INTERPRETING WINDS, WAVES, AND VOLCANOES FROM OKINAWAN MUSIC FOR PLACE-BASED SCIENCE EDUCATION

"Place-based" learning utilizes personal ties to a specific "place" for engaging students with scientific lessons more applicable to their backgrounds. Educators may apply this teaching method by incorporating traditional knowledge into science curricula. Here, we investigate traditional music from the Ryukyu Islands, currently in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, to reveal lessons in place-based geoscience. Collaborating with Okinawan cultural practitioners, we find that monsoonal winds, rough ocean conditions, and volcanic activity recorded in 18^th-century seafaring songs correspond with 21^st-century scientific observations in the Ryukyu Islands today. Such links between past and present are relevant to modern Okinawan life, challenged by the impacts of urbanization, coastal erosion, and natural disasters. Connecting art with science can help make these complex topics more relatable to students at all academic levels. Moreover, all authors are traditional Okinawan musicians, showcasing how cultural practitioners can become science communicators within their communities. Similar work in place-based learning is likely key to recruiting and training the next generation of geoscience educators. Therefore, we present a scientific, artistic, and personal perspective of teaching geoscience to better engage learners with the natural history of their ancestral homeland.