Indigenous knowledge and school science: possibilities for integration

[摘要] Prior to democracy in South Africa, education was used as a means to achievesegregation, privileging a minority of the population in both economic and worldviewdomination. With the attainment of democracy in 1994, educational reform was aimed atgetting rid of both apartheid content and method. The aims and principles of the newcurricula (the Revised National Curriculum Statement Grades R-9, the NationalCurriculum Statement Grades 10-12, and later on, the Curriculum and AssessmentPolicy Statements) were aligned to those of the national constitution, which include theestablishment of human rights, inclusivity, environmental and social justice, and valuingof Indigenous knowledge systems. In the science subjects, teaching and learning areexpected to acknowledge the existence of different knowledge systems. In the absenceof clear guidelines as to which Indigenous knowledge to include and how, therecognition of IKS in science classroom has largely been left to the teachers’ discretion.The purpose of this interpretive research study, carried out in collaboration with a ruralcommunity in KwaZulu-Natal Province, was three-fold. The first was to identify theIndigenous knowledge held by the community and the worldview underpinning thatknowledge. The second was to find out what knowledge could be integrated withclassroom science, and explore ways in which such integration could be done,considering students’ and community worldviews. The third was for the research tocontribute to transformation in Indigenous knowledge research by following methodsthat recognised Indigenous knowledges, practices and languages as valuable. Thefindings from this study underscore the importance of extending the thinking about IKSscience integration beyond aspects that suit science content, to considering methods of teaching and learning science, as well as considering relevance to community needs.

[发布机构] University of the Witwatersrand