Kuʻu ʻĀina Aloha: A Longitudinal Investigation of ʻĀina Aloha Praxis in a Hawaiʻi High School Biology Classroom
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2024
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Abstract
This dissertation is an invitation into our beloved biology classroom. Weaving hermeneutic phenomenology and critical participatory teacher action research, this study investigated self as teacher and two cohorts of student participants in a high school biology experience utilizing an ʻĀina Aloha praxis. Articulating my ongoing ʻĀina Aloha praxis, I utilized the foundational characteristics of critical theories as situated in our specific place of Hawaiʻi Island on the heels of a global pandemic. Eleven embedded case study students were followed longitudinally through our biology class and into the sequential school year. Through exploring my praxis, my research expanded to understanding how science becomes (k)new in a ʻĀina Aloha biology experience for both student and teacher participants. The findings amplify two themes that characterize my ʻĀina Aloha praxis: 1) Simultaneity and 2) Awareness as Knowledge. Classroom evidence reveals that teacher and student participants carry multiple, simultaneous relationships in and between the biology classroom for which an ʻĀina Aloha praxis honors as central to knowledge acquisition and application. Longitudinal evidence demonstrated the development of awareness as knowledge, as students continued a trajectory of reflective practice and found ways to serve their multiple communities past our year together. This research contributes to the growing body of understanding on how holographic epistemology is practiced in a high school learning environment to impact participants’ sense of self and relational kuleana.
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Curriculum development, Science education, Education, Hermeneutic phenomenology, Participatory action, Place-based education, ʻĀina Aloha
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201 pages
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