Exploration through Navigation
Why is it important to learn about your ancestor’s voyages around the Pacific Ocean?
Why is NASA so interested in Polynesian wayfinding?
Teach the class two things you learned from your research about NASA and Polynesian wayfinding.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:09 am
It is important to learn about our ancestor’s voyages because it helps us to learn about the things that they did when traveling around the Pacific. We will be able to learn more about our ancestors.
NASA wants to learn about the Polynesian wayfinding because the Polynesians were master astronomers and could tell the directions by looking to the stars.
Humans explore so they can get more land, resources, and knowledge. With key knowledge, we can possibly go to other galaxies and planets, and if one of these planets have oxygen, we can go live there when Earth cannot sustain life anymore.
I learned that the Polynesian people could tell direction by using the stars, wind, and the direction and current of the waves. They could also travel by looking at which way the birds fly and the ocean swells. These types of navigation cannot be found in most cultures.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:57 pm
It is important to learn about our ancestor’s voyages around the Pacific Ocean because if we learn about their voyages, we can show that they didn’t reach somewhere by accident..
NASA is interested in Polynesian wayfinding because in the early days, Polynesian people could find their way to other islands by using the stars. NASA wants to use this same method in space.
Before humans found out about farming, we were hunters and gatherers. When humans found out about farming, they were already spread out. Mainly, why I think we used to explore is because we had to follow the food. Now, we explore for a different reason. We explore because we want to conquer something. We want to conquer the moon, and other parts of space. In other words, “The Space Race.” We think that whoever controls space, they will be the next most powerful empire.
Today, I learned from my research that a NASA spinoff is something that has been invented by space research. For example, “The Water Purification System.” They used another form of it to kill bacteria, but now they use it to purify water.
Another thing I learned is that not only are foreigners killing our people, they are killing our culture.
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:33 pm
It is important to learn about our ancestor’s voyages around the Pacific Ocean because if we learned about their voyages we can prove that the hawaiians didn’t get here on accident. We can also learn if the hawaiians used a special kind of method.
I think that NASA is interested by the way finding of the early Polynesians because NASA is soon to be living on the space. The early Polynesians used the stars to navagate. I think that NASA is going to use the stars to travel around space.
I think humans want to explore because humans want to know about the unknown. Don’t you ever wonder if there is a new species of animals. Expolring is thrilling because you don’t know what you will find.
I learned that the Polynesians could tell the direction by using wind, stars and waves. I also learned that the hokule’a recaptured our past to bring us a sense of peace to our ancestors that will give our children a foundation of self work. they can be strong and know were they come from.
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:49 pm
It is important to look at our ancestor’s voyages because it helps us experience what our native Hawaiians did and have more of their culture around us. There are less and less Hawai‘ians each year and someday they are not going to be around to teach the old ways, so we need to learn their culture now. We need to know how the Hawaiians could navigate their way home or to another island, so we don’t become a dead culture.
NASA is interested in Polynesian navigation because the Polynesians were so good at navigating with natural resources. The Hawaiians did not need any compasses or gadgets because they could rely on the stars and constellations.
Back then, humans would explore because they were just trying to survive. They just followed the food but now we do not need to do that. We have supermarkets we can run to. Now we explore for a different reason, mainly out of curiosity and the urge to rule a nation when we want to be on top. Most of the land on our world is already taken so why not look for new land. The urge to rule is coming to space. Other places have already started in the race for space while we are still at the starting line.
Hawai‘ians could tell direction by stars, wave currents, and also the wind. The Hawaiians also could tell direction by birds because they knew whatever direction birds flew, there would be land.
November 5th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
It is important to learn about our ancestor’s voyages around the Pacific Ocean because we get to see the way our ancestors used to navigate with the stars. I think that the our ancestors were so smart because they never had GPS’s with voices that would lead them in the right direction or computers that would teach them how to navigate. They just knew how to do it because their ancestors taught them how to navigate by the sky. Now, Hawaiians today are very lazy.
NASA is interested in Polynesian wayfinding because Polynesians could navigate using the stars so easily without getting help or complaining. Polynesians were the people that could navigate using just their natural resources or the things that they had around them.
Humans would explore because if they just sat around being lazy doing nothing, then they would just die. When they would go out to explore, they would go out looking for food for their families or they would go out looking for things to keep them alive like animals for their skin and meat. Now, humans are really lazy because it’s like we just get something served to us on a silver platter because we don’t go out hunting for food. All we have to do is go out to the supermarket. In just a couple of minutes, you have a warm meal. We can also just go out to WalMart and buy a blanket to keep ourselves warm at night, instead of going out and getting animal skin to keep us warm.
I learned that almost every Hawaiian at the right age would know how to navigate by the stars and that Hawaiians today are so lazy that in Hawaii, the people with the most medical problems are all Hawaiians.
November 5th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I think it is important to learn about our ancestor’s voyages because we should keep our own Hawaiian navigational method by studying how our ancestors navigated their way to these Hawaiian islands, and practice their methods of navigation.
I believe NASA is very interested in Polynesian navigation because they want to learn how the Polynesians navigated their way. NASA thought it might help them navigate through outer space, and be able to have another way to navigate without using modern technology; for example: GPS, computers, cellular phones, and other forms of technology.
Humans explore because they are fascinated by what they might find, and how those different discoveries will help them live a better life.
I learned…
1.The Polynesians were very smart people because they knew how to navigate there way to these islands and without technology just the sky with the sun, moon, and stars.
2.There are other ways to find a place than just using a map or GPS we could use the sky and stars to guide us like how our ancestors did.
November 5th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
It is important to learn about our ancestor’s history because if we know how to do things the way they did, we could bring back the Hawaiian culture back. Also by using Hawaiian navigation, we could sail somewhere and prove that the Hawaiians didn’t get here by accident.
NASA wants to learn about the Hawaiian way of sailing so they could know how to find their way around without using newer technology. Also they could use it if they ever go back up to space. They could use the stars to get around space.
I think humans explore to find more land and resources such as water, lands to grow plants, and unknown things. People also explored because they were following the food and sometimes they would come across things that were unknown to them. The last reason why I think people explore is because people want more knowledge, because with no knowledge, people would not be smart and we probably would still be hunters and gatherers today.
I learned that our relatives didn’t get to Hawaii by mistake because they were super smart about the sky because they got to Hawaii by watching the sky, the stars, the waves, and the current. They also got to Hawaii by watching the birds because the birds would be going to land so if we followed them we would get to land.
November 5th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
It is important to learn about our ancestor’s voyages because then we can do it too. The Haoles say that the Hawaiians came here by accident. We can prove them wrong, just like Nainoa Thompson.
I think NASA is interested about wayfinding because the Hawaiians used the stars to navigate. If they learn how the Hawaiians did it on earth, then they will know how to navigate in space using the stars.
Humans explore to get necessities like food, more land, and natural resources. They also travel for curiosity. Humans are natural explorers. They like to know about the world around them. Polynesians were exploring the Pacific Ocean for a long time. It’s like they had freeways in the ocean. Humans can innovate more because exploration also leads to technological inventions.
Hawaiians also used clouds to know where an island was because they knew clouds gather around mountains.
Hawaiians also used the polar star. The farther it is from the horizon, the farther north they are. They also used the sun to know where east and west was.
November 5th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
NASA is interested in how the Polynesians found their way to the Hawaiian Islands because the Polynesians did not use any technology to get to our island. They used natural recourses like the waves, the winds, and the stars.
People explore to find out about the world around them. Or people might explore to find more land so their country would not get over populated. That is one reason that we should go to space, so when our earth gets overpopulated, then we can live on a different planet.
There are many different ways to navigate but a lot of ways have been forgotten, and no way is perfect. The Hawaiians got to the Hawaiian Islands by the natural resources around them. The Westerners had their own strategy too. They used stars and the sun like the Hawaiians but they also used the latitude of a place.
Although the Westerners and the Hawaiians both used the stars to navigate, they must have seen different constellations in the sky. The Hawaiians might have seen things like Maui’s Hook because of their Hawaiian legends and gods. But, the Westerners might have seen constellations like the Big Dipper or Orion because of their own legends. The Hawaiians and the Westerners weren’t the only ones who used the stars to navigate. Slaves also used stars; they used the North Star to escape to the north.
November 6th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I think it is important to learn about our ancestor’s voyages because we should learn what feats our ancestors accomplished especially sailing across the Pacific Ocean using only natural resources like the wind, stars, ocean, and clouds.
I think NASA is interested in Polynesian wayfinding because they want to improve their space program by using some the skills to help navigate them from the moon to earth or vice versa.
I think humans explore because they want to get more land or to gain confidence.
November 6th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
It is very important to learn about your ancestor’s history because you can prove that Hawaiians didn’t get here by accident. You can prove Haoles wrong by showing and telling the ways that we got here. An example is the Polynesians knew what time it was when the stars were in a certain position.
I think that NASA is interested on Polynesian wayfinding because they want to follow the old traditional ways, and they want to find more about it because maybe one day they might use that technique when they are in space.
I think humans explore because they want to see beyond the point that they can see. People explore because people are curious about how the world works. Another reason that people explore is that people want different things. An example is when the United States explored Hawaii. They wanted to expand their land by making Hawaii a state.
I learned that in wayfinding you can use a star compass which is the basic mental construct for navigation. Another thing I learned is that the wayfinder uses a dead reckoning system in order to determine his course.
November 6th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
It is important to learn about wayfinding because we can then understand the way the Polynesians thought and felt about life. It connects us to our past, and opens doors to knowing more about their culture. The people from Europe said that Polynesians found their way here by accident. Oh yeah! They accidentally found their way across the Pacific ocean several times. We must be very lucky people (not really).
NASA is interested in Polynesian wayfinding because they want to know how they could navigate without using technology and find their way around the vast Pacific Ocean. NASA also wants to navigate using stars, but in space.
Humans explore because we want to see what is going on or what is out there. If there is something you like in life, you just need to know that somewhere out in the universe there is something better and there are endless possibilities.
I learned that Polynesians navigated by using the stars, waves, currents and winds. Polynesians used these methods and put them all together so they could find a way to the land that was foretold to be under certain stars. Because different cultures have different paradigms, they could see different things in the sky. Hawaiians might have seen a mouse or a shark because of their legends, but other cultures might have seen things like crosses or warriors.
November 6th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
I think that the Hawaiian were akamai because they could navigate around the world just by looking at the stars. Today, if a Hawaiian looked at the star and tried to navigate, he or she couldn’t get back to his or her house because we are so Americanized. OK, maybe some people like Nainoa Thompson could.
NASA might want to study Hawaiian ways because they might want to figure out that we were colonized by the Americans.
November 6th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
I think it is important to learn about our ancestors and how they traveled because we could teach our children when we get older. You don’t just have to use the wayfinding techniques in the ocean, but we can use them on dray land as well.
NASA is interested in Polynesian wayfinding because you can see stars just like on earth up in space. You can also wayfind in up there.
Humans explore for movement, one of the five themes of geography. If there is a disaster and we have already traveled and made a place filled with features like natural resources, we could go there to live.
November 6th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
I think it is important to learn of our ancestral voyages through the Pacific Ocean because this is the history of our family. This is also the story of how we got to Hawaii.
N.A.S.A. is very interested in Hawaiian wayfinding because they think that it was amazing how we could find all these isolated islands and have such a vast amount of area as a kingdom.
I believe that humans explore because they are curious and idealistic.
November 6th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
I think NASA is interested in Polynesian wayfinding because NASA knows the truth that the Polynesians knew where they were going, not just going around randomly like Europeans hoping that they would find land and not die in the Pacific Ocean. The Hawaiians looked for the star Hokulea because at midnight, the star is directly overhead in Hawaii.
It’s important to learn about our ancestors’ voyages around the Pacific Ocean because we can learn a lot from them, so technically we are looking to the past for answers for the future, just like we learn about the Romans, the Greeks, and the Egyptians. They all had empires and advanced civilizations at one point in time and history.
I think humans explore because of curiosity like Columbus trying to get to Asia but instead, to his people, he “found” or “discovered” America. Also, greed is another reason for human exploration, to get more land and treasures.
November 6th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
It is important to learn and study our ancestors’ voyages through the Pacific Ocean because we can prove to other people around the world that the Polynesians didn’t discover the new islands by accident. It is also important to learn about our Hawaiian voyages so that we can use their method of using the stars to navigate on our own, which is exactly what NASA is trying to do.
I think that NASA is interested in Polynesian wayfinding because they are going to use it for navigating in space.
I think that the main reason that humans explore is mainly because of curiosity.
November 6th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I think it’s important to learn about your ancestor’s voyages around the Pacific Ocean because we can learn the old ways of traveling. It’s also important to learn the ways of our ancestors because we can then keep our way of navigation alive. It will also teach us how to read the stars.
I think NASA is interested in Polynesian wayfinding because they want to learn more methods of how to find their way from place to place. Perhaps they want to learn how other countries or cultures found their way from place to place.
I think humans explore because they want to expand on land. I think this connects to the race to space because China and the USA want more land, not just on earth but in space. They want more land for people to live on so that’s why they are doing this. I also think humans explore because they want to discover things that no one discovered before. When you are exploring you don’t know what to expect, you might run into situations in which you do not know what to do. Exploring may be dangerous but humans don’t care. We are courageous, and we go out into the earth to try to answer everything the mind wants to know. Exploring reminds me of the movie, Journey to the Center of the Earth because the characters face all the hard things that come along with it. That’s what we humans do!!!
November 6th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I think it is important to learn about our ancestral voyages because when we build our Polynesin nation we can refer back to our old ways of voyaging. Also, I think that we should learn more about this so we can connect our knowledge for when we live in space because the Hawaiians used the stars to navigate. In space, we might not be able to get around so we also can refer back to the old ways.
NASA is interested in wayfinding because they know how important it is and how helpful this knowledge is. I think another reason is you can navigate without modern day conveniences such as computers. If they can do that, then they won’t have to spend too much money.
I basically think humans explore for curiosity (like Christopher Columbus coming to the Americas), for land (like how the Americans wanted to expand their territory by taking Native American lands).
I learned lots of things about the navigation skills of the Hawaiians but one of the most interesting one is that the Big Dipper is in the northern hemisphere until November 19 when the Big Dipper moves to the southern hemisphere.
November 6th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Our ancestors were able to navigate using the stars without advance technology like what we have now. It would be useful if would could learn more about our ancestoral voyages so we could keep that part of our culture alive and make sure it lives on for future generations. It was amazing what the Hawaiians could do with their astronomy.
I think NASA is interested in Polynesian wayfinding because just like how the Polynesians used the stars for tracking where they were going, maybe NASA could use the same technique in space. If NASA could find a similar way, then maybe they could have a better program and become more advanced.
I think humans explore because they want to find interesting facts about history, culture, science, and math. Humans are very curious about various things. Humans want to create and bring back things from they past that may have been very successful. I think that exploring in general is great. You find so many in this world that may not be possible for you but maybe it may have been for others. In my opinion, I think one of the main reason for exploring is for making certain things more successful.
November 6th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
People naturally want to discover new things because they are curious and have brains wired to explore. Humans explore as a career, to find food, natural resources, and just for the fun of it. It is human nature to find stuff out. The more we learn, the more questions we have which makes people more excited to explore.
It’s important to learn about our ancestor’s voyages because it helps us to keep our culture alive. We can understand how they traveled and navigated without modern tools all around the Pacific Ocean. It can also help us to prove that the early Hawaiians did not reach here by accident but that they knew what they were doing while they were traveling.
I think NASA wants to learn about Polynesian wayfinding because the Polynesians were such excellent navigators without the use of any instruments other than what nature provided. This is important because this would help NASA to use the same methods and apply them to finding their way around in space so they don’t get lost.
November 6th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I think it is important to learn about our ancestor’s voyages around the Pacific because our Hawaiian ancestors were the ones who tracked down Hawaii by the stars in the sky and came here to Hawaii. Even NASA is interested in how the Hawaiians got here to the Hawaiian Islands.
I think NASA is interested in this because they now know how convenient it would be tracking by the stars in space. I also think NASA is interested in Polynesian wayfinding because they study space, and our Hawaiian ancestors used the stars in space to find the way to go because they knew the patterns in the sky. They just saw the stars in a different way, like Maui’s fishhook is the what Westerners call the tail of scorpion.
I think humans explore because there are a lot of things not known to the human race. Some people say there might be a cure to cancer in the rain forests but we will never know if we don’t explore the rain forests. When the Native Americans came to America, they could have been following an animal or they could have been exploring the amazing world around them. There are so many things not known to man like how many prime numbers there are or what is 0 divided by any number. Who knows in 500 years we might know the answer to these questions we explore.
November 10th, 2008 at 8:59 am
It is important to learn about our ancestor’s voyages around the Pacific Ocean because it is a way to use the stars to get from one place to another without a map. It may be harder to use, but we need to keep this technique of wayfinding known.
NASA is interested in Polynesian wayfinding because they used stars to get around to places. Maybe NASA can use these methods to go to the moon or another planet.
Humans explored only after they were hunters and gatherers. They had a lot of time on their hands because before agriculture, their whole life was finding and getting food. Now that they did not need to do this, humans had time to explore the Earth.
November 11th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
It’s important to learn about our ancestors’ voyages so that we can carry on those skills of wayfinding which our ancestors used to get here.
N.A.S.A. is interested in Polynesian wayfinding because they are going to need those Polynesian ways to help them to navigate and find their way in space.
There are a lot of reasons humans explore. One might be that they that some people do not like their government so they look for new lands, much like people from England who came to America. Another reason that we learned about in Guns, Germs and Steel is that people want to explore other people’s land to colonize them. This happened in a lot of places, even here in Hawaii and with the Native Americans.
November 24th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
It is important to learn, know and study about our ancestors and their voyages so we know where we came from. Also, we can prove to everybody that the Hawaiians didn’t get to the Hawaiian islands by accident and that the Hawaiians had used nature to navigate, proving that we are not as dumb as people think we are.
N.A.S.A is interested in Polynesian wayfinding because they are thinking of trying to navigate their way from one place to another using the stars, just like the Hawaiians!
Humans explore because they are curious and that is how God made us. Also, because we are always looking for adventure, we can never stop moving. Our other ancestors were originally hunters and gatherers so we were always looking for food!