School: Ka Waihona o Ka Na’auao Public Charter School
Grade Level: 4-8
Driving Question: How can the process of making a papa and pōhaku ku’i ‘ai increase self-awareness and the impact I have on my environment?
Students applied ʻike kūpuna technologies for making papa kuʻi ʻai (poi pounding boards) and pōhaku kuʻi ʻai (poi pounding stones). Students started out with harvesting hau branches to fashion into koʻi (adze) for carving their papa. Stone-on-stone techniques were applied to the shaping of pōhaku for pounding kalo. As the year went on, students learned to incorporate the use of power tools to put the finishing touches on their boards and stones, thus using both ancient and modern technologies to create their final products. Students did kuʻi kalo throughout the year to practice making paʻi ʻai.