Hawaiʻi State Mathematics

Mathematics provides people a unique, yet universal way of understanding, interpreting and communicating about the world and our experiences in it.

Today, we rely on mathematics in ways that were unfathomable just a few decades ago. From innovations in communications and medicine to understanding our environment, and to managing everyday life experiences, mathematics touches our lives in so many ways, seen and unseen.

In multi-cultural Hawaiʻi, mathematics education offers a powerful opportunity to connect rigorous learning with culturally relevant, place-based pedagogy. Integrating ethnomathematical perspectives—supported by partners like the University of Hawaiʻi’s Ethnomathematics Institute—helps bring HIDOE’s Nā Hopena Aʻo (HĀ) framework to life. When students see their culture, history, and island environment reflected in their studies, mathematics becomes a living, sense-making tool that fosters academic growth alongside character and well-being.

For our children to be able to take advantage of opportunities and overcome challenges in our fast-changing world, it is critical that we engage students in meaningful learning opportunities integrated with science and technology that help students to see mathematics as a powerful, useful, sense-making tool. Through the study of mathematics, we help students:

• Cultivate their talents, their character, and their aspirations in ways that genuinely reflect the core values, culture, and community of Hawaiʻi.

• Use math to solve problems, make sense of the world, make informed decisions in their lives and be critical consumers of information.

• Develop their voice as learners and community members.

• Appreciate both the utility and the beauty of mathematics across cultures and contexts.