STEM for Sustainability: "Look to the Source, Seek Knowledge, Care for the Earth”

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Sunday 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Toward a Decolonial Vision of Educational Research

Abstract

A 3D Printing– Biomimicry professional development project challenged teachers and students to design fishing lures. Intended to provide rural, underserved students at 3 sites across the U.S. with place-based, authentic STEM learning, the project took a cultural turn in Hawai’i. Values and practices expressed in the Hawaiian saying, “Nānā i ke kumu, ʻimi ʻike, mālama Honua; Look to the source, seek knowledge, care for the Earth” led teachers to question utilizing plastic for molds and lures to catch fish. Knowledge of plastic pollution led to designing and testing food quality lures to catch invasive species. The sustainability focus led to school-community research collaborations to study environmental microplastics and to use lures to remove invasive smallmouth bass and tilapia.

Authors

• Pauline W.U. Chinn, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa

• Stacy Potes, University of Hawai'i Mānoa