OUR HONOLULU
Exhibit reproduces Hawai'i known by few

At a miniature atoll on exhibit at the Hawai'i Maritime Center, eighth-graders Thomas Kondo, left, and Kaua Moss, both 12, investigate the (stuffed) bird life. The exhibit, opening to the public Oct. 5, offers a hands-on look at how research is being done in the environmentally fragile Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

"Kids today don't know how to get dirty," Lokilani Kenolio said yesterday after she took eighth-grade students from St. Patrick's School to Malama Atoll at the Hawai'i Maritime Center. "They don't play outside. It's too bad. They don't know the birds and basic plants."

The new exhibit at the Maritime Center — a miniature atoll complete with ocean, sand, sea birds, beach plants and flotsam — opens to the public on Oct. 5, but classes from around O'ahu are already visiting.

For the students from St. Patrick's, it was like being on Mars. At first they stood in front of the sign "Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge" not knowing what to do amid the moaning of wedge-tailed shearwater and the chatter of gooney birds.

"Look around, explore. Count the birds. Count the plants," said Denise Hills, Bishop Museum science educator.

A student began digging in the sand. Another gingerly poked at a pile of seaweed on the beach. Shanan Young took notes.

Their Hawaiian studies teacher, Kealani Noa, was enthralled. "Look at them — they're just loving it. I want to cry, I'm so excited."

Yet the students seemed blind to what was in front of them. I asked Shanan what kind of birds she saw. "Sea gulls," she said.

"There are no sea gulls in Hawai'i," I explained. "That's a gooney bird.

"There's a sooty tern. The one over there by the burrow is a wedge-tailed shearwater. Did you see the naupaka?"

St. Patrick's School eighth-graders watch a short video introducing an atoll exhibit at the Hawai'i Maritime Center that gives visitors a hands-on look at research being conducted in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

I told her naupaka is a common beach plant with a legend attached to it.

I asked Lalita Cunningham what she saw. "Sea debris, pretty birds, a lot of sand, ocean, a big rock."

What about plants?

"There's a fern," she said.

I told her fern doesn't grow on atolls.

Noa agreed that her students know little about their own islands.

"They need to know so much about where they live," she said. "I try to tell the parents, 'Take your children on vacation in Hawai'i. Don't go to Disneyland.' They so seldom get a chance to do something like this."

Kenolio, another museum educator, said most of the students who come to the exhibit have no idea there are Hawaiian islands and atolls north of Kaua'i. Although they often go to the beach, few recognize naupaka.

"It's as though they don't play outside much," she said. "They're hesitant to get dirty. It's too bad. They don't know even the basic plants."

This is exactly what the exhibit is designed to teach. Students first enter a classroom for indoctrination. Next, they go to the laboratory of a research ship, like the vessel exploring the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and sending reports to the classroom.

There, the students do experiments, such as testing for insecticide in the sand, a condition that killed birds on one of the northern atolls.

From the laboratory, the students visit the atoll, then go on board one of the voyaging canoes tied to the pier next to Falls of Clyde.

The Bishop Museum science

educators said a first visit gets the students interested, and they can come back and study birds the next time. On a third visit, they can study beach plants.

Families may visit the atoll after Oct. 5. A media opening is scheduled for tomorrow. The major sponsor of the exhibit is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Bob Krauss serves on a Bishop Museum board that advises the Hawai'i Maritime Center. He can be reached at 525-8073.