Pono STEAM Kits activities/ a conclusion and a beginning!
A webpage now houses the Pono STEAM Kits resources. Each activity is accompanied by a postcard and a lesson plan. The postcards are designed to be visual step-by-step reference tools sharing the basics of the activity for youth and families. The lesson plans share detailed information and additional resources useful to educators guiding the activities. The Pono STEAM Kits aim to create a growing collection of fun and accessible activities for explorers and designers of all ages. All the activities on this page are licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International). ADVISORY BOARD I hold deep gratitude to my Advisory Board who contributed their insights and ideas for this ongoing project journey. The Advisory Board includes: Dr. Kiana Frank of Frank Laboratory at the Pacific Biosciences Research Center, Matthew and Roxanne Ortiz of Wooden Wave, Kea'aokahonua (Kea'a) Davis who is the Lead Design and Product Strategist at Purple Mai'a, David Okada (a Maui born toy designer and former Senior VP of Boys Toys at Mattel), strategic design advisor Lisa Whitsitt, and Skye Haraga who is a Community Forestry Specialist with DLNR DOFAW through Kupu. To read more about this team, please visit the lab note announcing the Advisory Board.
ACTIVITIES
The activities include: Hawaiian Solar Bot, Leaf Name Tags, Hua Moa & Kukui Nut Chalk, Mo'o Shapeshifter/color mixer & pH fluid tool, Lau & Light (Chlorophyll prints), Limu (seaweed) Bioplastic and Niu (coconut) Cube. Also in development are a natural material solar light activity and a limu paper activity. Two additional artists/educators may also be adding a few of their lesson plans to the page soon. A few of the posted lesson plans are still works in progress and these will be finalized in the coming weeks after feedback from the Advisory Board.
OUTCOMES
This project conducted 17 workshops, serving diverse communities, including Kama'aina (non-Hawaiian local residents of Hawai’i), as well as visiting conference attendees. The project engaged 309 in Hawai’i and 125 outside Hawai’i for a TOTAL: 434 participants.
ENGAGING BEYOND HAWAI’I:
The project has also gained traction outside Hawai’i, with presentations at various events, including a workshop for the global makespace cohort of Planet One in fall 2023, the Biodesign Challenge Symposium 2024, a community workshop at the Stanford University O'Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm, and curriculum and kits for the Hartnell Community College Foundation’s summer STEAM K-12 programing for which the Solar Bots and Mo’o Shapeshifter/color mixer and pH tester activities were modified for a Salinas, California context. I did not include the numbers served in above participant total as the workshops were modified for a non-Hawaii context. These workshops served 3,000 students in the summer of 2024 across two school districts.
Engagement with lab notes (as of 8/20/24): 10,775 views of project’s lab notes on experiment.com
While each of the 1.5 to 2 hour STEAM workshops had a different activity focus, each was anchored on the use of locally sourced natural materials as pathways to center an abundance framing and to uplift community voices and Hawaiian frameworks of kuliana (privileged responsibility) and mālama ʻāina (care of land). These workshops held space for local voices to talk story (share stories) and explore system issues through the lens of circular design, art/biology activities, and frugal science tools. Each workshop is a playful invitation to expand our engagement with locally grown materials and the broader community of organisms we live with on the islands.
The project resulted in a set of lesson activities posted to the project site, as well as an abstract accepted to the Cambridge University Press Research Directions in Biotechnology Design: Cultivating Biodesigners: Integrating Local Biology, Culture, and Place-Based Design with an extended abstract for a future article.
The success of the kit was measured using both formal and informal metrics. Formal assessments included pre-and post-surveys, such as seed and flower lei surveys, which evaluated participants' connection to place, community, and confidence in their roles as artists, inventors, engineers, and cultural knowledge holders. Informally, the level of joyful sharing of creations and ideas during workshops was observed, indicating a learning environment that supported safe, multidirectional sharing. The gatherings centered traditional knowledge as process rather than as content and core to this process is story sharing. The kit's effectiveness was reflected in participants' interest in future workshops, increased confidence in interdisciplinary roles, and the alignment of materials and activities with the cultural and environmental context of Hawai'i and beyond. The range of assessment tools included: QR code linking to an online survey, sticky note feedback, a pre and post using a scale voting assessment using seeds, lei survey, and verbal sharing (the most popular and comfortable in the talk story setting).
Success and Future Opportunities
The project's success will be further assessed as the kits are replicated and adapted in schools and community spaces. Encouraging feedback from teachers indicates a demand for such resources, particularly among new educators in Hawai’i.
Upcoming Pono STEAM kit activities in community spaces:
Autograph Tree Leaf Name Tag Activity: will be a part of ʻAha Kumulāʻau, a partner gathering hosted by the DLNR Forestry & Wildlife Kaulunani Urban & Community Forestry program in collaboration with Pu’uhonua Society & UH West Oʻahu in September 2024.
Hawaiian Solar Bot Workshop: A multigenerational workshop with the Mānoa Heritage Foundation in September 2024.
Lauhala Circuit Board Activity: A new workshop to be held in December 2024 with the East Hawai’i Cultural Center and the Kohala Center on the Island of Hawai’i in spring 2025.
Oral Feedback Highlights:
Participants expressed expanded empathy and enjoyment in the tinkering process, especially in activities like the Solar Bots, where the use of natural materials fostered a deeper connection to their creations. The “salad bar” of materials was particularly well-received, encouraging open-ended experimentation and storytelling. It was voiced in two workshops with college students that there was an interest for the incorporation of traditional lashing and knotting techniques into the workshops.
One Advisory Board member, Skye Haraga, shared " Growing up, some of the most fun and playful experiences happened when exploring my grandma’s backyard. These STEAM kits enhance that exploratory backyard learning through innovative and playful activities!"
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