On the evening of May 26, students from Kohala Unupa’a and Na’au Oiwi gathered at the Kohala Village Hub Barn to share the fruits of a year’s worth of research and discovery with their community. The event, a student ho’ike, marked a milestone for the Kohala Indigenous Data Hub — an innovative pilot program weaving together traditional knowledge, community storytelling, and modern data science.
The Indigenous Data Hub (IDH) is a collaboration between the North Kohala Community Resource Center (NKCRC), Kohala Schools, and the University of Hawaiʻi’s Office of Indigenous Knowledge and Innovation. The program is rooted in a simple but powerful idea: that ancestral knowledge and contemporary science and technology are stronger together. By grounding research projects in the stories, landscapes, and living culture of Kohala, haumana develop real data science and STEM skills — often without even realizing it.
“When students are investigating something they already care about — a place they know, a story from their family, a question about their own backyard — learning happens naturally,” said Amoo Kainoa, Kohala Unupa’a Project Director. “That’s the heart of what we’re trying to do here.”
Because the program spans grades 3 through 12, a special curriculum had to be developed for elementary and middle school students, meeting younger learners where they are while still introducing them to meaningful research methods. Across all grade levels, students worked alongside community practitioners and stewards, conducting data collection and analysis focused on the land, history, and environment of their moku.
The Kohala IDH is a pilot project, and the model is expected to be replicated at schools across the Hawaiian island chain, bringing place-based, community-centered STEM education to more students statewide.
For the students who presented at the ho’ike, the night was about more than science projects — it was a chance to show their community who they are becoming: young researchers, storytellers, and leaders with deep roots and big futures.
