I have never blogged, except for in my head...and this is why I'm glad we have been assigned to do it. What a handy way to keep track of all the brilliant, if fleeting, ideas that breeze through.I intend to use the blogging as an opportunity to organize thoughts and serve as building blocks for my STEMS 2 "Plan B" project, so if you see an outline or lists of questions, don't feel you have to read every bit, as they might be just, "notes to self".
All summer long and presently, I've been thinking about how to begin. In the swirl of life and knowledge and gathered information and in the face of serious environmental, societal and educational issues, on which pinpoint do we open our instruction?If you don't have a place to start, you can start anywhere - but you first have to draw open the curtains, and let in some light, so people can see what's coming. I think maybe this is why, in Hawaiian culture, there is protocol before any endeavor. So to begin, I will use protocol, like E Ho Mai, to call in "the wisdom" and help my students cross over into learning mode.
The pinpoint I chose is this; What types of questions might be important to ask in a longitudinal study of food sustainability in the Hawaiian islands and where does that lead us? It deals with the notion that we should be responsible for knowing where our food comes from, how it gets here and the environmental cost of importing the bulk of it.Students will research and report on (orally presenting and/or creating power points or some sort of visual representation) what and how much, food is imported to Hawaii and how that has changed and continues to change, over time. What used to grow on the islands and why don't we grow it now? How can we lessen the carbon footprint of importing what me need, by adding to what we grow and produce here?
Students can research and tally data on things like, what is currently produced here, how many farms are operating in Hawaii and whether or not they use pesticides. How many of these farms are organic? This type of inquiry would be not only eye-opening, for students to see the true (environmental) costs of imported food, but may inspire them to become involved in the sustainability movement picking up momentum here. It would also serve to track trends in coming years, the hope being, that we become more mindful of what we eat, use, need and how we take steps (brainstorm solutions) to create balance in our natural environment and become true stewards of Honua.
A book I'd like to use with the students is, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, who REALLY did her homework in finding out and exposing the true cost of our food. I would love to hear from anyone who has reading suggestions that have to do with Hawaii's own story of food too.This activity naturally lends itself to other learning journeys; history (canoe plants), ancient agriculture (ahupua'a, loi), how culture is shaped by the environment, how we are shaped by culture, persuasive writing(why care?), gardening, exploring the structure and life processes of plants (photosynthesis, nitrogen cycle, respiration), exploring geography in relation to tracing plant origins, understanding 0 waste systems, which plants are...to name a few.It doesn't end there because, as we know, in STEMS, one thing leads to another.
