School: Ka Waihona o Ka Na’auao Public Charter School
Grade Level: Grade 5
Teacher: Kalei Sagapolutele
Diving Question: Where can we find math in our everyday lives?
This 5th-grade project was aimed at helping students find math all around them. Collaborating
with an ethnomathematician from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, the teacher was able to help students find math in their everyday world in sequences, patterns, building structures, nature, and more. Students also worked with a professor from the University of Hawaiʻi at West Oʻahu using applied mathematics to further help students realize that math lives in their everyday existence. They also worked with cultural practitioners at the university to explore math through the lens of ʻike kūpuna and how their ancestors saw math even in ancient times.