Hawaii State Department of Education

Celebrating success in Hawaii's public school system.

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Local viewpoint on display among powerful regional art program nominees — Congratulations to the extraordinary student artists nominated for this year's Hawaii Regional Scholastic Art Awards program. Their works will be exhibited at the Hawaii State Art Museum this spring. Gold Key and American Visions nominees are eligible for the prestigious national competition and scholarships, to be announced in March. Story: http://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/VisionForSuccess/SuccessStories/Awards/Pages/2017-HI-Regional-SAA.aspx

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Hour of Code 2016, Hawai‘i edition! Check out our roundup from schools across the state. https://storify.com/HIDOE808/hour-of-code-2016-hawai-i-public-schools (Pictured: Momilani Elementary’s “Everyone Can Code” family night, Dec. 8, 2016)

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REDESIGNING SCHOOLS The Hawaii DOE teams with Oceanit and Adult Friends for Youth to ask students how they would design schools if they could. The design-thinking exercise, geared toward identifying solutions, is part of the 2016 review and extension of Hawaii's Strategic Plan for education, which will guide the state's response to federal and state law, budgetary cycles, operations and more.

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“A welcoming environment & empowering teachers.”

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​In 2014, Niu Valley Middle School band director Zachary Morita decided to present students with a challenging opportunity.

His love for music and teaching his students inspired him to start a percussion performance group that would span multiple grade levels. The group became the Hawaii Youth Percussion Ensemble, or HYPE.

“I always hear about the mainland and all the percussion opportunities up there, but growing up here there weren’t many options. We’re the only percussion, performing group that works year round,” Morita said.

HYPE members include a dozen students from the 6th grade to 11th grade, from Niu Valley Middle School and Kaiser High School. Some of them are not in music or band classes but still love being able to participate in a performance group.

“We’re more of a family,” 7th grader Chelley Endo said. “We play together better as a team. We know how to help each other and make each other better.”

STORY: http://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/VisionForSuccess/SuccessStories/Students/Pages/HYPE.aspx

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ALOHA, Class of 2016! · HIDOE808

Is there anything better than a Hawaii graduation? About 10,800 students got piled head high with lei and more at ceremonies across the Islands. Congratulations, Class of 2016, and to the families and educators who helped along the way. We are proud! Cheeeee hooooo!

A collection of social media posts from us and families at 2016 graduation ceremonies across Hawaii. Congratulations!

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"Joseph is an outstanding student who always strives to do more than is asked of him. He inspires others with his character and excellent work ethic." — Fred Murphy, principal, Mililani High School.

Congratulations to Joseph Fujinami on this remarkable achievement! He is one of only 20 high school seniors nationwide accepted to the program’s inaugural cohort of Career & Technical Education Honors.

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https://soundcloud.com/hidoe808/spsurvey

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“When I was a junior I was interested in medicine and surgery—I contacted JABSOM, and we realized there was no program for high school students interested in medicine. Dr. Kelly and I talked and now they have a pre-health career program.  There are conferences, you can get help on research projects, and find shadowing experiences. Just talking and saying what I want, and collaborating them with them, in a couple of months they were able to help. They want doctors to stay in Hawaii and serve their communities, so they can do outreach to high school students. More of these innovative practices or programs might get students really motivated to attend college and see what else is out there.   Stuff like lab visits opens your mind and it’s a mutual benefit.

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From students: More innovative programs! 

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Educator Spotlight: Greg Kent on Design Thinking Inventables Blog, Laser power settings calculator based on material and thickness

Kailua Elementary teacher Greg Kent, who recently won an X-Carve for the school, was awarded an Ultimaker 3-D printer. Learn more about Mr. Kent and the great things going on in his classroom in this Educator Spotlight post on the Inventables blog! 

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Kaiser High teacher Paul Balazs, who teaches Leadership, English Language-Arts and International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge courses in grades 10 through 12, was honored with the prestigious Teacher of Promise Award from the National Milken Educators of Hawaii. Story: http://bit.ly/1X8TF36

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When I asked my second grade students what makes a student successful their voices spoke volumes for “Lifelong Learner.”

“A student who uses their imagination and creativity is successful. If you want to invent something you need to think and innovate. If you do, maybe you can invent something that will help our environment. It’s really is fun too.” Rowan

“A successful students works hard and keeps going on a task until it is done. This is persistence and you need to do this if you want to understand something. Also, working interdependently is important because if you don’t know something you can learn it from another person and they can learn from you.” Aaron

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Student voice drives the effort! 

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Student success means being inspired to learn.  When I was in grade school, I was very quiet and shy. One of my teachers saw my potential and encouraged me to take on leadership roles. Soon after, it was  those simple and short comments from the teachers and my peers that I was “smart” and they were “impressed” that really inspired me to learn more and do better.

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Relationships are everything. 

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Go Solar Racer, Go!

May 5, 2016

How good is your math?

Good enough to engineer a model car – powered only by sunlight – and race it in timed trials with increasing payloads on its frame?

This challenge may sound best-suited for the researchers at MIT, but on Oahu 850 young engineers, grades five through eight, accepted it as part of the Department of Education and Hawaiian Electric’s Solar Sprint.

Applying STEM – science, technology, engineering, and math – skills, the students paired up to build lightweight, bare-frame vehicles designed to support a mini photovoltaic panel and small electric motor. Those who met basic performance requirements advanced to the Solar Sprint Exhibition.

Held at Kapolei High School’s sunny tennis courts, the Solar Sprint first involved two timed trials, where the cars were loaded with 12 ounces of lead weights and required to race down a 20-meter course within 25 seconds. Easy enough, no?

Then came the twist. After completing the initial races, the students were hit with a surprise challenge: transform their solar-powered cars into solar-powered emergency vehicles, complete with a siren that could be turned on with a switch.

This new challenge required critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration. Students had to divert some energy from the electric motor to the switch and siren – a small buzzer – which required wiring and mounting the new equipment onto the bare frames. Six more ounces of lead weights were added, for a total of 18 ounces. The transformed emergency vehicles then had to run the sprint with no additional source of energy other than the single, mini solar panel.

Needless to say, only the best-engineered cars could pass the test!

Students participating this year came from Dole Middle, Highlands Intermediate, Kailua Intermediate, Kaimuki Middle, Kapolei Middle, Laie Elementary, Makaha Elementary, Nanakuli Elementary, Niu Valley Middle, Waianae Elementary, Waianae Intermediate, and Waipahu Intermediate Schools.

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Mahalo for the STEM learning activity, HECO!