P4C STEAM

Students and teachers at Ala Wai Elementary School integrated p4c Hawai‘i and art into science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) inquiry.  This partnership between the school, the Honolulu Museum of Art, and the UH Uehiro Academy allowed students to use a powerful multi-disciplinary approach to reflect deeply upon environmental issues which confront their community.

The p4c STEAM process combines art, the STEM disciplines, and the p4c Hawai‘i pedagogy.  Students work through the STEM process as they observe their surroundings, take note of problems, brainstorm solutions, and engineer prototypes of these solutions.  During weekly p4c sessions students explore concepts, clarify essential questions, and reflect upon project experiences.  During weekly art classes students envision and create solutions and prototypes.  The combination of these disciplines creates an ever-deepening spiral of understanding; ideas are reflected upon, designs are tested, and hypotheses are revised.

For nearly six months students and teachers at Ala Wai Elementary School worked on two major p4c STEAM projects.  Mae Kuba’s class of First Graders learned about biomimicry, solar and wind energy, and created prototypes for a “tree playhouse” which would be fun and safe for children and would also create energy for their community.  Collaborating with Ala Wai philosopher-in-residence Dr. Toby Yos and the Honolulu Museum of Art’s Janell Nakahara and LeAnn Yamamoto, the First Grade students used the Engineering Design Process (EDP) and the p4c STEAM pedagogical approach to create a scale model of their community, and to envision, design, and revise their prototypes.  Their project was presented to parents, state legislators, department of education officials, and other distinguished guests at the school’s annual learning showcase.

The Fourth Grade classes of Lori Kwee, Joven Asuncion, and Jennifer Hudson, meanwhile, worked in partnership with Dr. Yos, Justin Davies and Yamamoto from the Honolulu Museum of Art, and staff from the City & County of Honolulu’s Department of Environmental Services.  They visited nearby Mānoa stream, conducted water testing, and learned about the ecology of the indigenous O‘opu fish.  They collaborated with students from Prince Kuhio Elementary School (who also do p4c) to create a thirty foot long mural of the stream.  Then they designed prototypes of designs to help the O‘opu safely navigate concrete channelized sections of the stream.  Additionally, the students created a 15 foot long, working stream and an after-school p4c & art mentoring (p4cM) group created a mural which illustrated the process behind the project.  The students’ work was displayed at Ala Wai School’s Learning Showcase, the Mauka to Makai Expo at the Waikiki Aquarium, and at the convention of the National Association of Environmental Professionals.