Oceania Community Development Network (OCDN) Origins
OCDN is a result of the National Science Foundation (2017) project discussion held in Guam, which brought multi-stakeholders from Pacific Island nations with the goal of encouraging and enhancing STEM education in the Pacific Islands. This project was led by led by Dr. Michael Hadfield from the University of Hawaii, Professor of Biology, Kewalo Marine Laboratory as the Project Investigator (PI), and Miss Joni Ta Kerr, Guam Community College’s Marine Science Teacher as the Co-Project Investigator (Co-PI).
A follow-up meeting was held in Guam 2018 with Dr. Hadfield, Professor Joni and Miss Edna from American Samoa to discuss follow-up action items to continue the discussion which started at the stakeholders meeting in Guam (2017). Two action steps were discussed and listed below:
- www.oceaniastem.org
- Professor Joni Kerr is to create a website and manage the site for the Oceania STEM network. The site will include information and resources from the stakeholders and STEM stakeholders from the Guam discussion meeting. The website will share and promote STEM resources for students, educators, and STEM stakeholders.
- www.oceaniacdn.org
- Edna Noga, leveraging the American Samoa STEAM Partnership/STEAM Education Initiative Network and her community building experience is to start a non-profit, Oceania Community Development Network, to support the Oceania STEM Network project and serve as the initial backbone and/or intermediary lead to “Indigenize STEM”, with support from the Oceania STEM network partners.
Oceania STEM is a network comprised of educators, non-profit organizations, community colleges, and universities committed to increasing Native Pacific Islanders in STEM fields and careers. We aim to share curriculum and activities that incorporate indigenous knowledge and/or cultural connections that make STEM topics relevant to students, as we list opportunities for teachers and students such as conferences, research experiences for undergraduates (REUs), scholarships and funding.
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