Student and instructor response to the curriculum design and instructional methodologies of a non-traditional course on Hawaiian traditional ecological knowledge (TEK)

This study is a qualitative content analysis of how the students and instructors of an undergraduate introductory course on Hawaiian traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) responded to the course curriculum and instructional methodologies. The course is a constructivist alternative to the current model of “traditional classroom” education because it creates a place in which different people from western and indigenous worldviews can come together, interact, and learn from each other. The study demonstrates the importance of a TEK course for the participants because it (a) increases cultural and environmental knowledge; (b) provides students with an introduction, in an appropriate setting, to the topics and issues of Hawaiian environmental knowledge; and (c) provides students with a context for self-exploration, including identity. The study explores what role the instructors of the course feel TEK should be playing in education, and the implications of incorporating such a course into teacher education programs. The study also provides prospective educators with a model for the curriculum and instruction of future courses on Indigenous environmental knowledge. The case studies in this dissertation were constructed using data from artifacts, interviews, and participant observation, which were collected during the 2001–2002 academic year.