Joel Truesdell
Class of 2024
National Teachers Hall of Fame Inductee
Season 10, Episode 4 - October 9, 2024
In this episode, we speak with Joel Truesdell, a 2024 inductee into the National Teachers Hall of Fame and a retired Hawaiian culture-based chemistry teacher from Kamehameha Schools. Joel shares his unique approach to education, rooted in the teaching methods of his elders. We discuss the importance of culturally centered classrooms, understanding barriers to student success, and the key to creating student-centered learning environments. From interdisciplinary to transdisciplinary teaching, Joel’s reflections offer valuable insights for educators everywhere.
Joel Truesdell is a retired high school Hawaiian culture-based Chemistry teacher with Kamehameha Schools, Hawai‘i Campus on Hawai‘i island. He served his Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship at the U.S Geological Survey with the Youth and Education in Science Group in Reston, Virginia.
After teaching Chemistry and conducting research in synthetic organic chemistry at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, Joel became a high school teacher in 1987, not only to better address the educational needs of native youth, but also because of his love for working with teenagers. Joel’s teaching philosophy is that all education should be centered around the culture of the students. This results not only in greater engagement but also in deeper understanding. The method used in his classroom is that of his native elder, Dorothy Mt. Pleasant Crouse of the Tuscarora Nation, which employs foundation building, inquiry, and project-based learning in a multidisciplinary approach.
In 1991, Joel founded the Hawaiian culture-based Kamehameha Summer Science Institute in Organic Chemistry of Hawaiian Medicinal Plants (KSSI). In this program, students from grades 9 – 12 isolated the bioactive components from medicinal plants identified by legendary Hawaiian traditional healer Papa Henry Auwae, who was recognized in 1997 as a Living Treasure of Hawai‘i. Joel’s work with KSSI and other innovative programs was recognized when he earned the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science for Teaching in 2002.
In 2012, Joel added a koa reforestation project along with other cultural practices to his 10th grade Chemistry classes with the result being a curriculum entirely driven by Hawaiian culture. The student success achieved by Joel’s Hawaiian culture-based curriculum and his work with other educators to expand culture- and place-based educational experiences paved the way for Joel to receive NSTA’s Shell Science Teaching Award in 2017.
Joel is passionate about his work to equip and to develop the next generation of culture-based educators. He continues to present at national and international conferences as well as help individuals and schools with their culture-based education journey.
In 2024, Joel was selected for the National Teachers Hall of Fame.
In 1989, I contacted Papa Henry Allen Auwae, the venerable kahuna la`au lapa`au, and asked if he would be willing to travel to Kapalama and meet with my chemistry research students as well as the advanced Hawaiian Language and Hawaiian culture students. From this, I developed a 6 week summer program where the students would choose a Hawaiian medicinal plant or marine organism, seek out all available knowledge, including elder wisdom within their `ohana. For the next 4 days, we would explore organic and analytical chemistry, microbiology, and cell biology both in the classroom and in the lab. During week 2, we traveled to the Big Island where we met with Papa Auwae, hiked on the lava with Jim Kauahikaua or Andrea Ka`awaloa, planted koa with Eli Nahulu, met with USGS scientists relative to the malaria and pox viruses that are decimating the endemic birds, cared for the lo`i in Waipi`o Valley, and met with Peter Van Dyke at Amy Greenwell Hawaiian Garden. The next 4 weeks were spent extracting and identifying the bioactive components in their plants or marine organisms, writing a 30 page paper on their project as well as preparing a 30 minute power point that was delivered to their parents, school officials, and their classmates. About half of the students were incoming 9th graders with the rest being 10th , 11th ,and 12th graders. According to Dr. Michael Chun, he never met a student from this program that didn’t describe this as transformative. We practiced protocol when we were picking our plants as well as chanting while asking permission to enter classrooms and appropriate sites. Many students continued their project during the year with one target being science fair.
In 1995, I learned about a program at Kamehameha where you could apply for a Kamehameha Schools diploma if extenuating circumstances prevented you from obtaining it. Papa Auwae was dismissed from Kamehameha in 1921 after accumulating too many demerits for speaking Hawaiian. I spent the better part of a day discussing many topics including elder teaching pedagogy. His methods were consistent with those of my Tuscorora 1st and 5th grade teacher as well as my Abenaki and Tuscarora Grandmother.
Their methods are what I incorporated into my classroom and are shared in my presentations/workshops. Papa Auwae received his diploma in 1997. His son Henry told me that everything from the wall of his room at there house in Waikoloa was removed and replaced with his Kamehameha diploma. When I spoke with Papa after that, he was proud of how far Kamehameha had come since he was a student.
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