Hawai‘i Alive: New Online Cultural Resource for Students and Teachers
Bishop Museum has announced an innovative new approach to professional and curricula material development for and by the Native Hawaiian community utilizing the Museum’s wonderfully rich resources. Hawai‘i Alive (http://www.hawaiialive.org) is now up and operational, providing a new online collection of media-rich resources for teachers and students aimed at bringing the Hawaiian culture to life in the classroom.
An open-ended educational tool kit, Hawai‘i Alive provides a digital window into multiple perspectives of Hawaiian culture and art, using objects and resources in the Museum’s world-famous and unrivaled collection of 22,500 Native Hawaiian artifacts. Among the materials online are cultural artifacts, archival drawings, historical photographs, and audio and video archives. Forty treasures were selected for their cultural, artistic, and historic significance and are presented in digital format. This material is also supplemented with new footage of Hawaiian cultural practitioners, contemporary artisans, and students engaged in a variety of cultural activities.
Importantly, the content was designed to meet specific Hawai‘i Department of Education Hawaiian Studies standards for grades 4, 7 and 9. Topics presented include Origins and Migration, early Hawaiian Society, Unification and Monarchy, and Overthrow and Contemporary issues. The three-year project was supported through grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Native Hawaiian Education Program, U. S. Department of Education. Spearheading the project at Bishop Museum were Leah Pualahaole Caldeira, Noelle Kahanu, Rona Rodenhurst and Brad Evans. The site is also links to other existing Bishop Museum databases. Hawai‘i Alive reflects the design approach for the $21 million renovation of Hawaiian Hall, which is based upon the Native Hawaiian world view as seen through three realms: Wao Lani (Realm of the Gods), Wao Kanaka (Realm of Man); and Kai Akea (Realm of the Ocean).
“The database is an extremely rich and in-depth presentation of Hawaiian culture unlike anything that has been available to teachers and students ever before,” says Rona Rodenhurst, Education Program Manager at Bishop Museum. “Students and teachers learning about Hawaiian culture from anywhere in the world can use the click of a mouse to access maps, artifacts, historic documents and photographs and also see and hear Native Hawaiians and other cultural practitioners talk about their own culture and practices.”
Now that it is online and available to teachers and students of Hawaiian culture around the world, Rodenhurst says Hawai‘i Alive will continue to expand with the ongoing addition of new resources, development of teacher workshops, and a bilingual site.
For more information about Hawai‘i Alive, call (808) 847-3511 or visit www.hawaiialive.org.
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