What do the Hawaiian sport of ʻulu maika and designing computer games have in common? Many might say “not much.” But a Molokaʻi elementary class says otherwise.
They're incorporating Hawaiian culture and technology into a project their teacher hopes can become a model for integrative learning.
Kaunakakai Elementary School fifth grade teacher Kawika Gonzales is known for his innovative teaching projects. This time, he decided to use ʻulu maika, or Hawaiian bowling, as a starting point.
“How do we connect that with computer science?” he wondered. “So I thought, ‘Well, why don't we take their actual ʻulu maika that they're creating, and let's create a digital scan that they can upload to the computer so that they can code and program to create a video game or to tell a story using these digital images.’”
That’s where it all began last year.
In the sport of ʻulu maika, a carefully molded and smoothed rock is rolled between pegs in the ground.
“By having the students start by shaping and forming these rocks, just by slowly chipping away, it really teaches us something -- the patience, the values,” he says.
During his after-school program, his students have designed ʻulu maika apps, played ʻulu maika in Minecraft games they developed, built robots that can roll ʻulu maika, and made 3D printed ʻulu maika replicas.
Fifth grader Nalei explains that what they learned from designing the app and playing the game digitally also helps improve their skill in the real world.
“When you make it in the game to show the power angle and spin, it does really help you to see how much power you need to roll the ʻulu maika through the pins, and to see if you have to curve it a little bit to get it in,” she says.
For Gonzales, culture and computer science have fused together seamlessly.
“When the students were designing the apps that you can control the angle, the spin, the speed, the strength of the ʻulu maika, now we're having an understanding, ‘Oh, it's much more than just rolling rocks on the ground,'" he explains. “So using these tools, we have a better understanding of ʻulu maika and our culture as well.”
Each student has their own role on the team.
Gabriel, a sixth grader, helped develop the robotics portion of the project.
“I made a prototype that you could pick up ʻulu maika and then roll the ʻulu maika down a ramp, and now we have its own class where we're making robots that compete against each other, like the Makahiki games,” he says.
In March, the Molokaʻi students traveled to Oʻahu to present their work to lawmakers during Education Week at the state Capitol. They attended the STEM Conference at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center. They're also wrapping up production of a short film about ʻulu maika with award-winning Molokaʻi film director Matt Yamashita.
Nalei says they're using their project to educate others.
“We kind of want to share it with the world, because not too many people know about our culture, about ʻulu maika,” she explains. “So we wanted to teach it to people, so then they know about ʻulu maika.”
Gonzales graduated from Kaunakakai School himself and has been teaching there for two decades. He hopes the ʻulu maika project can be a model for others — and the possibilities are endless.
He's in the process of developing ʻulu maika on Oculus using virtual reality, so friends could play the game together across the country.
“I have a saying that I learned from someone else: 'Don't teach me my culture, use my culture to teach me.' And I'm hoping that we can use ʻulu maika to learn about other things. Computer science and culture will strengthen each other."
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