Culturally Responsive Science Enrichment Activities for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island Twice-Exceptional Students

• In Event: Designing and Implementing Culturally Responsive Programming for Advanced Learners in K–12 Schools

Abstract

Objectives: Native Hawaiian (NH) and Pacific Island (PI) students with disabilities have been underrepresented in gifted and talented education (GATE) program and STEM. Barriers include unfair identification and lack of teacher cultural competence, culture in instruction, and funding for GATE programs, especially in poor districts that tend to have many NH and PI students.
Project TEAMS aims at increasing the number of twice-exceptional students in science especially from underrepresented groups. Over 40% of Hawaii site participants are NH and PI. To address the aforementioned barriers, the project staff use a non-traditional identification method and are trained on disability, NH, and PI cultures. Homogenous grouping increases their sense of belonging. It is provided free of charge.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the science enrichment activities on NH and PI twice-exceptional students’ interest, engagement, knowledge, and problem-solving skills.
Theoretical Framework: The project employs culturally responsive pedagogy to recognize classrooms as cultural entities. By considering the values, norms, expectations, and communication patterns of students, mentors can connect to students and facilitate learning. It also uses contextual problem-based learning to situate the problem within students’ surroundings to increase student motivation, engagement, and perception of STEM. For these 21st century learners, the study employs blended learning to mix offline and online learning, self-paced and live learning, and structured and unstructured learning.
Methods: Mixed methods is used. Qualitative data are collected through observations and analyzed using content analysis. Quantitative data are collected by pre-post lesson-based knowledge tests and analyzed using General Linear Model-Repeated Measures.
Results: Overall students showed a high level of interest in the activities. Their interest increased while doing hands-on activities, compared with independent work on the RLS. They also showed high interest in mentor’s storytelling. The cultural context that the mentor provided allowed the students to make a connection with what they learned from the RLS and fostered deeper understanding. A high level of student engagement with small group hands-on work was also observed. It was especially obvious through their increased discussions amongst peers, facial expressions, and longer attention span. It is in contrast to their individual work; even when students were using hands-on materials, when working independently, they were more easily distracted and spent less time on tasks.
Students demonstrated a high level of problem solving skills as well, especially working to solve a problem as a small group. They showed more tolerance with challenges and higher motivation to solve the problem. Moreover, comparing the pre and post tests, a statistically significant increase was found.
Significance: The results showed that a collaborative, hands on science enrichment activities made to solve a real life problem, contributing to a communal goal to serve the community, was effective to improve the interest, engagement, knowledge, and problem solving skills of NH and PI twice-exceptional students and create an inclusive environment for different types of disabilities. The results also suggest the need for a further study in an effective way of blended learning for NH and PI with or without disabilities.

Authors

• Hye Jin Park, University of Hawaii

• Kiriko Takahashi, University of Hawaii