-Give three compelling examples of how cultural issues affect your project.

As I introduced in my About page, the project that I am working on is the Lehigh Valley River Shed VR; since it takes place locally, the way cultural issues might impact my project will be less drastic than for those conducting their research abroad. Despite this, I fully realize that all local communities have different cultural backgrounds especially in regards to practices and policies towards education and environmental issues, both of which are fundamental concerns of my research. One example of how cultural issues could affect my project is the fact that in recent years, many schools in the Lehigh Valley community have taken steps towards piquing students’ interest in STEM fields. An article by The Morning Call reported that many Bethlehem schools have been working with Project Lead the Way, “a national nonprofit that develops STEM curriculum for kindergarten through 12th graders” to showcase the cooler parts of STEM careers in order to get them interested in math and science.  This being an example of how education culture has shifted towards a focus on non-traditional methods as opposed to standardized lessons will greatly aid our project in getting off the ground as schools will be more receptive of the technology we develop. Another example is how the perception of virtual reality technology has changed in America beyond the initial usages of entertainment. While the technology began propagating the market as a new medium for games, ideas of how to utilize this immersive new technology have grown beyond that. Now, many are looking into their possibility of being a new tool in education similar to how Chromebooks and iPads have been adopted in middle and high schools nationwide. A third cultural issue that may affect our project is the attitude the community has about environmental education. This will determine whether or not schools ultimately decide to use the technology we develop in their curriculum; it will depend on how important they consider environmental sustainability education for students to be. Does Broughal Middle School consider teaching students about their local watershed significant enough to pour in funds and time to work with us? This will ascertain whether there will be a market for our product.

-Have you experienced or observed any of these social situations at home? Describe at least three such situations.

I am from Honolulu, Hawaii which is quite a different environment from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and lifestyle culture is also a bit of a shift. In my opinion, educational culture is largely the same, however, because we were an island nation, there are many efforts spent to preserve the traditional Hawaiian culture and lands. One of the largest controversies happening in state at the moment is the delayed construction of the TMT (Thirty Meter Telescope) on Mauna Kea, a sacred Native Hawaiian mountain. Pro-TMT lobbyists argue that it will advance science and provide more information than ever before about the mysteries of deep space while protesters argue that it is kapu, or taboo to construct the telescope on sacred land. The government and local community have differing issues on the value of science and respecting the traditional customs. A different cultural/social issue is maintaining a balance in schools on teaching Hawaiian culture and offering more, specialized STEM courses students. It is somewhat similar to deciding whether students’ schedules should consist of more humanities or math and science subjects. Preserving traditional culture through classes that teach hula, the Hawaiian language, and Hawaiian history are definitely considered very important, but it is a sensitive balance to place it in high school curriculum when school administrations are interested in improving the English and Math testing scores. Something different about social/cultural culture at home is the fact that everyone tends to know everyone. It’s a very small island and so communities across schools are very interconnected. You might have a classmate and a friend at another high school who will end up being that classmate’s cousin or who is a member of their church. This is true for members of the school administration as well and relationships between students and teachers are very close. This is to say, if I wanted to try using a new application or website in class, I could simply bring it up to my teachers and they would be more than willing to try implementing it in our coursework. Teachers also share their ideas and new things they try to other school administrations at bimonthly conferences. News and products, therefore, get around extremely fast.

-Give three examples of cultural practices that can be leveraged to address community/market problems.

An example of a cultural practice that can be leveraged to address community/market problems at home is the concept of respecting the ‘aina  or land and nature. Environmental sustainability education through these virtual reality goggles can be greatly promoted as it is a project which would align with a core principle and value in both Native Hawaiian and local culture. Moreover, many schools on Oahu value hands on, experiential learning. This is especially so because we are surrounded by different natural features. In an environmental science course, my class took a field trip off campus to the Kalihi Stream fifteen minutes away by foot. We examined water quality, habitat degradation, soil erosion, and other qualities of a similar nature.  This was but one of many out-of-classroom lessons throughout the semester. This product could be marketed as providing more dynamic learning opportunities to schools across the state especially for students who have trouble staying still and focusing in a traditional classroom setting. Also, another cultural practice which could make the market for our product grow is the way locals communicate with each other. A student’s aunt might work as a security guard at X High School and speak about the innovation the principal had introduced to her brother-in-law who works as a teacher at Y High School who may spread the news to his colleagues and so on. Word of mouth tends to be the practice of how products gain traction as people are very willing to trust the words of their friends and neighbors. Gaining access to one high school will provide more ways to connect with other districts.