Twenty Native Hawaiian middle and high school students on Oahu are participating in a nine-month marine debris tracking project that includes science lessons, cultural activities and community service.
The Malama ‘Aina Marine Debris Research Project, which began in September and will run through May, aims to encourage Native Hawaiian students to take an interest in the sciences by looking at where marine debris ends up when released from different parts of the island.
The project is supported by the University of Hawaii at Manoa Kua‘ana Native Hawaiian Student Development Services and Na Pua No‘eau, the Center for Gifted and Talented Native Hawaiian Children.
| HELP TRACK DEBRIS
If you find one of 1,600 red or yellow biodegradable wooden blocks with a message to contact UH-Manoa, email mamdrp@gmail.com or call 956-9531 and provide the location, date and time the block was found.
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"One of the things we were talking about is how we don’t see many Native Hawaiian students really represented in middle and high school science fairs," said Ku‘umeaaloha Gomes, Kua‘ana director. "But this project, students are really excited about it. Part of it is a cultural component, awakening that cultural awareness, but it’s also having a group of Native Hawaiian mentors for them. That sets the stage."
Students, who are from public, private and charter schools around Oahu, have been meeting twice a month with mentors and project supervisors to prepare for the launch of 1,600 biodegradable wooden blocks from two sites on Oahu. Half of the blocks were launched Dec. 1 from Heeia Kea Boat Harbor. The other half will be launched Saturday from Waianae Boat Harbor.
Students will track and analyze the movements of the blocks over three months, and are relying on help from the community.
The blocks are painted red or yellow and say, "Help support marine debris research. Report this drifter to UH-Manoa," along with program contact information (see box).
Ten UH-Manoa students with majors in science, technology, engineering or mathematics are mentoring program participants. Four of the mentors introduced and designed the project.
Natasha Soares, a UH senior majoring in molecular cell biology, is one of the mentors who helped design the project.
"I became passionate about biology on my own, but I know for some students it’s hard to relate to science," she said. "The key is to find a way for it to relate to them. That’s the integration of culture and science, teaching them there are multiple ways to learn about science, that it’s not just this rigid, complex thing."
Another mentor, Lelemia Irvine, a doctoral candidate in civil and environmental engineering, said, "It’s having multigenerational mentorship and taking a cultural approach to science. We really build them to be Hawaiian scientists, to see the relevant things in their lives in different ways."
The project will culminate in a research paper and presentation by students at the Tropical Conservation Biology & Environmental Science Symposium at UH-Hilo in April. University mentors also plan to publish the results of the project.
