A Search for Indigenous Hawaiian Inquiry Methods/ Impacts of a Place-Based Science Curriculum

• In Event: Roundtable Session 54
  In Roundtable Session: Decolonizing Science Education: What Roles Do Indigenous Knowledge, Languages, Practices, and Values Play in Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development?

Abstract

Almost 30% of Hawai‘i’s public school students are Native Hawaiian. Many attend schools “planning for restructuring” or being “restructured” under NCLB (Kekahio, 2007) that serve rural communities in which subsistence practices develop informal science knowledge that seldom connects to formal science learning (Chinn 2006, 2007, 2008). This study explores what Indigenous Hawaiian inquiry methods might be and their relevance for science teacher education, curriculum design, and pedagogy.

This study investigated how a place-based model for learning science influenced place attachment. Vaske and Kobrin (2001) described place attachment as the combination of place dependence, a functional attachment to a place’s resources and services, and place identity, an emotional attachment.

Authors

• Jennifer L.H. Kuwahara, University of Hawaii

• Pauline W.U. Chinn, University of Hawaii - Manoa