Mahalo Emmanuel,

Nice to "see" you in the space. I enjoyed our conversation at AERA and hope for more in the future. Hope you are well. 

Aloha e Brian, 

Thank you for your comment. Yes, I meant to get the post with questions up before viewing opened but tech issues had other plans for me :). The program (STEMS^2) is exciting and challenging both for the instructors and the students. I look forward to the discussion that comes from this space.

STEMS^2 is a place and culture-based educational construct that has been developed over the last several years with a team of community partners, educators, and cultural practitioners in Hawai‘i. The journey to where we are now has been many generations long but is also just beginning. We have grown from a 20-person project designing STEM curriculum that connected the Worldwide Voyage of Hōkūle‘a to classrooms across Hawai‘i into a Master's program that works with over 200 transformative formal and informal educators across the globe examining and redefining what counts as STEM and whose knowledge matters. 

Over the years I have learned that the master's program and the STEMS^2 construct live in a reciprocal relationship. The master's program was designed grounded in the STEMS^2 construct and through engaging with and studying the master's program, I have been able to continue to learn about and more clearly articulate the STEMS^2 construct. Having spent the last 7 years developing a more nuanced understanding of the STEMS^2 construct the research focus is now shifting to understanding the impact of engaging in education through a STEMS^2 lens. Specific to this video we wanted to highlight the range of impact on participants in the master's program. The master's program is a 13-month immersive experience that begins with a 3-week experiential learning segment in Hawai‘i. This 3-week experience is followed by Fall and Spring semester online sessions that focus on deconstructing and reconsructing the first summer experience and building application to participants' specific teaching and learning spaces. The program ends with a second summer 3-week experience learning experience where the outgoing cohort serves as mentors to the incoming cohort. 

As we continue to grow, we are always learning and hopeful to expand our network.  

• We would love to discuss any feedback, question or ideas you have about our work and are particularly excited about ideas for new partnerships.  

• Are there projects or people (including yourself) you think we should be in communication with?

For those who would like to engage with the construct beyond the master's program, we invite you to join us for the 4th annual STEMS^2 symposium which will take place both online and in person. 

Mahalo,

Tara

Hello Tara,  I loved hearing from your teachers about the ways they are using what they learned from STEM^2 in their classrooms. It is clear your program has positive, powerful, and lasting impact on the ways students connect with STEM, their communities, and their sense of place!  

Per your questions: What kinds of new partnerships are you thinking about?  What kinds of extensions or  expansions of STEM^2 do you imagine? 

Aloha e Deena,

Thank you for taking the time to watch our video and comment. In processing an answer to your question I learned a little bit about the work you do at the Center for Science and the Imagination (great title for a center by the way).  I wonder if you might be interested and planning a time to chat a little bit more about the work of your center and the spaces of overlap with STEMS^2? My email is toneill@hawaii.edu. 

In terms of how I see STEMS^2 expanding, our current first step is launching the STEMS^2 Research Consortium (still working on the name) to engage in a more community-driven investigation of the impact of STEMS^2 over the past 7 years. We have also recently been requested to offer PD to teachers in Hawaii, on the continent and internationally. We are working to figure out what a meaningful PD structure might look like and are finding the answer is very context-specific. There is also the continual work of growing the network and communication among those in the network, connecting with other networks so that transformative educators have regular avenues of support as they engage in this difficult work. I see STEMS^2 as a he‘e (octopus) with many arms. It has taken us 7 years to grow and learn this first arm and now we are in the beginning stages of nurturing the growth of future arms. I would be more than happy to talk through ideas with you if you are interested. 

Aloha e Billy,

Thank you for viewing our video and for your question. In answer to your question yes, the exploration of both the tensions and spaces of possibility between Western STEM perspectives and Native Hawaiian (and other indigenous and non-indigenous) perspectives is part of this work. In general, we are finding that problems such as climate change and community sustainability require engaging multiple ways of knowing for our planet to thrive and us as a species to continue to exist. While there are considerable tensions between multiple ways of knowing we have found it is important to engage with these tensions, sit in them and try to see the spaces of conflict from multiple perspectives. In this, we tend to find that tensions are not about knowledge but about power and respect. The tensions largely arise when one knowledge form (often Western science but not always) dismisses, silences, or co-opts other knowledge forms. Two of the five pillars that guide this work are the concept of A‘o (reciprocal teaching and learning) and makawalu (the ability to deconstruct and reconstruct a word, a moment or a problem from multiple angles and perspectives). The result so far has been a powerful, inspiring, at times painful, and often challenging experience of working with over 200 transformative formal and informal educators across the globe examining and redefining what counts as STEM and whose knowledge matters. 

I love this! In our research with Native students and professionals, we have encountered many who want to bring together Native science and western science, So far, they have been figuring it out by themselves, with the difficulties that brings, like feeling isolated and misunderstood. I wish programs like yours were available across the country! 

Are there publications that have resulted from this work that you could share with us? I would love to read more about the things you've learned with this project. 

Thank you for the work you're doing! So needed! 

Aloha e Nuria,

Thank you for your comment and for watching our video. We are working on ideas for expansion beyond the mastersʻ. Perhaps PD partnerships with school districts or building long-term school collaborations. Not set plans yet but ideas in development. 

As of publications, we have a number of conference presentations and are just starting to produce publications. I am happy to send you two pending publications when they come out (one book chapter and one journal articles). In the meantime, here is the link to research products related to this work so far, shared on our website. We also have a conference proceeding from AERA this year though I am not sure AERA has posted this link yet. Here is the link to the session. The paper is posted under the same name. 

Aloha e Beatiz,

Thank you for viewing our video and for your comment. One of the aspects of this work that has been the most fun is the diversity of participants. We have found that STEMS^2 as a construct and then as a master's program provides participants multiple points of entry into engaging in and reshaping conceptions of STEM. Some people are drawn to the STEMS^2 master's program because they strongly identify with STEM as a whole or just science or math or technology. Others find their connection to STEMS^2 through social science and/or the idea of sense of place. The short answer to your question is, yes we encounter several participants in every cohort who do not identify as STEM professionals but over the course of the program have a change in self-perception. We also have several participants who start the program with a strong identity related to STEM or an individual STEM field that developed an expanded view of what knowledge counts as STEM and develop identities related to the social sciences (i.e, history, language, cultural studies) that powerfully impact how they engage in STEM education and advocacy in their communities.

The STEMS^2 construct and master's program integrate multiple ways of knowing and content knowledge by centering our interdisciplinary work in the exploration of sense of place. As a result, exploration and evolution of personal and professional identities in relation to STEM and beyond is an intentionally foundational part of the learning journey.

Thank you so much for this question. I really enjoyed processing how to answer :)

Tara  

Aloha Rita,

Thank you for taking the time to watch our video and comment. I have been processing for the last couple of days how to answer your questions. My first answer is that if you are interested I would be happy to plan a time to talk with you in detail about our process. My email is toneill@hawaii.edu if you are interested in planning a time to talk.

The short version of my answers to how we get teachers to makawalu (see from multiple lenses) is by starting the program with immersive experiential learning journeys that connect them with people and places around Hawai‘i. Our goal is to have students feel the multiple ways of knowing by engaging in a range of experiences and then we spend the Fall and Spring semester deconstructing and reconstructing these experiences so students build connections to learning and application in their own teaching and learning spaces. Throughout the program, teachers are asked to reflect on their experience, their processing or their experience (content and emotion) in a variety of ways. We also have assignments/activities where teachers are directly guided to explore their sense of place by the exploration of their multiple genealogies. 

Please feel free to visit the STEMS^2 website for a bit more context. I am also happy to plan a time to chat if you would like more details. Mahalo again for your interest in and support of our work. 

Aww, thank Peter. Thanks for being part of making the work real in the world ;)