Hawaii Volcanoes National Park announces new program for fourth-graders

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is releasing a new educational curriculum program developed for fourth-grade students called Hulihia Kilauea — A Complete Change. This new program is based on the 2018 high intensity eruption events on the Island of Hawaii.

The three-part curriculum contains classroom portions that can be used as stand-alone activities by teachers as well as suggestions for a field visit to the park. Each component can be used in classrooms nationwide to help students learn about geology, volcanic landscapes and the ways communities work to recover from natural disasters.

This new curriculum incorporates scientific and cultural study. While the materials were developed for fourth-graders, each component can be adapted to meet the needs of other grade levels. The complete curriculum materials are available on the park’s website at www.nps.gov/havo/learn/education/curriculummaterials.htm.

This curriculum was developed through two partnerships: Mosaics in Science and the NPS Teacher-Ranger-Teacher Program.

Mosaics in Science funded an 11-week internship with MyLynn Phan, a junior at the University of California, Davis. The goal of Mosaics in Science is to provide science-based internships for racially and ethnically-diverse college students to increase relevancy, diversity and inclusion within the National Park Service. Through the NPS Teacher-Ranger-Teacher Program, Whitney Aragaki, a high school science teacher from Hilo, designed the curriculum so it meets national Next Generation Science Standards and Hawaii specific HA outcomes.

To develop the curriculum materials, Phan and Aragaki interviewed park staff and local community members who experienced the eruption. They also used materials from the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, art developed by one of the national park’s recent artists in residence and additional park resources.

“We are excited to share this curriculum as a teaching tool for not only classrooms across the state of Hawaii, but one that can be used in classrooms nationwide,” said the park’s acting superintendent Rhonda Loh. “We are grateful to all of our park partners and the many individual contributors who helped us to develop this unique interpretation of the Hawaiian experience.”

For more information about educational curricula and programs available for students in grades K-12, contact the park’s education office at havo_education@nps.gov. In addition to providing curricula materials, rangers in the education office can schedule a field trip to the park or provide a distance learning opportunity for schools located off-island.