The Hawaii Island Meaningful Outdoor Experience for Students program encourages middle and high school science and mathematics teachers to apply for field research opportunities for the 2012-2013 school year.
Administered by The Kohala Center and in association with the Kohala Watershed Partnership, the program empowers teachers with resources — such as classroom mini-grants, transportation and logistical support — to conduct place-based education. The program is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Bay Watershed Education and Training Program.
With a focus on bay and watershed education, the program provides place-based learning opportunities to middle and high school students via hands-on field research. Four diverse ahupua‘a (traditional land divisions) on Hawaii Island serve as “classrooms”: Kohala Mountain, Kahaluu Bay (Kona), Ka‘upulehu (North Kona), and Hilo Bay Watershed. An outdoor educator from The Kohala Center or the Kohala Watershed Partnership provides technical, logistical, and programmatic support to classroom teachers throughout the year. The program meets Hawaii Department of Education content and performance standards.
“Many students in Hawaii say they’ve only been on one field trip during their education,” said Erica Perez, expeditionary learning coordinator at The Kohala Center.
Interested teachers can find more information about the program, eligibility requirements, and an online application at http://www.kohalacenter.org/himoes/about.html, or may call The Kohala Center at 887-6411. The deadline to apply is Aug. 31.
“When you consider how much planning and organization goes into field trips — transportation, supervision, insurance, and safety, for example — they can become financially and logistically prohibitive for teachers. The program provides that critical support, so that teachers are able to give their students expanded, real-world learning opportunities.”
Charlotte Godfrey-Romo, a teacher at Hilo High School, participated in the program last year. She teaches three “Plants and Animals of Hawaii” classes to juniors and seniors. Last year her classes made several trips to Kapoho to assess the health of several coral species. Information from local residents and research seemed to indicate that the septic systems of nearby houses were leaking into the water table, possibly polluting the reefs and proliferating disease.
“HI-MOES found a specialist for my class to help prepare them for their research projects,” Godfrey-Romo said. “The digital cameras, tape measures, and quadrat supplies being used were purchased with a HI-MOES mini-grant and will serve future classes for years to come. The program also arranged and paid for transportation, which is usually the biggest barrier in getting students out into the field for research. The financial and classroom support encouraged and enabled me to be able to provide a high-quality, hands-on learning experience that will enrich students’ learning experiences.”
Other research projects conducted through the program in years past include comparing water quality parameters in different locations over time, calculating and comparing the amount of marine debris in near-shore areas, assessing risks in coastal hazard/tsunami evacuation zones, comparing nutrient input to algal cover on coral reefs, and measuring and comparing species in local ecosystems such as reefs, tide pools, or forests.
“Place-based education gets students out of classrooms and into meaningful, hands-on outdoor research experiences,” Perez said. “In addition, the program builds a longer-term impact by exposing students to potential career paths, in hopes of inspiring academic excellence and motivating them to pursue higher education.”
“I’ve had 100 percent positive feedback from students about the field experience opportunity,” Godfrey-Romo said. “My students all concur they will get more out field experience than from learning from a textbook. This experience will add to their constructed knowledge for their future classes and life experiences, and hopefully inspire them for future jobs out in the field.”
Educators who have been through the program are welcome to re-apply. The Kohala Center (http://www.kohalacenter.org) is an independent, community-based center for research, education and conservation. The Center was established in direct response to the request of island residents to create greater educational and employment opportunities by enhancing — and celebrating — Hawaii’s spectacular natural and cultural landscapes.
