In the spring of 2008 I had the privilege of working with 100 fourth grade students and their four teachers from the Kalihi Waena Elementary School in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Kalihi Waena Elementary School serves a relatively challenged neighborhood, with over 80% of students on free and reduced lunches and many of them living in public housing.  The school, despite the dedication of teachers, was facing restructuring because it was not meeting state standards in math and reading.  To meet the standards, at the beginning of 2008 students and teachers spent most  of their time on math and reading, with other subjects given little emphasis.  Science was not emphasized. I started working with teachers to implement inquiry-based science activities that would meet standards, and that would complement their math and reading needs.  By addressing multiple subjects, we were able to hold science class for the students at least once per week.

Kalihi Waena Elementary School is on the banks of the Kalihi Stream, one of Honolulu’s last remaining unchannelized streams. In addition to having a natural streambed, the stream is also home to rare endemic fish (including Hawaii’s famed O’opu). These fish, however, face the challenges of pollution and loss of riparian habitat, and litter is a problem.  I hoped that through the GK-12 project activities I would not only be able to re-introduce science to the students, but I would also be able to inspire stewardship for their stream. I worked with teachers to develop activities that got students outside, examining their stream and testing its water quality.

This experience was extremely rewarding.  Students responded to hands-on activities with vigor.  They were excited when I came to class, and they retained information from previous weeks.  Teachers incorporated related activities into other lessons during the week – showing that science became a more integrated part of the curriculum.  At the end of the project, students met a number of targeted standards, with over 50% of students able to do such things as create a hypothesis, describe a food chain, and draw the difference between animal and plant cells.  For many students this was their first introduction to these topics, making this even more of an achievement.

Perhaps more importantly, students indicated enjoyment of science. In thank you letters written at the end of the project, 50% of students specifically mentioned having fun, enjoying, or being excited about science.  They wrote such things as:

•  “This school year was fun because you taught us things we didn’t know during experiments.”
• “This was the first time I learned about nitrate, phosphate, coliforms, pH, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity. I thought it was so exciting. Now, I really love studying science.”
•  “Wow!”

I was also extremely happy to see that many students became more concerned about their environment, and expressed a desire to care for their environment. 20 to 25 students regularly participated in monthly volunteer cleanup events, and many wrote comments in the thank you letters about how they would no longer litter and would tell others about the stream.  One student summed it up best:

• “I learned about Kalihi Stream. It is a special place. I will keep it clean!”

The GK-12 experience was also rewarding for me, both personally and professionally. Not only was I able to combine my passions for science and conservation together, but I also learned valuable skills.  It was challenging communicating concepts about water quality to fourth graders, but with the help of the teachers, I was able to gain new skills and gather new tools for doing so.  I now feel that I am much more capable of communicating scientific findings to varied audiences, and doing so with dignity and respect for both the audience and the topic.

 

Picture 1: Example of a “thank you” letter

 

 
Picture 2: Students carrying out an experiment on a model watershed

 

Picture 3. Students taking part in a revegetation project