By Amber Strong Makaiau

In a previous blog post, I introduced readers to H.S. Townsend, Hawai‘i’s Inspector General of Schools from 1896 - 1900, and the tremendous contributions he made to the progressive education movement in Hawai‘i and beyond. This included sharing about Townsend’s The Progressive Educator newspaper, which was distributed monthly from 1893-1899, “one for every teacher of printed record in the Hawaiian Islands” (p.30). At the time, the newspaper provided cutting edge progressive education articles and resources. It also served as a foundation for the “Teachers’ Reading Clubs,” which were established “in nearly [every] school district” (p.31) across the nation. Townsend’s strategy was to provide educators with stimulating content that was both philosophically and practically relevant to their work in schools, and then the teachers could apply what they read to the development of their own progressive philosophy and pedagogy as they implemented new practices in their schools and classrooms and engaged in meaningful professional discussion and reflection with their colleagues. There is no doubt that Townsend’s little but mighty newspaper transformed public education in Hawai‘i at the time it was in circulation.

In this article I want to dig a little deeper into the contents of The Progressive Educator by re-publishing an article from the newspaper, which was originally printed in 1895. The publication is titled, “Nature Study in Hawaiian Schools.” It was written by Albert Brown (A.B.) Lyons, who taught at Oahu College (now Punahou School) from 1861-1862 and 1888-1895. The article caught my eye when I first read through the issues of the newspaper because the idea of “nature study” or getting students out of the classroom and learning in the natural world as a regular part of their school day is now widely accepted as best practice in top schools across the world. I’ve also observed the growing movement of contemporary progressive educators in Hawai‘i (and in other locations) who are advocating for the integration of culturally responsive teaching, place-based learning, ʻāina-based education, and climate-conscious pedagogies into all classrooms and schools. I wondered: Were progressive educators in the Kingdom and Republic eras of Hawai‘i already thinking about, writing about, and putting into practice what modern-day progressive educators might consider defining features of a 21st Century progressive education philosophy and pedagogy? I invite you to explore this question with me through a close examination of A.B. Lyons’ nature study article and how it connects to more recent scholarship and research related to constructivism, interdisciplinary and integrated studies, culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies, and place-based learning.

Constructivism

“Constructivism is a learning theory that emphasizes the active role of learners in building their own understanding. Rather than passively receiving information, learners reflect on their experiences, create mental representations, and incorporate new knowledge into their schemas. This promotes deeper learning and understanding” (McLeod, 2023). It is a philosophy of education that was championed by early progressives (Dewey, 1938) and later advocated for by a number of twenty-first century psychologists such as Jean Piaget (1896–1980), Lev Vygotsky (1896 - 1934), and Jerome Bruner (1915–2016). Today, constructivist approaches to teaching and learning are being further researched by educational neuroscientists who are applying the tools, metrics, and methods of neuroscience to “inform aspects of curriculum design, pedagogy, and human performance in both formal and informal learning contexts” (Kalbfleisch, 2015). While some contemporary research suggests that constructivist approaches may not always support the development of novice learners (Krischner, Sweller, & Clark, 2006; Mayer, 2004), neuroscientists are finding that “active learning takes advantage of processes that stimulate multiple neural connections in the brain and promote memory” (Kaufer, 2011), making constructivism a best practice approach by today’s scientific standards (Hirsh-Pasek, Hopkins, Jensen, Liu, Neale, Solis, Whitebread, & Zoshm, 2017).

Given that constructivist theories have so far stood the test of time, it is remarkable that A.B. Lyons advocated for this approach to science education (or education in general) in his 1895 nature study article. He wrote,

What shall be said about zoology and botany in public schools? Something of these branches should surely be taught, but not from the ultra-scientific standpoint. The main object of the study should be to make the pupil observant of the objects he meets with, and to enlarge his useful knowledge to them.

The overall “premise that the act of learning is based on a process which connects new knowledge to pre-existing knowledge” (Dennick, 2016) as it is expressed in the excerpt above, was prevalent throughout the article.

To further his point, Lyons gives multiple examples of how teachers can translate his constructivist philosophy of education into practice. Framed within the context of “nature study,” he presents key scientific concepts and topics, and then demonstrates how teachers might apply a constructivist approach to teaching them. Here is one example:

The pupil should be required to keep a record of the daily variations of temperature and of other meteorological conditions, and shown how to put his record in such attractive form that he may be proud to have it on exhibition. He should be made to draw maps of his own island, to show by appropriate coloring or shading the distribution of rainfall, the regions of forest, pasture, and arable land, the range of such plants as are characteristic of different plant zones, going at first not beyond his personal observation. This should lead to similar maps of foreign countries, which should show from what principle sources come the various metals, agricultural products, and manufactured articles that give rise to the world’s commerce. This may be done effectively, especially by younger pupils, by attaching to the map bits of the various products of locality.

Here is another, which emphasizes how a constructivist inquiry approach, starting with questions and leading to careful observation of the natural world, is an ideal approach to teaching biology:

When studying the leaves of plants do not spend much time over the descriptive terms, but let the pupil try to explain why the leaves of each plant have the particular shape and texture and arrangement on the stem that they have. Why do the leaves of many plants fold themselves at night as if for sleep? How do different kinds of vines climb and support themselves? Find out by observation.

Just as it is found in the two quotes above, throughout the article Lyons encourages teachers to take a constructivist and inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning. He calls on educators to start with what students already know and what they can observe in their immediate surroundings and experience, and then build off of this knowledge to construct and develop more complex understandings of things that are far away and more abstract. By no means is he saying that observation and direct experience with nature are the only way to learn, but perhaps, as other progressive educators would agree, they are the gateway to meaningful and lasting learning that students will remember for a lifetime.

Interdisciplinary and Integrated Studies

Interdisciplinary and integrated studies have always been a hallmark of progressive education. As the Hanahau‘oli School website states: “While factual information is valued as a foundation for concept development, it is not the focus for assessing learning. The more traditional academic skills are taught in an integrated fashion when appropriate to lend meaning and relevance and discreetly when needed for mastery” (Hanahau’oli School Website, 2024). This point is reiterated by Alfie Kohn (2015) who explains, “Facts and skills do matter, but only in a context and for a purpose. That’s why progressive education tends to be organized around problems, projects, and questions—rather than around lists of facts, skills, and separate disciplines. The teaching is typically interdisciplinary, the assessment rarely focuses on rote memorization, and excellence isn’t confused with ‘rigor.’ The point is not merely to challenge students—after all, harder is not necessarily better—but to invite them to think deeply about issues that matter and help them understand ideas from the inside out” (p.3). A careful read of both Hanahau‘oli School and Kohn’s quote reveals that progressive educators aren’t opposed to teaching discrete facts and skills, they just want to take a more balanced approach that includes integration and the opportunity to make sense of the world through an interdisciplinary lens.

In Lyons’ nature study article, he argues for an interdisciplinary and integrated approach throughout the publication. In addition to addressing the many intersections of science and social studies concepts and topics, he also directly discusses the importance of teaching “literacy” (in the broadest sense) within the context of other disciplines. This is stated in the article:

The Hawaiian boy goes to school to study the artificial accomplishments of reading, writing, and cyphering–the task of acquiring a new and difficult language overshadowing everything else in his education. Laboriously he learns to say and write, “It is a cat;” at the end of a year perhaps he can say understandingly, “The cat is under the table,” and when his school education is finished he can read somewhat haltingly simple English prose, with some comprehension of the common words….Under an exceptional teacher, the horizon of his thought may been enlarged by judicious selection of reading exercises, but, outside of the one subject of geography, there has been nothing in his course of study provided with reference to this end….It seems to me that the crying need of common schools is more nature study. Language is not to be displaced to make room for nature study, but the latter is rather to be made the efficient means of promoting the former….In conclusion, let me express once more with emphasis, my conviction that the Hawaiian-born pupil needs more than anything else ideas, to make of any value his language study, and that no study will do so much towards giving him ideas as that of nature.

In sum–literacy development and language acquisition in schools can be bolstered by integrating reading, writing, and vocabulary lessons within an interdisciplinary context (that is relevant to the student and connected to their prior knowledge).

While Lyons didn’t claim to be a reading expert or English Language Arts specialist, it is interesting to find that his position on “language study” is closely linked to twenty-first century “science of reading” advocates. A movement that continues to gain momentum in 2024, science of reading proponents aim to ensure that “reading instruction [is] in line with evidence-based practice” (Schwartz, 2023). A quick review of the most-up-to-date findings appear to align with Lyons’ approach:

Phonics, or the ability to connect written letters and spoken sounds, is an essential building block for reading well—but it’s far from the only skill that matters. Students also need deep and wide vocabularies, opportunities to develop their spoken language skills, and world knowledge that helps them understand what they read, among other important ingredients. This year, a few developments shed light on these components of reading instruction….In April, researchers at the University of Virginia, the University of Notre Dame, and Auburn University released a working paper that examined one reading curriculum that used a “knowledge-building” approach. The materials were organized and themed to systematically build students’ understanding of social studies and science topics…[for example] Core Knowledge Language Arts [CKLA]...The curriculum structures English/language arts lessons around topics in literature, history, geography, and science. The researchers found that students in grades 3-6 who used CKLA did better on end-of-year standardized reading tests than a control group of similar students who did not.

While the results of standardized testing are by no means the only metric needed for a stamp of approval, it is remarkable that Lyons’ ideas about embedding language arts instruction and vocabulary lessons within a real world context like nature study is now viewed as best practice according to today’s research.

Culturally Responsive Teaching

The term Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) was first introduced by Gloria Ladson-Billings (1995) who called attention to the fact that most students’ cultures and experiences have been excluded from the mainstream school setting, negatively impacting their learning and overall school experience, and that educators must do something about this. In line with James Banks’ advocacy for creating multicultural classrooms and curriculum, CRT is built upon the foundation that “students learn best and are highly motivated when the school curriculum reflects their cultures, experiences, and perspectives” (Banks, 1997, pp. 229 –230). Geneva Gay elaborates, “culturally responsive teaching can be defined as using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them. It teaches to and through the strengths of these students. It is culturally validating and affirming (Gay, 2000, p. 29). While scholarship, research, and teacher familiarity with CRT is quite prevalent today, the critical impact of this important educational concept and practice was not emphasized in teacher preparation programs until the 1990s and early 2000s.

With that said, it is heartening to read Lyons’ opening paragraphs of his 1895 nature study publication.

The native Hawaiian of olden time was an interested and intelligent student of nature. He had a familiar acquaintance with the plants of forest and lowland, and could tell something of the properties and uses of each. He had names for every variety of rock; he knew the principal planets and constellations; each species of fish had for him not only a name but a story; his vocabulary was rich in terms, which everyone understood, relating to the winds, tides, and currents which might favor or impede navigation….In these days, on the other hand, we find [that t]he Hawaiian boy goes to school to study the artificial accomplishments of reading, writing, and cyphering…

He then goes on to explain why the incorporation of “nature study,” into every classroom in the Hawaiian islands, could be an important remedy to combat more traditional approaches that don’t connect teaching and learning to students’ cultures, experiences, and perspectives. While he does not go as far as advocating for a “culturally sustaining” teaching practice (Paris, 2012), it is quite exceptional that he was advocating for some aspects of CRT in the mid-1890s.

Place-Based Learning

In 2003, Washington State University professor, David Gruenwald wrote:

Contemporary school reform takes little notice of place. The emphasis on state-mandated standards for teachers and students tends to work toward [making teaching and learning] uniform, [which] distracts attention from the larger cultural contexts of living, of which formal education is just a part (Apple, 2001; McNeil, 2000, 2002; Spring, 1998).... Some even posit that pursuing locally focused pedagogies might boost achievement in relation to traditional standardized measures (Gibbs & Howley, 2000; Lieberman & Hoody1998; Theobald & Curtiss, 2000). (p. 620). But this is not the central point of place conscious education. The point of becoming more conscious of places in education is to extend our notions of pedagogy and accountability outward toward places. Thus extended, pedagogy becomes more relevant to the lived experience of students and teachers, and accountability is reconceptualized so that places matter to educators, students, and citizens in tangible ways. Place-conscious education, therefore, aims to work against the isolation of schooling’s discourses and practices from the living world outside the increasingly placeless institution of schooling.

While “standardization” efforts in education looked different in the late 1800’s than they do today, it is clear from Lyons’ article that most traditional “Western'' schools at the time of publication did not use “place” or the world outside of a classroom (whether it be nature or the multiple arenas of public social life) as starting point for teaching and learning. Lyons recognizes that this was not the case for Kanaka 'Ōiwi, the indigenous people of Hawai‘i. On the contrary, place is a critical source for teaching and learning, an essential launching point for inquiry and the acquisition of new knowledge.

To illustrate his point, Lyons gives this example of studying science:

The branch of natural science which above all others should be taught in primary schools, and indeed in schools of all grades, is physical geography. Object lessons everywhere abound. One has no need of books. A pebble from the nearest brook, or from the wayside anywhere may serve as a text for the first lesson. Where did it come from, and how did it get where we find it? It is made of lava, you find, and the other fragments of rock you pick up are also, nearly always, lava, and so you have opened up the subject of volcanoes and their different products. There should be no difficulty in securing specimens for every school of the products of our own volcanoes–some fresh from recent eruptions, some from out-crops of the ancient lava strata, compact and vesicular, minutely and coarsely crystalline, amorphous and showing columnar change, besides tufa and volcanic conglomerate…The volcanic history of the Islands is written everywhere in easily legible characters. The ledges of rock that are so conspicuous on the steep slopes of our valleys of erosion tell the story of eruption following eruption in the building up of the mountains. There is Mauna Loa just finished, nay even yet not completed, Mauna Kea and Haleakala, whose masses have only begun to show scoring by stream erosion, Lanai, Molokai and West Maui, showing evidences of greater age, Oahu and Kauai, mere skeletons of their former selves. This is forcibly brought out by having relief maps molded in sand or putty or papier mache, and pupils become very much interested in doing this kind of work…

Excited by the possibilities of applying the process of scientific inquiry (asking questions, gathering data, analyzing data, forming conclusions) in the natural world, it is clear that Lyons has a strong command of the ways in which “nature study” can be used to teach scientific facts and concepts covered in the traditional classroom setting. It is also evident that (while not yet fully unpacked) Lyons understands the unique ways place-based learning, when grounded in Indigenous epistemologies and models of education, has the potential to make schooling more relevant and meaningful.

Getting Close to a Culturally Sustaining, ʻĀina-Based, Climate Conscious Approach

First published nearly 130 years ago, Lyons’ nature study article in The Progressive Educator contains many of the seeds of a modern progressive philosophy and pedagogy. He advocates for creating constructivist, interdisciplinary, integrated, culturally responsive (to some extent), place-based learning experiences, all contextualized within Hawai‘i’s unique geographic and cultural milieu. As I read through the piece, I found it striking that the philosophical and practical advice he gives to teachers in the Republic have stood the test of time and would most likely be embraced by progressive educators in Hawai‘i today. I also reflected, since he first penned this article–in light of what’s transpired and what continues to unfold in the present day–the seeds of wisdom found in his ideas have grown, been reclaimed, and advanced.

For example, in addition to championing culturally relevant teaching, contemporary progressive educators are increasingly calling for culturally sustaining pedagogies. “Culturally sustaining pedagogy seeks to perpetuate and foster—to sustain—linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling” (Paris, 2012, p .93). They ask: What might Hawai‘i look like if schools encouraged and supported students in both remaining or becoming multilingual? What if schools ensured that all citizens in Hawai‘i were fluent in both ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) and English? While there were only inklings of these ideas in Lyons’ article, leaders of the ongoing Hawaiian language immersion movement have taken these questions head on, successfully revitalizing the Hawaiian language and culture through education (Beyer, 2018). Progressive educators in Hawai‘i today have much to learn from their tremendous accomplishments, as they continue to work on effective pedagogies for perpetuating, fostering, and sustaining linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism in more schools across the islands.

Progressive educators in Hawai‘i today are also asking: What could school look like if teachers developed a strong and deep connection with place, including an authentic and embodied understanding of Hawaiian epistemologies, which would enable them to perpetuate an ʻāina-based educational approach across the islands?

In Hawaiian, ʻāina transcends understandings of geographical location to encompass land, earth, and that which feeds and nourishes. For Kanaka 'Ōiwi, the indigenous people of Hawai‘i, “the ʻāina sustains [their] identity, continuity, and well-being as a people. It embodies the tangible and intangible values of our culture that have developed and evolved over generations of experiences of our ancestors” (Kikiloi, 2010, p. 75). An ʻāina-based educational approach centralizes the importance of interdependent and reciprocal relationships across family, community, the natural world, and spiritual realms (Maunakea et al., 2020). Specific to Hawai‘i, ho‘omanawanui (2008) emphasizes that developing ‘ike ʻāina (knowledge from/about land) “as part of a culturally relevant curriculum supports a more well-rounded idea of Indigenous literacy, nurturing and solidifying cultural links between student, family, and ʻāina” (p. 203). (Taira & Maunakea, 2022, pp. 381 - 382).

Lyons recognized that Hawaiians are” interested and intelligent student[s] of nature” and that “each species of fish [for example] had for him not only a name but a story.” Grounded in this understanding, he advocated for teaching students how to engage in powerful observation of the natural world. Today progressive educators in Hawai‘i–as indigenous communities have for generations–are deepening this pedagogy with ʻāina-based approaches (Maunakea, 2021), like teaching the practice of kilo.

For example, students at the Mālama Learning Center are learning that “kilo” means “to watch, observe, examine or forecast…Kilo also references a Hawaiian observation approach during which practitioners focus on the less obvious, more subtle things in their environment.” They are learning that “kilo practice in the modern world creates a means for individuals, and communities as a whole, to gain knowledge and wisdom that enables better management of natural resources–in any place” (Malama Learning Center, 2024). They are also being taught that careful observation of the natural world is the gateway to increasing climate consciousness, and ultimately the practice of “mālama honua” – care for our Island Earth (The Polynesian Voyaging Society, 2024).

This is the final seed, planted deep beneath the surface of Lyons’ writing, which must be adopted by all educators in our modern world. If we are going to create citizens who both care about and have the tools they need to address climate change, we must engage all students in environmental education. The United Nations (2024) has taken the position that “education is a critical agent in addressing the issue of climate change…Education can encourage people to change their attitudes and behavior; it also helps them to make informed decisions…young people can be taught the impact of global warming and learn how to adapt to climate change. Education empowers all people, but especially motivates the young to take action.” As a result, climate education advocates are now working to ensure that climate change is taught across all disciplines, P-20. And there is no better way to begin a climate conscious education, than providing young children with meaningful outdoor learning experiences that not only educate about the natural world but also help them fall in love with it.

Final Reflections

As I reflect on the number of themes published in Lyons’ 1895 Progressive Educator article, I am most struck by his commitment to the following value, which is shared by progressive educators in Hawai‘i today: to be truly educated in Hawai‘i (and perhaps anywhere), one’s education must connect to place and ʻāina. This is an idea that is linked to many of the progressive education principles espoused by the movement’s East-Coast American founders, but it is not explicit in their early writings. Instead, the connection between progressive philosophy and pedagogy and “nature study” seems to be a special and defining feature of progressive education in Hawai‘i. First articulated by Lyons close to 130 years ago, perhaps this is one of the enduring contributions that progressive educators in Hawai‘i can contribute to the ongoing evolution of the movement in modern times.

Hawai‘i’s unique geography and cultural history make it impossible not to be aware of–and in awe of–the natural world. Feelings of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder help to cultivate increased climate consciousness and the development of a relationship between humans and the environment. When children in Hawai‘i are given the opportunity to experience nature as a classroom, they grow up with a deep understanding that we are bound to the natural world, and the natural world is bound to us. This is something Kanaka 'Ōiwi have known and carried forward since the beginning of time–a worldview that is now being recognized as critical for human survival, a theory of knowledge that must be passed onto future generations. And while not everyone who lives in Hawaiʻi is Hawaiian–just as Lyons framed his 1895 article–we all have much to learn from Hawaiian ways of knowing as we make our way into the next century.

Lyons wrote that in order to understand the natural world (and much more), students must experience nature. Manu Meyer (2003) uses the term “Hawaiian epistemology” to frame this type of knowing: “practice culture, experience culture, live culture. It is no longer enough to simply learn the history or language in an academic setting—one must teach how to fish in the language, how to weave lauhala in the language, how to mälama‘äina (take care of the land) via language. It is a call to practice. It is a reminder of the most important aspect of a Hawaiian knowledge structure: experience” (pp. 145 - 146). Within Lyons’ 1895 article there are traces of a connection between Hawaiian epistemology and progressive education, but nothing like the work that has been accomplished by Kanaka 'Ōiwi educators since the article was published.

At the beginning of this article I asked: Were progressive educators in the Kingdom and Republic eras of Hawai‘i thinking about, writing about, and putting into practice what modern-day progressive educators might consider defining features of a 21st Century progressive education philosophy and pedagogy? The answer is yes, to some extent. The fact that A.B. Lyons was calling on all educators, in public schools across the Republic of Hawai‘i to engage all students in nature study deeply aligns to the work of progressive educators in Hawai‘i today. However, more and more of today’s progressive educators are learning how to do this from Kanaka 'Ōiwi scholarship and practice. They are becoming increasingly aware that ʻāina based education must be rooted to the genealogy of a place and its people. Collectively, we know that in order to be wise and responsible stewards of Island Earth, especially in the face of climate change, we must all be “interested and intelligent students of nature.”

Nature Study in Hawaiian Schools By A.B. Lyons Page 1

Nature Study in Hawaiian Schools By A.B. Lyons Page 2

Nature Study in Hawaiian Schools By A.B. Lyons Page 3

TRANSCRIPT:

P. 2 Progressive Educator Newspaper
Vol. 1 NO. 6. (1895)

Nature Study in Hawaiian Schools By A. B. Lyons, M. D., F.G.S, PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY, ETC., OAHU COLLEGE.

In these days, on the other hand, we find among them scarcely anything of this minute acquaintance with nature. The Hawaiian boy goes to school to study the artificial accomplishments of reading, writing, and cyphering–the task of acquiring a new and difficult language overshadowing everything else in his education. Laboriously he learns to say and write, “It is a cat;” at the end of a year perhaps he can say understandingly, “The cat is under the table,” and when his school education is finished he can read somewhat haltingly simple English prose, with some comprehension of the common words.

Under an exceptional teacher, the horizon of his thought may been enlarged by judicious selection of reading exercises, but, outside of the one subject of geography, there has been nothing in his course of study provided with reference to this end.

It seems to me that the crying need of common schools is more nature study. Language is not to be displaced to make room for nature study, but the latter is rather to be made the efficient means of promoting the former. Individual teachers have, perhaps, here and there, adopted already what I write to advocate for general practice, but there are certainly many who have not yet learned the more excellent way.

If I say that the first subject in the line of nature study should be physics, I shall expect to hear a protest from nine tenths of the teachers themselves, to the effect that physics was something that they themselves could never understand, and if they are expected to teach that they may as well give up. Suppose then that we drop the word physics, and say simply that we will try to make our pupils learn things about us. Lead, for example, is heavy (rather let us say dense), soft, opaque, bright or lustrous, transparent or translucent, not very dense, say two and half times as dense as water.

Next we may begin to make simple physical measurements, making the pupil practically familiar with the common units such as inch, foot, meter, mile, acre, pint, peck, etc. We are teaching language all the time, giving the pupil a vocabulary of words whose meaning he very definitely understands, while we are educating him in the fundamental facts and principles of physics.

From measurements of extension and capacity, we go on easily, with help of the cheapest appliances, to measurements of weight and then of temperature, keeping the pupils interested by giving them work to do. It will be easy, further, without any expensive apparatus, to illustrate inertia, fluid pressure, the pressure of the air, capillary attraction, conduction of heat, velocity of sound, the phenomena of magnetism and the refraction of light, the laws of motion, devising simple experiments which the pupil himself can make, and giving him the words that he needs to use in describing them. To give the exercise its full value, the pupil must be made to talk about the experiment he makes.

The volcanic history of the Islands is written everywhere in easily legible characters. The ledges of rock that are so conspicuous on the steep slopes of our valleys of erosion tell the story of eruption following eruption in the building up of the mountains. There is Mauna Loa just finished, nay even yet not completed, Mauna Kea and Haleakala, whose masses have only begun to show scoring by stream erosion, Lanai, Molokai and West Maui, showing evidences of greater age, Oahu and Kauai, mere skeletons of their former selves. This is forcibly brought out by having relief maps molded in sand or putty or papier mache, and pupils become very much interested in doing this kind of work.

From relief maps of these islands, it is easy to go on to less detailed reproductions of the reliefs of the great continents, and so to bring out and fix the facts about their water-sheds, mountain-systems, drainage-basins, plateaus, plains and deserts.

Trade-winds, monsoons, and land and sea breezes and find illustrations in Hawaii nei. The influence of mountains on climate and rain-fall is too obvious not to have impressed the pupil already. The phenomena of the tides he has had occasion to observe, or he can be made to see what he has overlooked.

The elementary facts of astronomy may naturally be taught in connection with physical geography.

Chemistry is regarded by many as abstruse science, far beyond the comprehension of anyone not a specialist. Yet it seems to me inexcusable that any scheme of common school education should omit wholly this important subject. The elements out of which re built plant and animal tissues, and which make up our common rocks and soils are not so numerous but that young children can become acquainted with them all. Enough of the principles of chemistry should be taught to enable the pupil to understand something of the processes by which we avail ourselves of the treasures Nature has provided for those who hold the keys to her storehouses.

Human anatomy and physiology, of course, ought to be taught, as a basis for the indispensable branch of hygiene, and this study may form a basis for a general survey of the animal kingdom. Observations of the habits of animals, however, require time and patience, and pupils in ordinary schools cannot be expected to accomplish much in this direction unless under the personal influence of an exceptionally gifted and enthusiastic teacher. Many facts, however, may be learned from reading lessons about the animals of other countries, and the appearance and general characteristics of the more important types of these ought certainly to be made familiar ot the pupil by the help of illustrations. It is perhaps not practicable to push the study beyond this point, although pupils may be always encouraged to familiarize themselves with the local fauna, for example, the fishes, the insects on the land, or sea shells.

In botany more may perhaps be attempted. The pupil may be set to collecting at first the seeds–more correctly speaking, the fruits–of all the plants he can find. These he is to classify according to the way nature provides for their dispersal, some with wings, som with barbed arms to creep or hop, some with a spring fixed in the pad so as to throw the seed to a distance, some provided with a boat in which a long sea voyage may be safely made, some in burrs that become entangled in a sheep’s fleece or a horse’s tail, or in the feathers of a bird, to be thus carried long distances. Some wrapped in a pulp that tempts birds and animals to swallow them and so carry and plant them unwittingly.

You need not teach the pupil the scientific name of any plant, or even tell him that they have scientific names, but insist that he have some name for every plant represented in his collection.

Then the germination of the seed must be watched. Let the pupils have a few beans, pumpkin seeds, grains of wheat or corn, plant them, preferably in clean sand or sawdust, or between folds of damp flannel, note the swelling of the seed,the bursting of its covering, the change of its starch to sugar (in the wheat and corn) the appearance of seed leaves which insist on growing upward, and the rootlets which cannot be made to grow any way but downwards.

Show the pupil how to separate starch from a potato, and set him to extracting starch from the various tubers, fleshy roots, and seeds, taking care to make him understand the importance of this same starch, not only in the vegetable economy, but as a principal food for animals.

If the native forests are accessible, let the pupils make collections of ferns and help them to classify them, or let the class see how large a collection they can get together of native woods, which they can be taught to dress and polish themselves.

Aim the whole study to make the pupil acquainted with as many plants as possible, and take occasion to speak of their economic uses, but lay stress always on functions rather than form, and point out how the plant adapts itself to its particular environment.

In conclusion, let me express once more with emphasis, my conviction that the Hawaiian-born pupil needs more than anything else ideas, to make of any value his language study, and that no study will do so much towards giving him ideas as that of nature.

Works Cited:

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Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. Simon Schuster

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Gay, Geneva. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching : theory, research, and practice. New York :Teachers College Press,

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dr. Amber Strong Makaiau is a Specialist at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Director of Curriculum and Research at the Uehiro Academy for Philosophy and Ethics in Education, Director of the Hanahau‘oli School Professional Development Center, and Co-Director of the Progressive Philosophy and Pedagogy MEd Interdisciplinary Education, Curriculum Studies program. A former Hawai‘i State Department of Education high school social studies teacher, her work in education is focused around promoting a more just and equitable democracy for today’s children. Dr. Makaiau lives in Honolulu where she enjoys spending time in the ocean with her husband and two children.

Nature Study & ʻĀina-Based Education: Modern-Day Reflections on A.B. Lyons’ 1895 “Progressive Educator” Publication