Project
Aloha ‘Aina
If you plan for a year, plant
kalo.
If you plan for ten years, plant koa.
If you plan for one hundred years, teach the children.
- Hawaiian Proverb
Reaching
Standards
Project Aloha 'Aina is is a three-year endeavor of the Pacific
American Foundation is working
in partnership with other community organizations to
help people achieve their vision of a healthy environment and
to
offer field site experiences for students.
All of the lessons are designed to help students meet selected
Hawai'i Content and Performance Standards developed by the Department
of Education, as well as
Na Honua Mauli Ola, Hawai'i Guidelines for Culturally Healthy
and Responsive Learning Environments, developed by the Native
Hawaiian Education Council in partnership with Ka Haka 'Ula
O Keÿelikölani College of Hawaiian Language, UH-Hilo.
DOE General Learner Outcomes (GLOs) are also addressed in students’
culminating projects.
Vision:
The vision of the project is that everyone in Hawai`i lives
by the values of aloha `äina and that communities work
together to achieve their vision of a healthy environment
in harmony with the land and the sea.
Mission:
The mission of Project Aloha `Aina is to provide Hawai`i’s
youth with culturally relevant curricula to inspire them to
embrace aloha `aina as a way of life. The program will foster
foundational learning experiences that reflect Native Hawaiian
culture and core values. In collaboration with community partners,
the program will empower young adults to be leaders in their
community, and support kupuna, makua, and `opio (all generations)
in working toward their vision of aloha `aina.
Goal:
One of the major goals of the project is to inspire Hawai`i’s
youth to excel in science, social studies, math and language
arts standards with placed-based curricula that embraces the
wisdom of Native Hawaiian ancestors and promotes caring for
resources within students’ ahupua`a.
Project-Based Learning
The units in this teacher’s guide are designed thematically
and support integrated project-based learning that is anchored
in the core curriculum. The units immerse students in scientific
inquiry and into related social studies explorations. Math
and language arts skills are incorporated as a means for students
to interpret and express their findings.
To begin their Aloha 'Aina journey, students are provided
with a “map” to guide their way in the form of
a Student Assessment Overview. This document, which is provided
in each Unit Introduction, lays out the individual and culminating
group projects for students along with the standards that
they will be striving to achieve.
Students are given this document at the beginning of the unit
so that they can chart their course and keep track of their
progress as they journey through the lessons. Suggestions
for students’ culminating projects are provided in the
unit, however the form of those projects is left up to the
creativity of the students.
Assessment
The units employ formative assessments within each of the
lessons and summative assessments at the end of the unit.
The formative assessments are labeled as Learning Log sheets
at the elementary and intermediate level and Journal sheets
at the high school level. These sheets may be kept by each
student in his or her own Learning Log or Journal.
Two summative assessment tools are provided with the unit:
1) the culminating project rubrics
2) pre- and post-test, which is designed to guide instruction
and assess students’ gains.
These tests were developed in cooperation with the Hawaiÿi
Department of Education as a means of helping students to
reach standard benchmarks.
Place-Based Learning
To enable students to learn about the many aspects of their
local environment, the Aloha ÿÄina team worked with
teachers and administrators to map out a Gr. 3 – 10
program of exploration that covers different environments
and practices.
The units were originally developed for the Käneÿohe
ahupuaÿa on windward Oÿahu.
During the course of the project, the Gr. 3 and 4 units were
also adapted for use on Molokaÿi, and the Gr. 9 unit
was adapted for Häna, Maui. These adaptations include
locally relevant readings, presentations, and background information
for teachers.
Additional units focusing on a local stream exploration and
gardening for Gr. 7 – 8 were also written in collaboration
with the Waipä Foundation in Hanalei, Kauaÿi. As
the team has discovered, each of the original units provides
a template that can be readily adapted to other island locations.
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