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The title ofPB 1 reads: 'The Problem', and below this is the report containing the request from the local Councillor seeking the assistance of the learners regarding the problems related to electricity and the local residents in the community.
The problem, as discussed in Chapter 3, involved issues of consumption, issues of tampering with electricity supply, and cable theft. The report capturing the request by the Coucillor is contained in the probe (see Annexture 13, p. 247). The learner had this report enlarged and in placing it in the middle of the PB 1, made it the focal point ofthe project and presentation.
In focussing attention on the local problem, Thandeka placed pictures accompanied by captions and summaries, around the above report on the problem. Placed high on the PB are pictures of the City Mayor and the City Manager, with a picture of huge pylons nearby spanning electrical cables, which is a familiar sight and feature in the community.
Through these sets of pictures the learner attempts to make a link between local government representatives, namely, the Ward Councillor, the City manager, and the political head of the City - the Mayor. The link, in this case, is in connection with the supply of electricity, as indicated by the picture of the pylons. What has been achieved by Thandeka in the above is consistent with a feature of PBL that emphasizes that school learning be connected to real life (The Multimedia Project, 1997-2001). The people appearing on the PB 1are real people who are well known locally.
Three pictures on PB 1 show people most affected by the problems experienced by the community. The first picture shows a child standing outside an informal settlement dwelling, with a caption that reads: 'This is a child that live in informal settlement and they don't have electricity'. The second picture is of children standing outside an informal settlement house, with a caption that reads: 'These people don't have electricity and they want it'. The third picture shows people with their newly built sub-economic houses, with a caption that reads: 'This is a picture ofpeople and new houses and electricity'. The learner weaves together a 'story' to show how a sector of the local community has only recently gained access to the existing infrastructure and electricity supply.
Thandeka has integrated learning activities with real world issues and practices (The Multimedia Project, 1997-2001). Researchers emphasizes the role of contextual issues in promoting meaningful learning. Contextual issues engages the emotions of the
investigating parties, and an exploration of such issues is more than a technical
investigation (Lotz and Robottom, 1998), and, by context we mean more than physical surroundings (Di Chiro, 1987).
The learner also has a picture of a traffic signal, and another of a 3-pin plug connected to a section of an electrical cord. Traffic signals have just been installed on the newly build road which has brought with it big improvements in the lives of the local community, improvements such as access to transport, water and electricity.
The lower end of PB 1 contains an enlarged newspaper cutting from a local newspaper dated July 23,2004. The newspaper cutting captures most of the problems experienced by the local community. The title of the newspaper cutting reads: 'Shock newsfor
pilferers ofcity power', and a second section of the report that reads: 'Municipal taskforce tackles electricity thieves'. The contents of the above reports drive home the problems faced by the local residents, and the problems faced by the local council electricity department that is responsible for the supply of electricity.
The newspaper cutting is pertinent as it highlights the dangers associated with electricity, dangers that resulted in loss of life for some people due to a lack of understanding or ignorance on the part of some of the residents. Thandeka again integrates classroom learning activities with real-world issues and activities (The Multimedia Project, 1997- 2001), and her learning is reflective of what is envisioned in the RNCS. The vision ofthe new education system is that of developing competent citizens who are better prepared to deal with the new challenges facing our modem society (RNCS, Overview, 2002).
Thandeka has taken great effort, through the pictures and newspaper cutting presented on PB 1, in drawing our attention to the fact that a problem exists in the local community.
The problem is specific and is focussed on the supply and consumption of electricity. It highlights the problems experienced by the local community, and presents the different interested and affected role-players.
A key principle in PBL is the need for curriculum to be organized around some problem or critical question related to societal conditions and deemed important by the learners (Vithal, 2004). The principles of real-world connection, and problem orientation stood above the other principles demonstrated by Thandeka as reflected on PB 1.
The role of the teacher mediator for Thankeda was to provide support when this is requested by her, namely, photocopying and enlargement of certain text or information sheets, and the provision of guidance in the layout of information to achieve greater effect. For her the educator, as part of her learning environment served as a resource person and, as unobtrusive guide on the side (Blumenfeld, et al., 1991)
Data obtained form the interviews (focus group and clinical interviews) and learner's reflection diaries reveal the following on what Thandeka has learnt:
How electricity is generated; safety with electricity ("my interest ... is addressed'');
learning skills and lots ofknowledge and information,' that electricityisinvisible;
the steps, ofhow electricity is produced,' and how to connect a 3-pin plug and safety rules for connecting it. (see Annexture 6, p.226)
On reflecting, she lists the factors that contributed to her learning as:
... the portfolio boards, learning visibly step-by-step how electricity is produced and sent to our homes; doing experiments, writing things, stuck pictures, talked and talked and talked, and my peers helped me understand. (see Annexture 6)
The above response by Thanked is evidence of research findings that talk of learning that gives learners the opportunity to encounter the learning material and share their own experiences in a number of ways, for example, through reading, listening, viewing, and
Meaningful learning to her means:
Understanding the work in such a way that you know what you are learning.
Thandeka's responses above confirm the assertion made by Doll (1993) that "learning and understanding are made as we dialogue with others and reflect what we have said as we negotiate passages, between ourselves and others, between ourselves and our texts"
(p.81). How this co-operation and collaboration between learns occurred is discussed in Chapter 3 (see 3.3).
4.2.2. Portfolio Board Two (PB 2):
Nkosenhle wanted to know:
How does electricity go from house to house, and what dangers are there to our lives?
His reason:
1 want to know this so that 1 can try to help other people.
Nkosenhle worked on PB 2, and we look at what learning he took out with respect to insights, attributes, and the science that he reflected in PB 2. Figure 8, on the next page, is a pictorial representation of the actual portfolio board (that is PB 2) constructed by
Nkosenhleinconsultation with his peers.
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