Mid-Pac tech
center electrifies
its students
The new Chew learning
By Helen Altonn
lab emphasizes innovative
problem-solving and fun
Star-BulletinAt first glance, it looks like a high-tech playroom.
The kids are absorbed in myriad projects. They're shoeless, partly to protect the new carpet. But also, said Mark Hines, "When we enter here, we are in a different place."
Hines is chairman of Mid-Pacific Institute's Science Department and technical coordinator of its Dennis Chew Technology Center, launched this summer by 24 students from sixth to 12th grades.
"They're an adventuresome bunch," Hines said. Offered the chance to study in the center before it formally opens in the fall, "they jumped," he said. They're waiting to get in when he arrives at 7:15 a.m. and many remain after noon when it closes, he said.
"It's fun. We like to do it," said Kenneth Connors as he and Sharilyn Kazunaga used a sophisticated Lego set to build machinery with moving parts.
"There is no reason not to have fun," said Hines. "That's the ideal job -- 'Cool, I get to go to work today.'"
Dennis Chew's family in Singapore provided substantial funding for the unique $270,000 facility to honor his memory. A 1972 Mid-Pac graduate, Chew was lost at sea in August 1992 in a cruise ship accident. He was 37.
Hines said the facility is not a classroom but a learning environment to help kids prepare for the future workplace.
The three faculty members -- Lance Iwamoto, Dan VanRavenswaay and Wayne Muromoto -- aren't teachers; they're facilitators, Hines said. They guide students in what they want to learn or do.
Even the students have a different role, he said, explaining they're encouraged to be creative, to innovate, communicate, write clearly and interact.
They're learning skills they will need in the next century, Hines said.
Instead of teachers giving students information, students in the Chew center identify what they want to do and what they need to do it, Hines said.
They must document what they do "to convince us what they did with their time," he said.
The students were hard at work yesterday making signs and completing projects for the center's first "expo" today.
Tyler Okamura, Justin Agasawara, Keric Chang and Jacie Oda pooled their talents to design a computer game with sports, food, music and book categories. It plays music and makes other sounds. They said they drew on the center's "wall of knowledge" -- books lining one wall -- to create the game.
Ross Mukai and Michael Menendez wanted to make something "cycle by itself" so they built a model combining electronics and pneumatics. Compressed air drives drive pistons, and electricity opens valves for the air.
Lance Okuda and Ka'eu Hussey spent 12 hours filming, editing and developing a two-minute, 45-second video about the center. "They incorporated pieces used in other things," Hines said. But after viewing it, he said, "This goes beyond the ordinary."
