"Hope lies in change and the change first begins in your mind. We must
all become active voices in envisioning the future of our communities. If
we do not do it ourselves, someone else will. As a community, we have
a vision of a healthy and sustainable future for our children and now is
the time to implement it."
– Nainoa Thompson

THE EDUCATION MOVEMENT

The Worldwide Voyage is a 47,000 mile open-ocean journey around the globe to find and grow inspiring efforts to protect our earth for future generations. As Polynesian voyagers blending tradition and technology to map a new course for the future, we invite people across the world to join us in exploring values and practices that can sustain our planet. The Hawaiian name for our voyage, Mālama Honua, means “to care for our earth.” Living on an island chain teaches us that our natural world is a gift with limits and that caring for this gift and each other will help us survive urgent environmental crises. The Worldwide Voyage education program will create globally connected learners of all ages that work together to create positive solutions for Island Earth.

TO CARE FOR OUR EARTH

Our education journey begins first and foremost with our own teachers, who helped us recover and revive Pacific Ocean wayfinding knowledge after a 600-year period of extinction. Over the past 40 years we have used this knowledge to navigate our traditional voyaging canoe Hōkūle’a over 140,000 miles throughout the Pacific Ocean. Through voyaging we have learned that our ancestors and teachers were experts in the “21st century skills” considered essential for education today. These skills include: Learning and innovation; creativity; critical thinking and problem solving; communication and collaboration; global literacy; environmental literacy; and empathy.

21ST CENTURY SKILLS

The Worldwide Voyage will allow us to continue teaching and growing “21st century skills,” as well as a range of traditional academic subjects such as science, math, engineering, geography, history, and language arts. Hikianalia, our modern voyaging canoe that will accompany Hōkūle’a on this Worldwide Voyage, is solar and wind powered and equipped with the technology to link to classrooms and individuals around the globe through our hokulea.org website. This website enables Hōkūle’a and Hikianalia to become “floating classrooms” that demonstrate the potential of project-based learning on a global scale.

FLOATING CLASSROOMS

Our Worldwide Voyage website supports both formal and informal education opportunities. An education portal allows schools and educators to access a wealth of Mālama Honua curricula, lesson plans, and learning tools. This resource databank will continue to grow as we use the Voyage to connect with a global community of educators. In addition, The Worldwide Voyage will allow anyone to become both a teacher and learner as they go online to read and post their own stories of innovation, resilience, and positive change. This “living library” can teach and inspire us to take care of the diverse natural and cultural gifts that sustain us.

LIVING LIBRARY

The education program of the Worldwide Voyage also aims to cultivate the next generation of navigators and explorers. Whether their voyages are on the open ocean, or simply in the way they guide their own lives, they will embody the values and lessons of mālama honua that will be promoted long after the canoes return home. Our education program is a means by which we engage all of Island Earth for years to come–exploring the right way to live, while sharing, learning and creating global relationships and discovering the wonders of this precious place we all call home.

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