A Campus Huaka‘i: Weaving Geological, Historical & Cultural Perspectives in Hawai‘i
8th International Conference on Higher Education Advances, Universitat Polit`ecnica de Val`encia, Val`encia, 2022
The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa is striving to become a Native Hawaiian place of learning. As part of this effort, we developed a huaka‘i (field trip) to explore the intertwined geological, historical, and cultural influences on our campus. Our purpose is two-fold: (1) to showcase an example of how science can be taught in ways that honor Hawaiian culture and history; and (2) to stimulate interest and collaborations among faculty to develop additional place-based curricula offerings that draw connections between Hawaiian culture and Western science. Evaluations of a pilot field trip generated considerable positive and constructive feedback, which was used to significantly improve the field trip. In this paper, we share an abbreviated version of the current field trip, and sincerely welcome any additional comments and suggestions.
Authors: Barbara C. Bruno, Diamond Tachera, Jennifer Engels, Scott K. Rowland