april 22

The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970. This year, reports indicate more than one billion people from 195 countries participated in Earth Day activities focusing on education, public policy, and consumer efforts. Earth Day 2017 coincided with the first March for Science, a celebration and call to action to promote the importance of science and to encourage education, communication, and ties of mutual respect between scientists and communities. 

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the launch of Earth Day, the Network is striving to broaden the definition of “environment” to include issues that affect health and communities, such as greening schools and jobs, and promoting activism to eliminate air and water pollution – all based on science!

This past Saturday, I was glad to have the opportunity to participate in this important day in conjunction with my local AAUW Tech Savvy event. Tech Savvy is a daylong science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) conference designed to attract middle school girls into STEM careers. Our keynote speaker encouraged participants to keep asking why? It was educational and a blast…! 

-|- Doctor for a Day -|- Water Quality Matters  -|- 

-|- Did you say bone saw?? -|- Hooray for Science! -|- 

E Noelo I Ka ‘Ike

E Noelo I Ka ‘Ike, To Search for Knowledge, is an exciting project designed to counter a lack of awareness, access to, and competency engaging with Hawaiian resources. Team members work with librarians, other educators, and directly with students to teach information literacy and introduce culturally relevant resources.

The 2017 Native Hawaiian Education Convention (NHEA), hosted at the beautiful Windward Community College (WCC) Campus, included a E Noelo I Ka ‘Ike session to teach about databases and search strategies to retrieve information for professional and personal use including genealogy, Hawaiian language, hula, land, and more.  

Tuti Kanahele describes options for making Kahili.

Participants also recognized outstanding educators and enjoyed keynotes on topics of current interest such as the amazing Hōkūleʻa voyage and Hawaiian films. Producer Beau Bassett gave an update on Out of State, a documentary exploring the lives of a group of Hawaiian inmates living far from home. There were hands-on workshops too –  such as Pena Kiʻi i Keahiakahoe, observation, mo’olelo and mele of the area in conjunction with painting of one of O’ahu’s most famous mountains; and Kahili paʻa lima, the art of feather making.

 

if i can bicycle, i bicycle

 

ko‘olau range

mānoa valley, on the island of oʻahu, is beautiful in myriad ways – rich in history and intriguing spaces. 

the neighborhood is also home to cycle mānoa, an awesome community-based organization dedicated to promoting bike culture.  

rebuilding

founded in 2008, cycle mānoa is a volunteer organization that supports and enables cycling on campus and throughout the island. participants offer bike repairs for students, and the general public, for free, and parts at cost, as well as hands-on learning of bike repair. donations welcome.

 

the garden isle

I recently had the opportunity to travel to the oldest of the main Hawaiian islands, Kauaʻi, and visit Lāwa`i Kai, also known as Allerton Garden. Having spent time at the Allerton Gardens in Monticello, IL, it was incredible to see and learn about this other magical place –  where nature and human creativity come together.

1. Pineapple statue 2. Diana’s Fountain and reflection pool 3. Moreton Bay Figs (Ficus macrophylla) as seen in Jurassic Park 4. Bronze Mermaid 5.Buddha statue amid golden bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris) 6. Rooster and rooster statues 7. Allerton residence featuring wraparound lanai

Allerton Garden is part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG), a not-for-profit institution dedicated to tropical plant research, conservation, and education. NTBG also sponsors the Breadfruit Institute, which promotes the use of breadfruit for food and reforestation.

 

 

make it…

hackerspaces, community-operated physical places where people share their interest in tinkering with technology, meet and work on their projects, and learn with each other, have been around many years. they emerge from and enable DIY culture. they have been growing in popularity for the past decade.

i was first introduced to makerspace at the CU fab lab, which offers open times as well as classes – and the nearby IDEA store is a great place to find materials. makerspaces in academic, school, and public libraries are growing rapidly too. ‘Iolani Sullivan Center is an awesome example.

here are a few makerspace sources to keep handy:

• code.org
• hemi.mit.edu
• Instructables
• KQ Makerspaces/Learning Commons
• makered.org
• makerfaire.com
• Make it @ your library (including resources/links to other sites)
• obrary.com
• raspberrypi.org
• SLJ The Maker Issue
• We are makers – and many other TED Talks + numerous social media sources…

makerspaces align with the STEAM movement and with standards like NGSS – particularly the science and engineering dimension focused on engaging in practices to build, deepen, and apply knowledge.

sometimes making can even take place on the move. earlier this year, i had the opportunity to engage in some problem-based learning onboard the 42-foot research vessel, Kaholo. ahoy!

 

this is what you shall do…

love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning god, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body. – ww

 

 

add to the good in the world – gs

This year’s Children’s Literature Hawaiʻi (CLH) conference was fantastic! As I mentioned in an earlier post, Graham Salisbury and Steve Jenkins were featured guests. Activities kicked off downtown at the Tenney Theatre with the Honolulu Theatre for Youth (HTY) offering dynamic performances based on Salisbury’s Calvin Coconut series and a medley of Jenkin’s work. This was a fun event for all ages, which was followed by a lively Q & A.

During his keynote on the first day of the conference, Salisbury discussed his work and offered some words of wisdom to those of us working with young people – including the title of this post. He also encouraged us to embrace our passion and write about what we want to know. Finally, he reminded us that writing is a wonderful activity for developing understanding, whether we publish or not.

Graham Salisbury meets with students in the Books and Media for Children course

Jenkins’ keynote the second morning was beautiful, literally beautiful. He shared many creations from his books including some unpublished works, talked about visual literacy and discussed his passion for making science accessible.

Steve Jenkins starts off day two.

In addition to the opening and the keynotes, 25 sessions featuring diverse content were offered – everything from writing poetry to illustrating nature to dystopian books to the Nēnē Award. My favorite session was A5 – Deaf Poe, Ed Chevy Interpreting Poe in ASL.

Ed Chevy, Storyteller Extraordinaire

Chevy is a talented storyteller who recounted Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher. In addition to his magnificent performance, which was translated into spoken English by Kevin Roddy, Chevy discussed his process of preparation including visualizing, imagining the context and characters, and learning about the author. He also talked about incorporating facial expression, body language, and signs harmoniously to make stories come alive.