Learning Endeavors Wai to Kai
This blog post was written by Diana Papini Warren, executive director, Learning Endeavors.
Students prepare to enter the giant inflatable Humpback whale with Ms. Cindy Among-Serrao from NOAA Hawaiian Island Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Photo credit: Learning Endeavors
The giant inflatable Humpback whale, affectionately known as “Kamakai”, arrived on the Island of Molokaʻi on April 2. This life-size whale was blown up at the Mitchell Pauole Community Center in Kaunakakai by partners from the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Student groups from four 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLCs) on the island rotated through learning activities, both inside and outside of the life-size whale, over the course of three full days. Cindy Among-Serrao from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hosted students and guided them inside the whale to investigate the internal anatomy, including its three-stomach digestive system. Learning Endeavors and 21st CCLC partner staff also engaged students in creating whale puppets, playing whale trivia games, and learning how scientists monitor Humpback whales by identifying their tails, called “flukes.”
This was only one part of the Wai to Kai program in Hawaiʻi, funded by the eeBLUE 21st CCLC Watershed STEM Education Partnership Grant Program and operated by Learning Endeavors, a nonprofit in Hawaiʻi. Other parts of the program included a whale watch boat adventure and a mobile program engaging students in hands-on STEM learning with a focus on watersheds.
The whale watch was a family engagement experience, welcoming parents and their students to learn together. Molokaʻi Fish and Dive provided the experience on their boat, and Cindy Among-Serrao from NOAA served as an additional onboard naturalist. Families witnessed Humpback whales breaching, slapping their pectoral fins, and flashing their flukes.
Families joined a whale watch boat trip and viewed Humpback whale breaches, pectoral fins, and flukes in action. Photo credit: Learning Endeavors
Students investigate the calcium carbonate content in sand samples from different beaches on their island using wireless digital microscopes and iPads. Photo credit: Learning Endeavors
In February and March, Learning Endeavors staff rotated through the four 21st CCLC sites with a mobile Wai to Kai program, designed to engage students in STEM learning relating to the fringing coral reef ecosystems and the beaches, both of which line much of the coasts of Molokaʻi. Students designed and built edible coral reefs, compared coral reef fish mouth adaptations, and investigated the contents of sand from different beaches on the island. Using wireless digital microscopes with iPads, students compared sand samples while adding vinegar to see the level of reaction to the calcium carbonate in the sand. Each student also taped sand onto a map worksheet to display the different sand types at various locations on the island.
Each 21st CCLC site used a giant 3x8-foot map of the Island of Molokaʻi showing the watershed boundaries, the schools, and the streams that flow from mountain to sea. The activity was designed to develop geographic understanding of their island, the ahupuaʻa (cultural land boundaries similar to watersheds), and the connections of wai (water) to kai (sea). This program is an extension of a previous eeBLUE 21st CCLC Watershed STEM Education Partnership collaboration between Learning Endeavors and the Molokaʻi 21st CCLC Program, called Champions of Coastal Resilience, which began in 2020.
Students play the whale trivia game with Diana Warren, Learning Endeavors, while they wait to go inside the giant whale. Photo credit: Learning Endeavors
To date, the Wai to Kai program has engaged 226 students and 51 adults, including staff from each 21st CCLC site and some family members who participated in the whale watch. As our program continues through the fall of this year, we look forward to continuing to inspire students to care for the natural world around them by building connections between the land and sea through water on and surrounding the Island of Molokaʻi.
NAAEE, in collaboration with NOAA and supported by the U.S. Department of Education, is working with twelve environmental education organizations to offer engaging after-school watershed-focused STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs. The eeBLUE 21st Century Community Learning Centers Watershed STEM Education Partnership Grants, administered by NAAEE and running from 2024–2025, support environmental education organizations collaborating directly with 21st CCLC sites. These sites play a crucial role in designing and implementing locally relevant, out-of-school-time programs that develop students' environmental literacy and leadership skills as they improve their communities. These grants support programming for local Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) sites and their students, many of whom live in underserved areas. The 12 selected projects serve 11 states, ranging from Hawai’i to Maine.