Project takes kids beyond classroom
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
Small knots of teenagers squatted over muddy tidepools, their heads almost touching as they looked at shrimp and tadpoles swimming in the brackish water of Paiko Lagoon.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
For many of the Niu Valley Middle School eighth-graders, it was the first time they had hiked along the tidepools at the Paiko Lagoon Wildlife Sanctuary across the highway from their campus.
Niu Valley Middle School eighth-graders Jewels Ross, left, Franklin Vierra and Jasmin Murakami participate in a learning project at Paiko Lagoon. The students counted birds, tested the water for pollution and cleaned up trash.
The students were participating in Pupukahi'i Holomua, Unite and Move Forward, a new learning project that took them out of the classroom and into their community. Through a grant, Niu Valley Middle School eighth-grade English teacher Erin Noordhoff was able to put the program together to show students their relationship with the land, sea and people around them.
"The students just don't understand their place in the world," Noordhoff said. "They need to know they are important, and this project fits in with that and shows them the cause and effect of their actions."
Six groups of about 20 students — about half of the school's eighth grade — went out in different directions yesterday morning. One group went to Paiko, others to Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, the Maritime Museum, Kahana Valley Ahupua'a and Malama Hoe Wa'a, while still others talked story with senior citizens living in the Hawai'i Kai Retirement Center.
Following the field trip, the students will take their learning back to the classroom, prepare Power Point presentations, write up the oral histories of the senior citizens, and produce a documentary by the end of the year.
Noordhoff, a paddler, included a segment on Hawaiian outrigger canoe paddling because she was shocked to learn that many students hadn't been hiking or exploring the areas around where they lived.
"I was so struck by this, that they are surrounded by such a rich culture, and they had nothing to do with it," Noordhoff said. "I wanted to create a project that would enable them to experience these things and to help them feel empowered."
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
At Paiko, the students took water samples to test for phosphates and nitrate concentrations. They also planned to pick up any rubbish that might be lying around the bird sanctuary and count and identify birds.
Niu Valley eighth-grader Jonathan Chin trucks off an old tire he picked up along PaikØ Lagoon’s shore.
Student Jewels Ross had her vial of ocean water, and in it she put a solvent that would detect nitrate levels. Nothing much happened, but the experience was valued nonetheless.
"I really wanted to see it change color," Ross said of her sample. "I've never been out here before and I've lived here my whole life."
Leandra Poole, who was sampling the water for dissolved oxygen, said her tests showed that there was an adequate supply for fish to breathe.
And Franklin Vierra was interested in the whole experience of walking around a wildlife preserve that had so little wildlife.
Science teacher Darrah Hee explained that shoreline development has changed the nature of the wildlife preserve.
The next step is to take her samples back to the school and develop a solution and a plan to bring the birds and other native species back to the lagoon, Hee said.
"We wanted to see, in light of all the rain we had, the effect of non-source point pollution and rain water run-off on the lagoon," Hee said.
At Maunalua Bay, Noordhoff had her group of students learning about Hawaiian outrigger canoes and how Polynesians used them.
Bruce Blankenship, president of Hui Nalu Canoe Club, told the students that with 3 million square miles of ocean spread out among the Polynesian people, the outrigger canoe and double-hulled canoes were an important mode of transportation. He also told the students that Hawaiians see the land and sea as a mirror image of each other.
After a stint on the water, the students worked to clean up the trash stuffed in the naupaka plants facing Kalaniana'ole Highway.
Student Megan Abreu was waiting by the bayside for the paddling to start. She was eager to learn about the importance of paddling to Hawaiians. "We want to keep the culture going by learning about paddling," Abreu said. "We're excited about doing this."
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
