Introduction

Let us not allow the broken walls of the loko iʻa (fishponds) to separate us from that which was known and practiced in the past.
The foundations of the walls are still evident, as are the wisdom and knowledge of our kūpuna.
The reflections of the sun, moon, and stars upon our waters are as old as time.
Let these be beacons of light to guide our haumāna (students) to these ponds of knowledge.
Let us help them rebuild the walls of these living resources where they can gather, as did the pua iʻa (fish fry), to grow and be nurtured.
With education and inspiration, the legacy of our ancestors can be preserved and passed on to future generations, a mau a mau, (forever and ever). —Christine Tamaru (2001)

Project Overview

Kāhea Loko is “the call of the pond.” From the ocean currents surging through the stone-walled channels to the excited cries of haumāna (students) discovering fishpond life, the loko iʻa (fishpond) calls to us in many ways. From the broad perspective of the ahupuaʻa (major land division), the loko iʻa helps us to appreciate the connection between land and sea and to experience the rhythm of tides and seasons. From an intimate perspective, the pond leads us to discover how the tiniest life forms fit into the web of pond life.

The loko iʻa calls to us to honor the values, traditions, and achievements of Hawaiian kūpuna (ancestors) so that we may incorporate these into our own lives. These kūpuna had the highest regard for the loko iʻa believing in the interrelationship of all things: sky and earth; ocean and land; land and human; human and gods. “The Hawaiian and all other natural forms of his world were the beneficiaries of this primal cadence and flowed with the rhythm of the universe” (Kanahele, 1997). The Hawaiians’ intimate knowledge of life cycles, seasonal rhythms, and tides and currents was the foundation for the remarkable engineering feats they achieved in the construction of loko iʻa.

Hawaiian kūpuna revered the mauli (life force) of the fishpond. This humility and respect for all things, living and nonliving, helped them to be pono or in balance with nature. Values such as mahalo, aloha, and mālama had multiple meanings for these kūpuna, and these values were deeply imbedded into the culture, language, and lifestyle.

It is our kuleana (responsibility) as teachers to enlighten our students—using these values within contextual frameworks such as the loko iʻa so that our haumāna can connect with and nurture that life force inside themselves and in their environment. The overall goal of Project Kāhea Loko is mālama i ka ʻāina (to care for the land)—to help our students understand why it is so important to conserve cultural and natural resources and to discover how we can restore and care for our historic fishponds.

To achieve that goal, Project Kāhea Loko developed a complete set of field-tested curricula for Grades 4 – 12 designed to meet selected academic and performance standards set by the Hawaiʻi Department of Education (DOE). The project seeks to incorporate Hawaiian fishponds (loko iʻa) as learning tools into the mainstream educational system for Hawaiʻi’s school children. Working in concert with other fishpond projects, teachers, pond operators, historians, Hawaiian language and cultural experts, the Kāhea Loko team has collected and organized fishpond-related cultural, historic, and scientific data into culturally appropriate curriculum units for use in Hawai’i’s schools. Project Kāhea Loko is a three-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Education and administered by the Pacific American Foundation.

Standards Based Curriculum

Unit 1: The Physical Setting

The instructional activities in Unit 1 help students to discover different types of fishponds and fishtraps and to understand how these structures were built to take advantage of different physical features within an ahupuaʻa. A Pacific island perspective is introduced in Grades 6 – 8 as students delve into questions about the extensive development of fishponds in Hawaiʻi compared to other island areas.

 

Unit 2: Life in the Fishpond

Unit 2 introduces students to the diversity of plants and animals that live in a fishpond. Activities help students investigate interdependence among species, how lōkahi (balance) is maintained in the pond, and how marine organisms respond to seasonal and tidal changes.

Unit 3: Early Hawai’ian Fishponds

The activities in Unit 3 help students to explore how fishing evolved in Hawaiʻi from catching to growing fish, the ingenuity involved in fishpond engineering, and what traditional practices and moʻolelo (legends) can teach us about values that are important in Hawaiian culture.Unit Overview

Unit 4: Fishponds Today

Unit 4 challenges students to assess how fishponds and their uses have changed in Hawaiʻi, and to debate issues related to fishpond restoration today. The unit includes field studies at a fishpond and culminating activities that build on content addressed in the first three units.