HOOKENA — Hookena Elementary School third-grade teacher Leimamo Lind-Strauss wants her students to know science is all around — from the stars above to the ocean surrounding them.
“When they’re outside on the ocean and they’re sitting on a boat, then they’re like, ‘Oh, the ocean is malie, it’s calm; there’s no wind. How does that affect me? What is going on in nature?’ and observing,” she said. “That’s important, so that our kids can envision themselves in whatever practice they do — whatever they’re going to go move on to the future as — being scientists.”
Lind-Strauss’ vision for the South Kona school has landed her among 15 finalists across the country — three of them from Hawaii — vying for the Thank America’s Teachers “Dream Big” Teacher Challenge sponsored by Farmers Insurance.
The 15 finalists were selected from among hundreds of proposals, according to a release from the state Department of Education.
Five winners, selected as the top vote-getters on the program website, will each win $100,000 for their ideas.
One vote can be cast per day for each finalist through Nov. 3 at www.farmers.com/thank-americas-teachers/vote-for-a-teacher. The winners of the $100,000 challenge will be announced in December.
The proposal from Hookena Elementary School is to create a STEAM — science, technology, engineering, art and math — academy at the school with a campus observatory and telescope to give students access to the skies and stars, Lind-Strauss said.
More than just another classroom, Lind-Strauss said it’s an opportunity to build something for the school’s students as well as the whole community.
“It’s an opportunity to create a gathering place that we can build from, grow the love of science, math,” she said, “and not just within the students but also with the families.”
The school already has the telescope, which was donated a couple years ago by a South Kona man, said principal Nancy Jadallah, and the school has previously received a couple small grants for computer and software upgrades as well as curriculum.
If awarded one of the $100,000 grants, the school would put most of that money toward retrofitting an existing campus building to house the telescope.
Mary Beth Laychak — outreach program manager at Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, which is helping to identify curriculum and learning opportunities for the proposed STEAM academy — said the telescope, which has an 8-12-inch mirror, can be controlled remotely. It offers numerous opportunities for students to learn about not only astronomy but all the technology that comes with it.
“We are so excited that one of our local Big Island schools has an opportunity like this,” she said.
For Lind-Strauss, it’s an opportunity to give students a direct way to “touch, see, feel, hear whatever they’re learning,” and given the chance, she added, educators can spark a love of math and science in children.
It’s also a fundamentally different experience from learning about the universe in a book.
“When you’re looking at a book, that’s so one-dimensional,” Lind-Strauss said. “When you’re looking at it on TV, that’s like ‘That’s not real; that’s on TV.’”
But if students are actually looking at the star themselves, the impact can grow the love of science tenfold.
“It makes it real,” she said. “It makes it accessible.”
Laychak said a campus observatory also can teach more than just astronomy, offering opportunities “in all aspects of technology,” such as engineering and working with computer programming.
And more than its value as an educational tool, it also encourages kids to look to the stars as to what their futures could hold.
“It lets kids see there’s something beyond South Kona,” said Jadallah.
And all of it, Laychak said, culminates in an institution at the campus in which students can find a sense of pride and ownership — a sense that carries over to the families and community as well.
Not only is it about helping students build confidence in their own school and community, Lind-Strauss said, it also helps boost that same confidence in their own skills and potential, inspiring them to see the options and opportunities around them.
“Sometimes when you live in a small community, you don’t even think you have opportunities, because you’re like, ‘OK, Fujihara Store is there; ChoiceMart is there, and my life is everything in between,” she said. “This is like an opportunity to see all those things and access those things — dream.”
