Community

Resource:
Paepae ʻo
Heʻeia
Kaluhi Kaʻapana
ITE 323
Fall 2019
Contact Information
Place: Heʻeia fishpond

Location: Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu

Outreach person: Mamo Leota

Contact information: education@paepaeoheeia.org or 808-236-6178

Website: https://paepaeoheeia.org/
NGSS Standards
K-ESS2-2.
Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change
the environment to meet their needs.

3-LS4-4.
Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types
of plants and animals that live there may change.

3-5-ETS1-1.
Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and
constraints on materials, time, or cost.

5-LS2-1.
Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the
environment.
 Heʻeia: restoring our
past
Heʻeia is a fishpond located in Kāneʻohe on the
island of Oʻahu. This fishpond was once invaded
with mangrove and was restored. The purpose of
Paepae ʻo Heʻeia is to teach the community and our
keiki about our ʻike kūpuna (ancestral knowledge)
and moʻolelo of our past.
Ka wai a Kāne, ke kai a Kanaloa
(The fresh water meets salt water)
This picture is of a pond at the end of the fishpond.
From my conversation with Mamo, there is one
problem that they are facing with this pond. The
water does not flow enough in this area, so this water
is stagnant. They have tried a few things, one of them
including the solar panel to monitor the temperature
and movement of the water. Because of this problem,
the fish don’t survive well. This could tie into the
standard 3-LS4-4 about finding a solution to a problem
that was caused from changes in the environment. This can
also tie into the 5th grade standard about the movement of
matter. This problem is relevant to the standard because
the fish living in the pond are being affected by this lack of
flow of water.
Fishponds were made to
feed communities
This picture shows about half of the whole loko iʻa. Mamo
(our guide) took the students on a walk on the whole
kuapā (rock wall), giving information a stories of each
section of the loko iʻa. This educational tour was very
enlightening for the students and tied in much about
what we were learning in class: ecosystems, loko iʻa, ʻike
kūpuna (knowledge from kūpuna), etc. Looking at this
picture, I am reminded of the kindergarten standard,
K-ESS2-2 how plants and animals (including humans) can
change the environment to fit their needs. This loko iʻa
was restored to recreate how our kūpuna altered the
environment to meet the need of feeding their
communities of people.
A self-cleaning fishpond
The picture shows a makaha. I was interested to
learn that because Heʻeia is such a big fishpond,
each makaha has a function and a story. They were
built to cycle the water, so the loko iʻa is constantly
cleaning itself, especially because the fresh water
comes from the mountain and brings some ʻopala
into the loko iʻa. This is a reflection of engineering
and design to solve a problem.
Intentional engineering
This picture was taken at the makaha whose function
is to release water back into the ocean. Something
interesting that Mamo told our is about the tides
rising and falling. When the tide is about to rise, the
fish create a line as they prepare to leave the
fishpond with the tide. Of course this is the smaller
fish that can still fit through the makaha. I think this
can be related to the engineering and design, as the
fishpond was designed and engineered with intent,
keeping in mind the tides, the cycling of the water,
and the movement of fish.
Cultural revitalization
through STEM
As I previously mentioned, a goal of the fishpond was
to revitalize the moʻolelo and mana of this place.
Much of this revitalization was done through STEM.
They have faced many problems and the staff of
Paepae ʻo Heʻeia are constantly trying to engineer
solutions to solve the problems. For example, with
the various weather conditions of the windward side,
these hale were constructed at each makaha. They
were constructed with modern and ancient
materials.
What is the importance of
native species?
This picture shows a naupaka plant that
grows along the beginning of the path on the
kuapā (rock wall). I think it is important for
my students to see the immense amount of
native plants around Heʻeia. As Hawaiian
immersion students, it is important to expose
them to native species and there are not very
much native plants and animals around our
campus. This is important to know the
ecosystems of our native plants and animals.
This can also relate to the 3rd grade
standard about the solving the problem of
plants and animals changing in an
environment. When this fishpond was once
invaded by mangrove, there is now a great
amount of native plants growing back.
The movement of
matter
It is difficult to see, but this picture shows some
small fish swimming together. In this part of the
tour, Mamo was explaining how the fish get bigger.
She said that the small fish eat limu, then they get a
little bigger. Some of those fish get eaten by bigger
fish. In the end, when they all swim into the makaha
called Kahoalāhui, the big fish are let out to make
babies and the medium fish are caught to sell or
eat. This can be incorporated into the lesson with
the 5th grade standard of the movement of matter
in ecosystems and interdependent relationships,
especially when analyzing food chains of marine
animals.
Learning our
place in this place
To conclude, as we walked back, Mamo tied in how
this is just one small place to care for in all of Hawaiʻi.
Our place in this specific ecosystem is not just to take
and eat fish, but also to keep this place as healthy and
lively with natives as possible. The students were
able to help with some cleaning and removing bark
from sticks to build new hale. Mamo brought up that
there are some problems they still place. She hopes
that the students would one day come back and
contribute to solving these problems. I think this ties
into the 3rd grade standard and 3-5 engineering
standards. These standards have to do with finding a
solution to a problem.