Abstract
M.Ed. (Science Education)
South Africa is one of the global hotspots of both biological and ethnic diversity.
Southern Africa is rich in angiosperm species, and the angiosperm species count is
considered to be 21,817. The traditional medicinal systems of different cultural
groups and their herbal, animal and mineral materia medica have ancient origins
which may date back to Palaeolithic times. Indigenous knowledge (lK) and cultural
practices in many areas of the country provide learners with a good "entry" into the
scientific world. A true constructivist teacher will realise the importance of building
new knowledge on learners' existing knowledge. This will show the learners how
relevant science is to our daily lives. It might also open future career opportunities,
and develop learners' entrepreneurial skills.
This fact is acknowledged by the new curriculum (the National Curriculum
Statement), and Life Sciences teachers are expected to infuse their teaching with
indigenous knowledge. When these new policies were created, policy makers
focused on the what of desired educational change, and unfortunately neglected the
how (Rogan & Aldous, 2009). Teachers often have limited understanding of the
curriculum changes. The textbooks used in class give little or even no proper
information about indigenous knowledge. Whereas some textbooks still provide
information on IK in the form of examples, hardly any attention is given to teaching
strategies and practical work that can be done in the classroom. My study highlights
the problem that many teachers simply ignore IK, due to their lack of Pedagogical
Content Knowledge (PCK) in this regard, and the lack of guidance and support from
the Department of Education. As many teachers were trained in the "old method" of
teaching and not in the pedagogy prescribed by the National Curriculum Statement
(NCS), many of them do not have specific knowledge about the indigenous
knowledge that they need to impart to learners. Those who are fortunate enough to
have sufficient knowledge of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS), often lack the
pedagogy. Once again, we need to go back in history to understand why teachers
find it so difficult to teach IK. In the apartheid era it was a taboo to mention traditional
medicine in the classroom. Our traditional medicine was often replaced by Western medicine. Black South Africans were robbed of their identity. Under the Suppression
of Witchcraft Act, indigenous belief systems were undermined and in most cases
referred to as pagan (heathen) belief systems. As a result, indigenous belief systems
were viewed as something that derails society.
This study focuses on a number of issues related to the incorporation of indigenous
knowledge in the classroom. One of the main concerns is teachers' pedagogical
content knowledge (PCK). Two additional factors also make the introduction of
indigenous knowledge difficult in the classroom: (a) the multicultural South African
society (whose IK should be entertained?), and (b) the nature of science, and many
teachers' perception that the introduction of IK would constitute pseudo-science.
The question arises whether it is possible to introduce indigenous knowledge in a
scientific way in the Life Sciences classroom. Is an IK focus compliant with the
syntactical nature of Life Sciences, namely an emphasis on inquiry-based
approaches? A second question arises: Are South African teachers able to teach IK
in such a context? As mentioned above, many Life Sciences teachers find it difficult
to follow heuristic approaches where learners engage with discovery learning making
observations, formulating hypotheses, developing experimental designs,
collecting and interpreting data, and making conclusions. Now, in addition to this
challenge, teachers need to follow such a pedagogy to investigate indigenous
knowledge claims. It is just so much easier for teachers to rely on "chalk and talk"
approaches, as a study of Petersen (2010) reveals...