Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 6, 1 June 1988 — ln Week-Long Experience at Alahama 'Space Camp' [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ln Week-Long Experience at Alahama 'Space Camp'

Kawananakoa Students Exolore Aerosoace Science

By Deborah Lee Ward, Assistant Editor Ka Wai Ola O OHA Bringing to life the world of science through memorable hands-on experiences is the goal of a unique team of science teachers at Kawananakoa Intermediate School in Nu'uanu. A group of four teachers/chaperones and 19 eighth-grade students this month will get to explore aerospace science in an exciting week-long "Space Camp" in Huntsville, Alahama. One of the teachers is David Maika'i Hanaike, who has taught elective earth/space science classes to seventh and eighth graders for three years at Kawananakoa. While the students are at the Space Camp made famous by the recent movie, teachers will be attending their own special workshop at the National Aeronautic and Space Administration-affiliated United States Space Academy in Huntsville, June 12-17. The purpose of the nationally-known academy is to familiarize students and teachers with the latest in space technology through a dynamic, enjoyable hands-on program. Subjects covered include aerodynamics, NASA technology, holography. They will get to experience weightlessness in a water tank and will use training machines that simulate space flight. While the Alabama trip represents a first-ever away from Hawaii for many students, Hanaike regrets that the $1300 per student cost has made it difficult for some students to go. The science team is trying to raise educational funds through eommunity and corporate support to establish a scholarship for next year's trip. He noted that Hawaii

students have a good reputation at the Space Camp for being the best all-around students in terms of eagerness to leam and behavior. In fact, he says, they have been studying and preparing for the trip since last summer. Hanaike's goal is to continue to build up student interest in aerospace science by bringing back new information. Perhaps due to his enthusiasm, he and his class were recently filmed as a model for a special Hawaii Educational Television segment on study skills.

To cover his costs of going to Space Camp, Hanaike was awarded a grant of $1,545 from the Public Schools of Hawaii Foundation. This nonprofit organization was established in 1986 to assist educators to defray educational travel expenses. Six awards totalling $7,263 were made this year. Hanaike, who hails from Kaneohe, is a 1976 graduate of Kamehameha Schools, and received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1980 from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. He taught science two years on a part-time basis at Kaimuki High School and King Intermediate School. He is the son of Donald William Na'auao Hanaike and Roberta Hanaike. He is single and has three sisters and two brothers, ages 27 to 34. Under department head Judy Inouye, the scienee teachers at Kawananakoa organize several field trips a year for students. In March, a five-day science field trip took 95 children and 13 adults around the Island of Hawaii to study renewable energy resources, geology and natural history, and astronomy and aerospace science. They visited the Natural Energy Laboratory's OTEC Project (oeean thermal energy conversion), the Kamaoa Wind Farm, the Biomass Energy Development Corp., Hilo Coast Processing Co., and Puna Biomass Power Co., as well as the Hawaii Electric Light Co.'s geothermal plant. They also visited the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the Ellison Onizuka Center for International Astronomy at Mauna Kea, and the proposed space port site in Punalu'u, with the assistance of the Ka'u Hawaiian Civic Club and Mufi Hanneman of C. Brewer ine.

David Hanaike