{"id":213258,"date":"2025-04-03T12:46:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T22:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=213258"},"modified":"2025-04-03T13:52:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T23:52:55","slug":"teacher-inspires-molokai-keiki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/04\/03\/teacher-inspires-molokai-keiki\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> alum, award-winning teacher inspires Moloka\u02bbi keiki with STEM<\/abbr>, culture"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

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Kaunakakai Elementary School haum\u0101na (students) from Molokaʻi<\/span> are gaining unique cultural and technological experiences thanks to their teacher, David “Kawika” Gonzales, a University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa College of Education<\/a> alumnus and 2024 Maui District Teacher of the Year (H\u0101na-Lahainaluna-L\u0101naʻi<\/span>–Molokaʻi<\/span> Complex Area).<\/p>\n

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Gonzales is leading his students on an educational journey that blends Hawaiian culture with STEM<\/abbr> learning. The group traveled to Oʻahu<\/span> to participate in Education Week at the State Capitol on March 20, where they presented “The ʻUlu<\/span> Maika Project.” The project explores the traditional Hawaiian game of ʻulu<\/span> maika (rolling stone disks) through coding, 3D<\/abbr> modeling, robotics and podcasting. The students also showcased a documentary they created about their research and experiences.<\/p>\n

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“My students\u2019 work with ʻulu<\/span> maika demonstrates that simple cultural concepts can connect to multiple STEM<\/abbr> and computer science applications,” said Gonzales, who earned his MEd<\/abbr> in learning design and technology<\/a> (LTEC<\/abbr>) and certificate in online learning and teaching from UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa. “I am incredibly grateful for the many things I learned in my LTEC<\/abbr> program, which I have been able to use and build upon extensively.”<\/p>\n

Blending tradition with technology<\/h2>\n

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Following their Capitol visit, the students attended the annual STEM<\/abbr> Conference at the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Convention Center, March 24–25, to present their project to educators, students and industry professionals. Gonzales also led a workshop on designing Hawaiian video games, demonstrating how cultural relevance can be integrated into computer science education. In addition to their presentations, the students took part in filming a short film about ʻulu<\/span> maika with an award-winning director Matt Yamashita, further expanding their hands-on learning experiences.<\/p>\n

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“Working on this project helped me learn a lot about ʻulu<\/span> maika and how it is connected to our culture,” said Nalei, one of Gonzales\u2019 students. “I learned how to design ʻulu<\/span> maika apps, ʻulu<\/span> maika in Minecraft and 3D<\/abbr> printed designs. We started small and made ʻulu<\/span> maika a big project!”<\/p>\n

Through hands-on experiences, Gonzales shows how blending Indigenous knowledge and technology empowers his students. He said that he is currently working on a project to develop ʻulu<\/span> maika in virtual reality, and also hopes to collaborate with the community to expand the ʻulu<\/span> maika project further.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve kept in touch with Kawika over the years and am constantly amazed at how tirelessly Kawika works on integrating culture, technology and STEM<\/abbr> into his classrooms,” said Peter Leong, LTEC<\/abbr> department chair and professor. “His students are so fortunate to have such a dedicated and highly motivated teacher in Kawika! We\u2019re so proud of his accomplishments!”<\/p>\n

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Gonzales is leading his students on an educational journey that blends Hawaiian culture with STEM<\/abbr> learning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[90,679,95,204,1466,313,9],"class_list":["post-213258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-recognition","tag-college-of-education","tag-education","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-stem","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t