Fun, hands-on STEM lessons are a focus for Candide Krieger, who is earning her master’s degree from the College of Education Department of Curriculum Studies (EDCS) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
A part-time STEM/STEAM resource teacher at Jefferson Elementary School, Krieger is in the college’s Interdisciplinary Place-based and Sustainability Education (Watershed–Ahupuaʻa) program.
She is creating Hawaiʻi-focused, Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Edukits—filled with lessons and supplies—for kids in Title I schools with support from a $1.7-million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, for which EDCS Professor Pauline Chinn serves as principal investigator. Krieger is also conducting research on the effectiveness of the kits for teacher and student engagement and learning.
- Related UH News story: Teacher leadership program promotes integration of science with culture and place, June 26, 2017
“Candide’s students learn and retain so much when the lessons connect to their lives and interests, like using Oreos to study moon phases!” Chinn said. “She continues to seek funding opportunities through competitions and fundraising platforms in order to develop these hands-on lessons that students find engaging and fun-damental.”
Krieger also started a Lāʻau lapaʻau (medicinal Hawaiian garden) at Jefferson, and she volunteers there on the weekend. In one project, her students used branches trimmed from a wauke (paper mulberry) in the garden to create a rainforest. And, before going to the Symphony of the Hawaiian Birds performance, they crafted rainforest birds to hang from the branches.
Entrepreneurship grant
Krieger recently won a $1,000 Kalo Grant from the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE) for Edukits Hawaiʻi. This prize will cover a portion of her start-up costs, such as non-profit filing fees, website development, and other resources for the kits. She is also in the final round of PACE’s Venture Competition, which includes a $10,000 cash prize.
“Sometimes I put my own money towards my classroom because I want my students to do more than just worksheets,” Krieger said. “It’s really important to me that they have fun hands-on activities like clay, kinetic sand, pipe cleaners and construction paper. We even learned how to make pickles last year!”
After graduating from Kaimukī High School, Krieger earned her BS in natural resource and environmental management as well as an AA in Hawaiian Studies, AS in communication arts, and a certificate of competence in entrepreneurship.
“Place-based education was something I was doing naturally in my teaching by combining my knowledge from my multiple degrees and from my experiences being born and raised here in Hawaiʻi,” Krieger said. “I did not know place-based education was an actual method of teaching until I took a seminar with Dr. Chinn. Her class sparked my interest in pursuing an MEd. Everything that we did in class was relevant to me and helped boost my confidence with starting my non-profit.”
See more examples of Kriegerʻs classroom projects on her crowdfunding site.
