Program Updates from Yap
April 8, 2024TASIK KOSRAE Spring Weekends
June 24, 2024
By Yshiwata Lomae
June 24, 2024
STEAM in MAJURO
Thanks to our supporters, the RMI youth STEAM team had a refreshing spring season. Over a span of three Saturdays that took place in March, April, and May from 8 am to 5 pm, a total of 15 youths and facilitators from Waan Aelõñ in Majel (WAM) and PREL participated in activities that resulted in fun and innovative learning experiences. Our focus is to better understand how STEAM has evolved and continues to shape our lives in the air, on land, and in the oceans—from the past, through the present, and into the future. Most importantly, as Marshallese people, we need to understand STEAM concepts in ways that relate to our own perspectives and experiences, rooted in the places where we grew up.
Our learning approaches included various activities: listening to the story of the race between Jabro and his twelve (12) brothers; discussing the story’s literary and STEAM elements; and creating STEAM content relating to the story, such as island habitats, fish life cycles, tidal patterns (high and low tides), and climate change; and developing activities involving building, weaving, measuring, and more. Due to time constraints and the easy accessibility of content via the internet and other resources, we allocated more time for hands-on activities. These activities proved to be both challenging and engaging for the participants.
ACTIVITIES
During our first activity on March 3, 2024, we managed to go out sailing inside Majuro’s lagoon on one of WAM’s canoes. The intention of the trip was for the youth to make observations of the sky, land, and ocean around them. It was a time for the youth to think about how their ancestors developed innovative solutions for their own survival and resilience.
Our second activity on April 13, 2024, was creating Wabebe or the navigation stick chart. Like sailing, the stick chart is connected to who we are as Pacific Islanders and our connection to the ocean. There is so much to adapt to, study, and relate to when sailing a canoe in the world’s largest ocean.
And lastly on April 27, 2024, the team went out fishing. We learned the names and types of trees that can be cut and used as fishing poles. We learned that fish can hear noises coming from the water surface and the fishing boats. We learned that we needed to be conscious of the noise we were making, even when chopping marlin to make tiny pieces for bait.
Key takeaways from our three Saturdays included exploring STEAM elements through storytelling, examining STEAM elements in various processes, developing STEAM-related communication and collaboration skills, and engaging STEAM concepts through hands-on activities. Looking forward, we wish to continue to learn more about how to connect STEAM elements to our cultures and heritage, how to enhance our group communication and collaboration skills, how to improve our abilities to overcome challenges during prototype making, and, most importantly, how to continue acquiring skills and knowledge to deepen our understanding of STEAM.
