PEDAGOGICAL MODEL FOR DECOLONISING, INDIGENISING AND TRANSFORMING SCIENCE EDUCATION CURRICULA: A CASE OF SOUTH AFRICA

TitlePEDAGOGICAL MODEL FOR DECOLONISING, INDIGENISING AND TRANSFORMING SCIENCE EDUCATION CURRICULA: A CASE OF SOUTH AFRICA
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2021
AuthorsOpoku, MJ, James, A
JournalJournal of Baltic Science Education
Volume20
Issue1
Start Page93-107
PaginationContinuous
Date PublishedFebruary/2021
Type of ArticleOriginal article
ISSN1648-3898
Other NumbersE-ISSN 2538-7138
Keywordscontext sensitive curricula, pedagogical strategies, South African curriculum, Western worldview
Abstract

In Africa, Science education curricula have been instrumental in promoting Western worldviews as being universal. An educational transformation and decolonisation of the school curriculum is required. A focus on an African worldview and an integration of the local context and community-based information is necessary for survival, i.e., Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS). While IKS is enshrined in the schooling curriculum, Educators experience challenges with implementing it, because the pedagogical strategies have not been clearly described. An in-depth qualitative study was conducted with the Indigenous Knowledge (IK) holders of the Zulu cultural group and Senior High School (SHS) Science teachers to explore how IK on environmental sustainability could be taught in South African science classrooms. The research employed an interpretivist, multi-site ethnographic, qualitative approach, and naturalistic research style. In-depth interviews were used to generate data from the purposively selected community persons. The thematically analysed findings were used to develop a culturally specific pedagogical model on how to teach IK in science classrooms: touring cultural places; demystifying indigenous practices and perception; utilizing indigenous pedagogies; teaching wisdom behind indigenous practices etc. The research recommends that future studies be conducted on applying the model in different geographical and cultural schooling contexts.

URLhttp://oaji.net/articles/2021/987-1611648867.pdf
DOI10.33225/jbse/21.20.93
Refereed DesignationRefereed
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