Saturday, May 27, 2006 - Navigating Change

I'm really excited about attending the Navigating Change teachers workshop in Waimea at Tutu's House this weekend. The two-day workshop is an introduction to the Northwest Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) and a 4-5 grade curriculum built around the Hokulea's voyage to NWHI. It also includes a copy of the teacher's guide, DVD, hands-on lessons and more. Day two will include a tour of Na Kalai Waa Moku o Hawaii facilities, were Mau Piailug's canoe is being built, and a talk-story session over pot-luck lunch with Makalii and Hokulea crewmembers. Since I am not a classroom teacher, I contacted the workshop coordinator to ask if I could attend in some capacity (participant or observer). My objective is to learn more about wayfinding, and how the Navigating Change curriculum was revised in 2005 to fit the new Department of Education's Hawaii Performance and Content Standards 3 (HCPS [or hiccups] 3). The fact that the curriculum is focused on science primarily, but also addresses social issues, mathematics, and language arts means that it is applicable over a wide range of students. The Hokualakai voyaging canoe of Hilo is looking to create similar learning resources for its community in Hilo, and so my participation in this workshop may fuel ideas on ways to accomplish that objective. Of course, being able to visit Na Kalai Waa Moku o Hawaii, which houses Makalii and the Maisu, Papa Mau's canoe is the real draw for me. The fact that Hokulea has made the voyage to Kawaihae this weekend certainly doesn't hurt, and I am beside myself with anticipation and excitement to see her again.

Thursday, May 25, 2006 - Robotics 101 Promotion

Wednesday and Thursday were spent hand-delivering informational packets out to educators and administrators at many of the schools from which Hilo Youth Robotics enrolled students currently attend. Most of the people I had a chance to talk to seemed interested and we're hoping that we will get a good turnout for our informational seminar on robotics. We will be talking about the various scholastic robotics programs that are available to students from grades K-12 and beyond. We will also share information about the various competitive leagues, expenses, regional and national tournament schedules and other pertinent information. One of the purposes of the Hilo Youth Robotics program is to engage youngsters' minds in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) through hands-on instruction using robotics. The other purpose is to build capacity to create and sustain robotics clubs in schools and community centers on an on-going basis through educator training, funding of robotics kits for them and peer and mentor support. We hope to feature several robots at the event from Botball and First Lego League to an underwater ROV and a large 120 pound FIRST robot. Some educators currently involved in robotics programs will also be on hand to offer their impressions and experiences to the audience. In all, we hope to quell some apprehension and inspire some of these attendees into coming out for at least one of the workshop sessions during the summer to see for themselves what robotics is all about.

Tuesday, May 22, 2006 - HYR Confirmation Letters

We have been trying to get our Hilo Youth Robotics (HYR) confirmation letters out into the mail this week, as the start date of the first workshop approaches rapidly. With less than three weeks to go before the summer enrichment program, we are working feverishly to put information about the program into a series of documents that will be sent to parents and guardians of students enrolled in the program. The program will be held at the Connections Public Charter School in downtown Hilo in the old Kress Building, and run from 8:00 to noon for two weeks. Everyone is really excited about the program, and we are just trying to get all of the details worked out. As we've always stated, the devil is in the details, and that detail is usually what makes or breaks an event or program. One of the details we're working on is the HYR tee-shirts that will be distributed to all of the students, instructors and staff. The idea is to have a cool design that kids can be proud of wearing all the time, which can also work as advertising for the program for next year. Randy Kurohara of Creative Arts Hawaii will be assisting us with printing up the shirts, which I know should turn out really nice...

Friday, May 19. 2006 - Robotics 101

Our Robotics Program Developer Deanna has been working on putting together a seminar called, "Robotics 101: How to Start a Robotics Club" that will be held at the University of Hawaii at Hilo UCB Room 100 on Friday, June 2, 2006 at 5:00 pm. The free event is targeted toward anyone interested in starting a robotics program in their school or community group, and will cover the different types of robotics programs, recommended age groups, costs, competitions and potential funding sources. We have noticed a number of students enrolled in our Hilo Youth Robotics program who are attending schools for which there are no teacher or adult seeking professional development.
We are hoping to attract some teachers, staff or parents of schools from which students will be attending our summer enrichment program. The hope is that some may agree to attend at least one of the summer sessions to learn more about robotics, and become involved by integrating robotics into their curricula in the classroom, or by establishing after-school programs. We are looking to develop a number of teams throughout Hawaii Island such that a competitive region can be created to provide an opportunity for youngsters here to experience a tournament without incurring the overhead of travel and accommodations to off-island events. The ultimate goal is to expose kids to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) through robotics. Kids are excellent consumers of technology - just watch one manipulate their cell phone, iPod, PSP or computer. We want to inspire them to become developers of technology! Robotics is the vehicle that can help begin this movement.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - Hilo Youth Robotics

Our Hilo Youth Robotics (HYR) summer enrichment program has filled two of the three sessions (with waiting list), and our girls-only session is just about full. The response from HYR has been great, especially since we are the new kids on the block establishing a new program in the community. Future Flight has decided to return to Hilo to offer a Hawaii Island Robotics Academy (HIRA), and although it is competition to HYR, it ultimately gives local families more options for their kids during the summer. The fact that there are only three openings as of today in the all-girls session is testimony to the fact that these types of enrichment programs are really needed in our community. But the difference between HYR and HIRA is that HYR is building in educator professional development to establish sustainability and to spread the knowledge-base around to different schools. The hope is that the teachers that are involved in HYR implement the robotics formally in their classrooms or informally as after-school programs. The Lego Mindtorms-based robotics is a perfect entry-level product that can be used to introduce kids to the technology, and a wonderful feeder into other established robotics programs for older children. Right now, we're gearing up for the summer and our program and have a couple of student interns that will assist us locally.

Monday, May 15, 2006 - Resurface

No, I have not fallen off the face of the Earth - more like I had fallen back to Earth, after walking two feet off the ground from elation after our AstroDay Festival a weekend ago. The attendance was down from previous years at ten thousand for the day-long event, but taking into consideration the many other events taking place and the torrential rains of the day, this was not a bad turnout. Was it really that wet? Dude, you could go swimming in the mall parking lot; we could have had the underwater ROVs demonstrated in the lake outside the Springfest parking area. Yeh, it was wet and wild, but all the more reason to stay indoors! Meanwhile, its back to the swing of things at the office, with several classroom visits for hands-on activities and presentations to visiting educational groups from the mainland. One group, comprised of some Native American students from Seattle, Washington will be immersed in the culture of the Hawaiian peoples. They will be visiting the IfA Hilo base facility on Tuesday to learn more about the science astronomers are involved in while using telescopes on Mauna Kea, and also of the cultural astronomy that is being rediscovered and perpetuated by voyaging canoe organizations in Hawaii. But today, I am going to be receiving a student intern from UH Hilo, and will be going out to Pahoa Elementary School to do a little science education on the motion of the Sun and Moon.

Monday, May 8, 2006 - AstroDay Recovery?

Well there's no rest for the weary as Monday after AstroDay marks the beginning of a new week with several astronomy outreach opportunities sprinkled throughout. This morning, we printed and posted 40 posters promoting the next AstroTalk public astronomy lecture on the University of Hawaii at Hilo campus. We also printed and hand delivered thank you notes to sponsors and prize donors throughout Hilo and sent email acknowledgments of thanks to all of our exhibitors and vendors and volunteers. A very special AstroDay Mahalo ad was also published in this past Sunday's newspaper. But today also marked a session with some second graders at Kaumana Elementary School. I've known their teacher Mrs Noelani Spencer for a couple of years and promised to make a special appearance for her class of eight year olds. Today, I left my high-technology gadgets and props at the office and made my way to the school armed with nothing more than a few rocks, magnets and meteorites. After a brief introduction about who I was and what scientists do, we arranged for the group to break into small "research teams" to study various terrestrial objects. Then we distributed some meteorites and had the teams make observations of them and report back to the other teams of their findings. You know, these little guys are a lot smarter than many give credit - they were very observant and deduced many things based upon those observations. All of the activities we covered met Department of Education performance content standards for their grade. It takes a little more time to prepare activities this way, but much better than a cookie-cutter approach I think, and maybe more useful to the teachers and helpful to students. Having the activities hands-on makes it more fun for the kids too.

Sunday, May 7, 2006 - AstroDay Epilog

I woke up on Sunday before the crack of dawn (force of habit I guess, as this should have been the one day out of the year that I could actually sleep in) to more rain. The cold, wet weather has not let up, but the warm memories of yesterday's event are still vibrant. the Fifth Annual AstroDay Festival was not hampered by the weather, and while the rain poured outside, inside the mall was sunny with the smiling faces of people learning about the astronomy and culture of our white mountain Mauna Kea. I was too tired last night to do much of anything besides have a nice warm bath and meal and crash...This morning found me downloading 175 images from my compact digital camera onto my computer for processing, and then worked on creating the AstroDay 2K6 Highlights web page, which is now published. While putting the web page together it was neat trying to remember some of the activities and events that went on yesterday. Most memorable were the faces of youngsters engaged in learning alongside their parents - this shared learning experience is quite powerful and it was nice to see so many parents support their children's learning by bringing them out and spending time with them at AstroDay. Which brings me to a sore point. My son Kaipo wasn't able to fully enjoy AstroDay as those many youngsters I saw throughout the day were. I have become aware of the fact that while it takes a great deal of effort and time to bring astronomy and Hawaiian culture to the community, I have been remiss in doing the same for my own son. The poor little guy had endured a long, boring day for the most part alone. This occurred because his negligent dad did not have any time to spend with him because of logistical and coordination issues that needed attention. Auwe. Gotta make it up to the little fella now ...

Saturday, May 6, 2006 - AstroDay 2K6

I awoke to the sounds of the pitter-patter of rain falling on our roof. We are loading up the truck and getting last minute gear together for our Fifth Annual AstroDay Festival in Prince Kuhio Plaza today. Spoke with Craig Nance, who works at Keck and is a member of the West Hawaii Astronomy Club last night, as we were discussing the weather situation. Craig has assured me that he and many other members would be heading up to the VIS regardless of sky condition to support our Ohana Weekend Learning guests. We've been up before when we couldn't see any stars or were enveloped in dense fog - those are times for camaraderie, story telling and information sharing. I love these guys. Well, it's 5:38 am and about time for me to leave the calm of my office and set out for the mall, where maintenance magician Fino will be setting up our tables and chairs. There are other big events happening today: the Springfest, Kamehameha Schools Hoolaulea and the Kodomo no Matsuri (Children's Festival). With the rain, a couple of possibilities could happen - either people will stay home, they'll go sloshing around in the mud at Springfest, or visit us in the mall. We're hoping for the latter - see you there... More news of the event tonight.

Friday, May 5, 2006 - Clear Skies, So Far So Good...arrrrggghh

That was the prognosis Thursday evening and early Friday morning, with transparent skies and what would look to be a very nice weekend. But while promoting AstroDay at New West Broadcasting's three sister stations, the weather took a change for the worse. When I opened the door to make my way out, I noticed a few clouds in the sky and some raindrops falling. No time to worry about the weather thought - too much to do in preparation for the Big Show tomorrow... We had a lot of little logistical things to take care of today ... details that can make or break an event. Although most people won't realize it, there are tons of details and personal touches to this event that set it apart from anything else in the world. We firmly believe that it is this special attention that provides a memorable, enjoyable experience not just for visitors, but for exhibitors, volunteers and sponsors too. Although the weather is taking a turn for the worse, and lakes are beginning to form in parking lots, thunder is rumbling in the distance, we will make the fifth anniversary of the AstroDay Festival the best yet, and we certainly hope that you and your families can come out and join us tomorrow.

Thursday, May 4, 2006 - Countdown to AstroDay

We are fast approaching our Fifth Annual AstroDay Festival in Hilo, Hawaii - the world's largest astronomy day event! Right now we have 43 exhibitors and vendors at the event, including several scholastic robotics teams who will display and demonstrate their work. We have over $6,500 in donated prizes and sponsorships from individuals and organizations locally and nationally. We have representation from three amateur astronomy clubs including the Hilo Astronomy Club, West Hawaii Astronomy Club and from Maui - the Haleakala Amateur Astronomers. We are moving in high gear right now, a well-oiled machine experienced in bringing astronomy to the people over the past five years. The event opens with a Hawaiian protocol with an oli (chant) and pule (blessing) by Leilehua Yuen, Koa Ell and Paul Coleman. A singing of Hawaii Aloha will be followed by an a capella rendition of the National Anthem by teen singing sensation Divina Maria Medeiros. We are featuring Grammy award winning musicians George and Keoki Kahumoku, who will entertain with their mellow brand of Hawaiian Slack Key guitar. There will be presentations by astronomers on Mauna Kea, and by representatives from the new Imiloa Astronomy Education Center on what the museum has to offer the local and global communities. Starlab planetarium shows all day, liquid nitrogen demonstrations, infrared portrait studio, a Mauna Kea Exploration Rover, and a Kids Corner are but a few of the many attractions at this year's AstroDay Festival at the Prince Kuhio Plaza from 10 am to 5 pm, followed by stargazing at the mid-level Visitor Information Station after dark. Join us for our 5th Annual event.

Wednesday, May 3, 2006 - Haleakala Amateur Astronomers

I received an email from Rob Ratkowski of the Haleakala Amateur Astronomers (HAA) today on some of the club's exploits in astronomy. The club has been busy refurbing a slab of concrete on the summit of Haleakala for an observing deck. A custom telescope pier was welded up and mounted to the ground and the group took a test drive of their new observing site. Check out some pictures Rob sent me on the HAA web page. Rob, Rob Zaleski and Casey Fukuda will be bringing their scopes over to the Big Island to provide stargazing for our guests in our AstroDay Ohana Weekend Learning program. Along with the Haleakala Amateur Astronomers will be eight members of the West Hawaii Astronomy Club. In essence, we'll have a nice star party going on at the 9200 foot level of Mauna Kea on AstroDay evening - or is that AstroNight? Those guys will be joined by Olivier Guyon and Cathy Roth, who will unveil the "New" Priscilla (initially at the AstroDay festival in Prince Kuhio Plaza, then at the VIS at night). So if you haven't made arrangements to be in Hilo for AstroDay this year, you'd better start or you'll miss the biggest, astronomy day event in the world! More details about the event are coming ... stay tuned!

Tuesday, May 2, 2006 - Robbie Returns! AstroDay Prep

We just took receipt of Robbie the Robonova, who is back from his "surgery" to repair a damaged knee servo. So Robbie's bum knee has been fixed, and he is up and at-um. Look for Robbie in the Robotics Hall of AstroDay this Saturday! In the meantime, we are plugging away at preparations for AstroDay this Saturday. Prizes have been collected, cataloged and assigned for their respective distribution points. AstroDay commemorative tee shirts have been sorted, bagged and hand-delivered to most of our exhibitors along with bento lunch tickets and event brochures. We have been at our official AstroDay radio station B97 to promote the event.

Monday, May 1, 2006 - AstroDay Press Release

Starting at 4:00 in the morning, we slammed out press releases to as many local, national and global news organizations as possible, via fax, email and direct-mailings of DVDs. This year, we would like to see a larger awareness of AstroDay, with coverage by local media at a minimum. Our target of becoming a world-class event in five years is upon us, and we are very confident that our Fifth Annual AstroDay Festival will be a breakout success by all measurement. Today, we had to pick up some slack and operate at double-time pace. We made deliveries to most Hilo and Keaau-based organizations of informational packets that included the AstroDay tee shirts and bento lunch tickets. We also stopped by our official AstroDay radio station New West Broadcasting, home of B97, KWXX and KPUA to talk story with morning jock, DC. After promoting the event, we headed out to check in with our robotics teams to see who would be attending and what level of competition we could expect at the event. As it stands, we will probably not feature a working underwater robotics exhibition, but could showcase the robots in drydock alongside other terrestrial robots on display. We may have a First Lego League competition in addition to our Botball tournament, so there will be a lot to see - and we haven't even begun to talk about our professional fighting robot component.