Selected Hawai'i high school juniors and seniors are taking a hands-on approach to learning about environmental science and studying an ancient Hawaiian resource management system.

Students enrolled in the summer program at Windward Community College began replicating coral DNA on Friday. They will later send the DNA for sequencing to see if there was a correlation between the kinds of bacteria in the coral and the types of diseases that coral have.

The program is offered by the Pacific Center for Environmental Studies at the college and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, which is part of the School of Ocean and Earth Science Technology at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. This is the sixth time the program has been offered.

"I've learned how to use different tools that we're not able to have at Castle (High School) because we don't have enough funds. So, it's really cool here," said Julia Gomes, 15, one of 24 students in the program. She also said the class is in-depth and covers topics that schools cannot because of time constraints.

Students learn how to apply the tools and work together to conduct a research project in addition to participating in lectures, lab and field activities, which makes the program different from other high school programs, said David Krupp, co-director of the Pacific Center for Environmental Studies.

After taking trips to Nu'uanu Pali and Kane'ohe mountain areas where students get familiarized with soil analysis and stream bioassessment, they begin surveying coral reef. Students use techniques from various fields, including molecular biology and chemistry.

The first half of the six-week program is spent on classroom, laboratory and field instruction at the college and the Hawaii Institution of Marine Biology on Coconut Island.

The second half is devoted to student research projects about the impacts of an ahupua'a on the adjacent coral reef environment, with assistance from research mentors.

Students will help to work on a fish pond restoration, so they can find out how and why the ancient Hawaiian resource system was so effective, said UH student aide Celeste Yee.

As a final event, students complete a formal research paper that they will present at a symposium open to the community.

Besides studying environmental science, students earn four college credits for a biology course, receive tuition waivers and a stipend.

"We want to train folks that will be the environmental scientists and stewards throughout the next generation," Krupp said. "So we want people to leave this program knowledgeable about the environment, some of the issues involved and associated with it, plus some of the possible solutions."