When Kealakehe Elementary School kindergarten teacher Candice Travalino approached the Office of Maunakea Management about coming to her school, an idea sparked and soon developed into a full afternoon of Mauna Kea science for students and their families. After securing
When Kealakehe Elementary School kindergarten teacher Candice Travalino approached the Office of Maunakea Management about coming to her school, an idea sparked and soon developed into a full afternoon of Mauna Kea science for students and their families. After securing the go-ahead from Principal Nancy Matsukawa, Travalino paired the afternoon event in partnership with the school’s science fair. OMKM collaborated with the scientific community and together they created hands-on learning stations with activities for students and their families.
OMKM highlighted biological sciences including the unique flora and fauna as well as popular viewings of the bugs found on the mountain. A hands-on ecosystem matching game challenged the students’ knowledge of the Mauna Kea alpine ecosystem and kids got to participate in a hands-on exercise about the solar system. There was a fun, interactive exercise where students answered questions relating to archaeology. Canada France Hawaii Telescope and Imiloa Astronomy Center set up a portable planetarium and scheduled 15-minute showings of Polynesian Wayfinding throughout the afternoon. Hawaii Ant Lab had ant prevention activities and conducted surveys with parents. Also popular was the booth hosted by the University of Hawaii at Hilo Spatial Data Analysis and Visualization Lab with an unmanned aircraft computer simulator. The booth manned by the Institute for Astronomy was a crowd-puller explaining the Earth-sun magnetism concept with a hands-on project that had students building magnets.
“The students were so excited to be here, and their parents were very involved. It’s just what we imagined the science showcase would be,” said Travalino. “We wanted students to be excited about all the scientific work going on right here on our island. Students waiting in a long line to the planetarium was indeed proof we succeeded in our mission.”
By the end of the afternoon, the large audience of students and their families left Kealakehe with smiles, wonder and new excitement about scientific discovery. Another Mauna Kea Science Showcase is in the planning phase for more West Hawaii school students and their families.
