stewards of the places they love. The evaluation was conducted as a secondary data analysis on data collected by SSS during the program. The study found that through participation in the program, young girls felt the most connection to each other. This connection to each other contributed to feelings of personal growth and connection to place, with participants’ expressing commitment to being stewards of the ocean. This work highlights the positive impacts that overnight place-based educational programming can have on its participants, and the importance of immersive experiences in helping youth feel a sense of belonging and connect more deeply to each other.

STEMS² Pillars: Aʻo, Moʻolelo, Sense of Place, Advocacy

My plan B is about my journey as an educator through the STEMS² program. I knew I did not want to teach science how I was taught science, it was boring and not relevant to me or the world around me. As a teacher I wanted to change that and bring the wonder and excitement back into the classroom. When I started the STEMS² program I thought I knew what I was getting myself into; place-based and ‘aina based education. But it has not been an easy journey and I am still at the beginning stages. There have been many struggles, but also successes. But now I understand for me to be successful using the STEMS² pillars, I need to find myself first. Now that I have started finding out who I am, I am starting to find my purpose as a teacher again.

STEMS² Pillars: Aʻo, Makawalu, Sense of Place

E Ui Ē: To ask, question, stir up, ignite. This research discusses the need for schools to transform their assessment practices to better meet the needs of indigenous students. It aims to understand how our educational systems can be used to acknowledge the strengths and assets of Indigenous students, rather than focusing on how closely they can perform to White middle-class norms. By exploring the approaches to teaching and assessment taken by teachers from Indigenous backgrounds who are also cultural practitioners, this study seeks to identify methods, strategies and elements that are necessary to develop culturally relevant assessments. The central research question for this study is how the teaching and learning experiences in Indigenous cultural practitioner settings can inform approaches to teaching and assessing Native Hawaiian students.

STEMS² Pillars: Aʻo, Makawalu, Moʻolelo, Sense of Place

A Guide to Hawaiian Genealogy is a design-project that is meant to build and strengthen comfort for kūpuna to access knowledge and research by means of technology. The goal of this project aims to provide resources in navigating moʻokūʻauhau research engines in a way that is comfortable, clear and simple for kūpuna to navigate. Through the development of the resources provided by A Guide to Hawaiian Genealogy, kūpuna will be able to acquire easement and relief with the technicalities of technology. Providing these resources will allow kūpuna to experience culturally appropriate introductions to technology and research engines that host a variety of documents and resources that may play crucial roles in researching ones moʻokūʻauhau.

STEMS² Pillars:Aʻo, Moʻolelo, Sense of Place, Advocacy

In the world of education, there is an endless conveyor belt of new strategies being sent to teachers in the ever-evolving school system. In the public school system, many educators are challenged with the task of accepting new mandated methods of instruction while still adapting to the changing needs of their students. Teachers may get lost in the diaspora of changing procedures, so it is essential to work with intention when employing new systems in learning spaces to ensure they are brought to life effectively. Currently, in the State of Hawai’i, teachers are being heavily encouraged to base their practices in the Nā Hopena A’o Framework, while science teachers specifically are strongly urged to utilize Next Generation Science Standards. Being that these two frameworks derive from vastly different backgrounds and were created with different ideas in mind, this paper aims to explore the driving factors, intentions and grounded application of Nā Hopena A’o (HA) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to further address the research question. “How do the educational frameworks of Nā Hopena A’o and NGSS coexist in science classrooms?” Through analysis of case studies and coding via thematic analysis, findings revealed what elements are needed for symbiotic success and critical questions about further implementation.

STEMS² Pillars: Aʻo, Makawalu, Sense of Place

The self-study aims to better understand my relationship with math and my math processing. I explore what once was mental sabotage into a mindful contribution to the knowledge base of teaching as a knower, a practitioner, a researcher, and not just a receiver of knowledge. This self-study aims to use artifacts from my past learning journey in mathematics and the reflection process I experienced before (mental math of distance and angles) and after the release of an arrow (reflection). I'm using archery practice as a vehicle to investigate my math processing.

STEMS² Pillars: Aʻo, Makawalu, Moʻolelo, Sense of Place, Advocacy