STEMS2 Unit Planning

I personally feel that what makes a STEMS^2 Unit is bridging together various frameworks of education that honors all types of perspectives creating a more relevant, culturally appropriate and worldly approach to education.  The core of the unit being the innovative effort of educators in conjunction with community and families to involve every student into the circle of learning no matter the topic.  

    The particular design my STEMS^2 unit will follow should definitely help me to achieve an outline of what my curriculum should look like to successful increase cultural identity amongst youth within my community.  I realized that as I studied various frameworks and theories of education, I found myself veering away from my initial goal to work on a soil curriculum.  I found myself more and more out of sorts with developing curriculum on one singular topic as soil.  I knew I could incorporate all types of other topics increasing the diversity of my unit with my slow but steady clear understanding of STEMS^2 educational approach.  However, I still felt like the way I was thinking before, majorly changed in that as much as I wanted students to understand soil, which in my mind I could create a sense of cultural rediscovery with it, I knew coming from that specific topic first, would have certain amount of students drop off from the initial sounding of specific chemistry terms etc.  Therefore, now I feel that designing my unit through a social construct such as identity particularly cultural identity, I can bring students and community together first and then eventually incorporate soils education later.  I realize that as much as soil education is not widespread, the bigger problem I observe in Hawaiʻi is not infertile and forgotten soils and farmlands but more so forgotten souls which were once possibly former DOE students but failed to rise because they maybe didn't have the proper opportunities.  Perhaps the education systems shut them off versus turned them on to possibilities that they can achieve outside of their day-to-day reality that might not support higher education and positivity.

   Therefore, I’m grateful for the fruitful talks I’ve had with colleagues and teachers on the ideas about educating youth.  It really has helped me to understand the process in which I’m trying to follow to create valuable curriculum that can enact positive change in the viability, strength and sustainability of the mental, social, physical, economical and environmental aspects of society. This type of community strength through innovative approaches to education I think will increase educational success amongst students and the sustainability of individual families through support of collective action.  It’s a great way to think that as we go forward more talk about incorporation of others and the concept of thinking of others will become more widespread.  This is a strong aspect of Hawaiian culture and I wish it was apart of mainstream education in Hawaiʻi along with many other Hawaiian perspectives, because I truly believe it provides a strong foundation for youth in Hawaiʻi to be successful and be contributing members to Hawaiʻiʻs society.