Decolonisation of the Science Curriculum: a Different Perspective (#cookbook-labs-must-fall)
Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: Issues about transformation in education is exponentially receiving more focus (just consider the #RhodesMustFall campaign).In this paper we argue for more Afrocentric approaches to curriculum development in science education from a learning psychology perspective [embodied, situated and distributed cognition], rather than from the predominant political perspective that characterizes such discourse.In the paper we share mixed-method research (with emphasis on the qualitative component) on how Gibbon's concept of Mode 2 knowledge production, and contextsensitive science, could be the answer to a more Afrocentric science curriculum.We show how indigenous knowledge could provide an authentic context to many science inquiries currently included in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement.Through this epistemological border-crossing between the (western) constructs in the science curriculum, and indigenous knowledge, we could create authentic learning opportunities that center-stage problem-based learning, cooperative learning and metacognition (and critical reflection), and we argue that this holds affordances for the affective development of a next generation of scientists.We also show how such an approach could address the problem of transmission mode teaching and "cookbook practicals" that do not reflect the tenets of the nature of science.We report here on short courses that were offered to teachers in Limpopo and North-West Province.The major themes that emerged from this research are that teachers need professional development to develop their pedagogical content knowledge to incorporate problembased learning, cooperative learning and indigenous knowledge in their classrooms; and they need to be more exposed to the tenets of both the nature of science and indigenous knowledge in order to facilitate this epistemological border-crossing in their classrooms.By succeeding in this, we might move forward in decolonizing the curriculum.
Authors: Josef de Beer, Neal Petersen
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2749711424