I KA WA MA MUA KA WA MA HOPE – The Future is in the Past, Fieldtrip Summative Evaluation at the Bishop Museum

In 2011 the Bishop Museum and two collaborating organizations, University of Hawai’i at Manoa (UH) and the Pacific Voyaging Society (PVS), were awarded a multi-year grant from the Native Hawaiian Education Program (NHEP) to develop classroom and dockside curricula, an online resource center for educators, teacher workshops, a planetarium show, and a field-trip program for middle school students. The overall goal of these educational products and programs is to make STEM content accessible to Native Hawaiian students by presenting it through the lens of ancient Hawaiian navigational systems. Michael Shanahan, Director of Education, Visitor Experience and Planetarium, at the Bishop Museum contracted with Doris Ash, Ph.D., and Wendy Meluch, MA, to conduct formative and summative evaluation of the NHEP program components. Ash and Meluch collaborated on all evaluation plans. Ash was primarily responsible for evaluation activities relating to the collaboration itself, curriculum components, the on-line resource center and teacher workshops. Meluch managed the fieldtrip evaluation studies with teachers and students, including extensive formative testing. All study protocols were submitted for IRB review at UH and granted exempt status. This document reports on the summative evaluation of the on-site fieldtrip program.