Indigenous Hawaiian Knowledge/Ike Hawaii Pop-up Science Center: Exploring the Effectiveness of Community-driven, Culturally Sustaining STEM Exhibit Development

数千年来，夏威夷土著/太平洋岛民(NHPI)海员成功地利用对其环境的系统观察，穿越广阔的开阔海洋，在地球上最偏远的岛屿上茁壮成长。发展NHPI对科学事业的信任需要建立联系，将“传统知识”的价值观和概念与科学知识体系和当代技术联系起来。该项目将开发和研究一个弹出式科学展览，将夏威夷本土知识与当代西方科学概念联系起来。展览将展示社区知识(符合基本的科学原则和自然法则)如何促进土著人民的创新。这个由社区发起和开发的项目将从一个弹出式展览开始，旨在结合几个融合传统和现代技术的基于实践文化的STEM活动。例如，展品可能包括用于远洋航行的本土恒星导航系统，食物和水容器的网状系统，或使用当地和自然材料的家居设计系统。该项目旨在开发初步证据，证明这种方法在支持夏威夷农村青年的STEM参与、理解和与夏威夷原住民STEM知识的个人联系方面的有效性。这项试点和可行性研究的结果将有助于以夏威夷土著STEM知识为基础建立一个更大的弹出式科学中心，并通过帮助非正式STEM教育从业者了解社区发起和开发的STEM展品，促进有关文化支持的教育学的智力知识。这个弹出式科学中心试点将由当地夏威夷社区组织INPEACE领导，并与几个当地社区成员和其他社区组织合作。初步研究将反复探索是否以及如何使用现有的以夏威夷文化为基础的框架来设计动手STEM展览，以提高农村学习者的参与度、STEM知识的深度以及与夏威夷土著STEM知识的联系。卡米哈梅哈学校在从土著世界观进行研究方面有着悠久的历史，该学校领导的研究工作将吸引来自夏威夷各地不同农村社区的120名学习者，其中40人将是预选的中学青年，80人将来自12岁及以上学习者的公众受众。通过一系列的观察、访谈、使用有效工具的前后调查和焦点小组，本研究将探讨：(1)学习者对科学实践及其与新旧夏威夷和现代社会的关联性的思考。(2)对相关STEM主题的理解程度；(3)学习者对他们与夏威夷土著STEM知识的关系的看法。这项初步研究的结果将为未来的弹出式科学中心发展项目提供参考，并增加关于社区驱动的、文化上可持续的会展发展的稀缺文献。该项目由美国国家科学基金会推进非正式STEM学习计划资助，该计划旨在促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解。这包括为扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验提供多种途径，在非正式环境中推进对STEM学习的创新研究和评估，以及加深参与者对更深层次学习的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

For thousands of years, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NHPI) seafarers have successfully utilized systemic observation of their environment to traverse vast expanses of open ocean and thrive on the most remote islands on earth. Developing NHPI trust in the scientific enterprise requires building connections that bridge the values and concepts of ‘ike kupuna (traditional knowledge) with scientific knowledge systems and contemporary technology. This project will develop and research a pop-up science exhibit that connects indigenous Hawaiian knowledge with contemporary Western science concepts. The exhibit will show how community knowledge (that is consistent with underlying scientific principles and natural laws) has informed innovation by indigenous peoples. This community-initiated and developed project will begin with a single pop-up exhibit designed to incorporate several hands-on culture-based STEM activities that integrate traditional and modern technologies. For example, the exhibit may cover indigenous systems of star navigation for ocean voyaging, systems of netting for food and water containers, or systems of home design with local and natural materials. This project seeks to develop preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of such an approach for supporting rural Hawaiian youths’ STEM engagement, understanding, and personal connections to Native Hawaiian STEM knowledge. Findings from this pilot and feasibility study will inform the development of a larger pop-up science center grounded in indigenous Hawaiian STEM knowledge, and advance intellectual knowledge around culturally sustaining pedagogy by helping informal STEM education practitioners understand community initiated and developed STEM exhibits. This pop-up science center pilot will be led by a local Hawaiian community organization, INPEACE, in collaboration with several local community members and other community-based organizations. The preliminary research will iteratively explore whether and how an existing Hawaiian culture-based framework can be used to design hands-on STEM exhibits to enhance rural learner engagement, depth of STEM knowledge, and connection to Native Hawaiian STEM knowledge. Research efforts led by Kamehameha Schools, which has a long history of conducting research from an indigenous worldview, will engage 120 learners from various rural communities across Hawaii, from which 40 will be pre-selected middle-school youth, and 80 individuals will be from public audiences of learners ages 12 and up. Through a series of observations, interviews, pre and post surveys with validated instruments, and focus groups, the research will probe: (1) The learners’ thoughts on the science practice and its relevance to old and new Hawaii and modern society. (2) The level at which related STEM topics have been understood, and (3) The learners’ perceptions about their connection to Native Hawaiian STEM knowledge. Results from this pilot study will inform a future pop-up science center development project, and add to the scarce literature on community-driven, culturally sustaining exhibition development. This project is funded by the NSF Advancing Informal STEM Learning program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.