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Exhibition Program

Education: Other Resources

Online Resources

  • American Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawai‘i Lesson Plan accompanies the film, “American Aloha” that documents the practice of hula within communities of Native Hawaiians who have moved away from Hawai‘i. The lesson plan guides students through class discussions, activities and writing tasks to learn about conducting dialogue and debate in the highly contested arena of the politics of culture. (Grades 10-12)
  • Native Voices: Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness is an online exhibition from the National Library of Medicine that explores Native Hawaiian, Native American, and Alaska Native history and culture through a health lens. The exhibition offers Hawai‘i-specific materials, such as the Hōkūle‘a, interview clips of Native Hawaiian healers and medical professionals, and the Timeline. (Grades 4-12)
  • Kūlia I Ka Nu‘u, a project funded by the Native Hawaiian Education Act, has published online sample lesson plans that support Native Hawaiian students’ success in science and related STEM fields. They are available online at NSF Kahua A‘o lessons and Pīkoi Ke Kaula Kualena. (Grades K-12)
  • Hawaiian Dictionaries by Ulukau, the Hawaiian Electronic Library, allows you to search for words in English or Hawaiian. (Grades 4-12)
  • Polynesian Voyaging Society: The Learning Center offers educational and classroom resources about voyaging, as part of the Society’s mission to revive the “art and science of traditional Polynesian voyaging.” (Grades K-12)
  • Stellarium is a free, online planetarium. Visitors set the coordinates and get a realistic sky in 3D. (Grades 9-12)
  • “Traditional Navigation in the Western Pacific” is the website that accompanied the exhibition display of the same name at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The website explores the question of how we learn now, versus how we did in ancient times, while giving visitors a primer on Polynesian way finding. (Grades 6-12)
  • “Wayfinders, A Pacific Journey” accompanies the PBS film of the same name, an hour-long program that follows a community of Pacific Islanders as they build voyaging canoes, learn traditional wayfinding techniques, and embark on the 2,000-mile voyage of their ancestors. The site delves deeper into Polynesian canoe voyaging and offers a place where visitors can share stories of their own wayfinding experiences. (Grades 6-12)
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K-12 Suggested Readings - Fiction

  • Collins, Malia. Pele and Poli‘ahu. Honolulu: Bess Press, 2005.
    Collins presents the story of the goddess Pele, who ventured off her mountaintop to challenge Poli‘ahu to a sled race. (Grades 1-5)
  • Nordenstrom, Michael (adapter and illustrator). Hina and the Sea of Stars. Honolulu: Bess Press, Inc., 2003.
    Nordenstrom has adapted and illustrated a story about Hina, a goddess associated with the moon, fishing, planting, and fertility. (Grades 1-5)
  • ---Pele and the Rivers of Fire. Honolulu: Bess Press, 2002.
    This book introduces Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire, lightning, wind, and volcanoes, and her siblings. (Grades 1-5)
  • Salisbury, Graham. Lord of the Deep. New York: Random House Children’s Books, 2003.
    A 13-year-old boy becomes a deckhand on his stepfather’s boat in Hawai‘i and faces a moral dilemma in this coming-of-age tale. (Grades 5-12)
  • White, Ellen Emerson. Kaiulani: The People’s Princess, Hawaii, 1889. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 2001.
    White’s fictionalization of real historical events tells the story of Princess Kaiulani, the young heir to the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, upon whose shoulders the hopes of the toppled Hawaiian monarchy rests. (Grades 5-9)
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K-12 Suggested Readings - Nonfiction

  • Berger, Andrew, O.A. Bushnell, Gavan Daws, and Herb Kane (illustrator). The Illustrated Atlas of Hawaii: An Island Heritage Book with a History of Hawaii. Waipahu, HI: Island Heritage Publishing, 2010.
    This is a look at Hawaiian history through maps, vibrant illustrations, and easy-to-read text. (Grades 4-12)
  • Finney, Ben. Sailing in the wake of the Ancestors: Reviving Polynesian Voyaging. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 2003.
    Anthropologist Finney uses full color pictures, maps, and diagrams to tell the story of modern-day Polynesians’ walking in the footsteps of their ancestors as they become deep-sea voyagers. (Grades 8-12)
  • Howe, K.R. (ed.). Vaka Moana: Voyage of the Ancestors. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2009.
    Vaka Moana     is a history of the discovery and settlement of the Polynesian islands, illustrated by breathtaking pictures. (Grades 6-12)
  • Kāne, Herb Kawainui. Ancient Hawai‘i. Captain Cook, HI: The Kawainui Press, 1997.
    A founding member of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and a talented visual artist, Kāne depicts the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands and early Hawaiian cultural practices through words and vivid illustrations. (Grades 6-12)
  • Krauss, Bob (ed.). A Child’s History of Hawaii. Waipahu, HI: Island Heritage Publishing, 1973.
    This history of Hawai‘i is told through the words and pictures of 253 Hawaiian children. (Grades K-5)
  • Sasaki, Chris and Alan Flinn (illustrator). Constellations: A Glow-in-the-Dark Guide to the Night Sky. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2006.
    Sasaki and Flinn introduce youngsters to the constellations with this fun, glow in the dark book. (Grades K-3)
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