The University of Hawaii Maui College will receive $2.4 million over two years to launch a learning project aimed at connecting Native Hawaiian youth and their families to STEM by “channeling their cultural relationship to the environment.”

Through the project, “AINA IS: Advancing Informal Native ‘Aina-based Inspirations in STEM,” UH will partner with six community organizations around the state to create STEM problem-based learning activities related to Native Hawaiian culture and local environmental issues. The project, which begins in September, is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning program, which seeks to further new approaches to and new understandings of developing STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning in informal environments.

“This project will give Native Hawaiian students the chance (to) connect with the environment, learn about traditional practices and pursue a future career in STEM,” U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said in a news release.

The six partnering community organizations — three on Maui and three on Oahu — are Hokunui Maui, Paeloko Learning Center, Hui o Wa‘a Kaulua, Malama Learning Center, Kualoa Education Center and Papa­hana Kuaola.

“Our ‘aina-based community organizations give students a real-world problem to focus on. This is key to the project — that it comes from an organization doing awesome work and presents a problem it is currently working on,” said ‘AINA IS program manager Jaymee Nanasi Davis in a release. “AINA IS allows us to provide support, resources and training in STEM problem- based learning for our partners to continue their work in the community.”

AINA IS builds on Project STEMulate, a problem-based learning curriculum implemented at Upward Bound sites serving underserved high school students. According to Davis, who also serves as Project STEMulate’s research coordinator, there was a “significant increase in STEM career interest, science self-efficacy and science motivation” for students who participated in Project STEMulate.

Davis said Project STEMulate’s next step is determining how the STEMulate process can be implemented at each of the six community organizations’ sites, before testing the curricula at each site.

According to Hokulani Holt, who is involved with Paeloko Learning Center, the grant “brings together how we traditionally look at our world, particularly using problem-based learning,” and the process of problem-based learning helps us “move forward by continuing to learn.”

“The role of the ‘aina-based community organizations is to provide the youth with the opportunity to explore critical thinking through problem-based learning,” Holt said. “And that’s what we need in our world.”