Learning that Connects - To Culture, To Community, To You

🌱 Kumu Connect is an innovative lesson plan generator that creates standards-aligned, culturally relevant STEM lessons, in English and ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi—co-designed with Hawaiian immersion language teachers and built to expand access where mainstream tools fall short.

Learning that Connects - To Culture, To Community, To You

Learning that Connects - To Culture, To Community, To You

The Challenge

Across the U.S., teacher shortages and limited resources leave schools struggling to provide relevant STEM curricula.

In Indigenous educational settings and low-resource languages, this gap is even greater: teachers are forced to create everything from scratch, while mainstream tools ignore cultural context.

The result is an inequitable system where whole communities are excluded from high-quality, culturally grounded education.

Our Solution

🌱 Kumu Connect transforms this landscape by:

Delivering Culturally Relevant Content

Lessons rooted in local stories, practices, and perspectives.

Ensuring Standards Alignment

Built-in compliance with national and state standards.

Expanding Access

Designed specifically for low-resource languages and under-resourced schools.

Scaling with Integrity

Co-designed with teachers, tested in real classrooms, and built to adapt to diverse cultural contexts.

Define the Instructional Context

Educator's begin by defining the core parameters of their lesson, including:

Class Info
Grade Band
CSTA Concept
CSTA Standard
Language
Optional Add-ons

Identify the Cultural Reference

🌱 Kumu Connect generates three cultural references for the selected CS concept: a moʻolelo (story), ʻŌlelo Noʻeau (proverb) and a cultural practice.

Each reference has a ``connection'' description, which explains how the reference mirrors the CS concept.

Select Activities & Delivery Mode

The user wraps up with a final ``Activities'' screen, which allows them to further define instruction mode, such as ``outdoors'' or ``low-tech.''

Lesson Generation

🌱 Kumu Connect then generates the lesson!

Refine and Finalize the Lesson

The user's selections are assembled by 🌱 Kumu Connect into a complete lesson plan containing: Learning objectives, Activities, Discussion prompts, and Assessments.

On this editor screen, educators make final modifications before saving or exporting their lesson!

About Us

Our Mission

I mea e naʻauao ai kā kākou mau keiki, nā kaiāulu o Hawaiʻi, he koʻikoʻi ke aʻoaʻo a hoʻonaʻauao aku iā lākou ma luna o nā ʻike waiwai… ʻO ia hoʻi ka nuʻukia o Kumu Connect.

We envision a world where education nurtures belonging—to culture, to community, and to the future—so every child can thrive.

Our Team

🌱 Kumu Connect is a collaborative project.

Our Kanaka Maoli-led team is made up of researchers, technologists, educators, and cultural specialists from the Ka Moamoa Lab and Ulu Lāhui Foundation. We bring deep experience in Hawaiian education, Indigenous technology development, Indigenous data sovereignty, AI for "low-resource" languages, and culturally-revitalizing educational technology. As a small team wearing many hats, we’re building the infrastructure, partnerships, and pathways that will carry Kumu Connect from idea to impact.

🌱 Kumu Connect is a collaborative project.

Josiah Hester

Senior Project Contributor

Josiah Hester

Senior Project Contributor

Josiah Hester

Senior Project Contributor

Rachel Baker-Ramos

Product & Research Lead Contributor

Rachel Baker-Ramos

Product & Research Lead Contributor

Rachel Baker-Ramos

Product & Research Lead Contributor

Rebecca Diego

Curriculum & Impact Lead Contributor

Rebecca Diego

Curriculum & Impact Lead Contributor

Rebecca Diego

Curriculum & Impact Lead Contributor

Manas Mhasaskar

AI/ML Lead Contributor

Manas Mhasaskar

AI/ML Lead Contributor

Manas Mhasaskar

AI/ML Lead Contributor

Evyn-Bree Helekahi-Kaiwi

Language & Culture Contributor

Evyn-Bree Helekahi-Kaiwi

Language & Culture Contributor

Evyn-Bree Helekahi-Kaiwi

Language & Culture Contributor

Will Gelder

UX Research Contributor

Will Gelder

UX Research Associate

Will Gelder

UX Research Contributor

Viswak Raja

UX Design Contributor

Viswak Raja

UX Design Associate

Viswak Raja

UX Design Contributor

Ben Carter

Student Research Contributor

Ben Carter

Student Research Contributor

Ben Carter

Student Research Contributor

F.A.Q.s

What makes 🌱 Kumu Connect different from other AI lesson tools?

Most AI tools are built for mainstream, high-resource contexts. 🌱 Kumu Connect is specifically designed to create culturally relevant lessons, align with standards, and support low-resource languages—ensuring that every classroom has access to meaningful curricula.

How was 🌱 Kumu Connect developed?

🌱 Kumu Connect was co-designed with Hawaiian language immersion (Kaiapuni) teachers through an iterative process of classroom feedback, prototyping, and refinement. Educators, technologists, and cultural experts shaped the system together to ensure trust, usability, and cultural accuracy.

Who decides what counts as “culturally relevant”?

Cultural relevance is guided by educators, cultural experts, and community partners. Our team uses co-design practices to ensure lesson content reflects community values and classroom realities, not outside assumptions.

How do you protect sacred and sensitive knowledge?

We safeguard knowledge by working with localized and restricted datasets, respecting community guidance on what should or should not be digitized and following CARE and FAIR data sovereignty principles. 🌱 Furthermore, we are inspired by the Kiaʻi License and Kaitiakitanga License that go further in protecting community curated, often sacred data. Kumu Connect is designed to support teachers while protecting cultural integrity, not to extract or commodify knowledge.

Can 🌱 Kumu Connect be modified for my community's language and culture?

Yes! 🌱 Kumu Connect was designed to grow with the communities it serves. We partner with educators and cultural practitioners, esspeiclaly in Indigenous and low-resource language contexts, to co-create versions that honor each community’s language, stories, and culture. If this resonates, please reach out! We’d love to be in partnership with you.