LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
2.10 Conceptual Framework
2.10.2 Goals
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successful pupil achievement and successful outcomes” (Jegede & Aikenhead, 1999, p. 46).
George (1999) concurs with this view which calls for the use of indigenous knowledge in the classroom as it draws upon children’s real life experiences and in doing so serves as a vehicle to promote learning. This is achieved through motivating children to start to see acknowledgement being given to how they behave and speak in their communities.
In advocating for the use of indigenous knowledge in the learning environment, George (1999) does acknowledge that introducing and sustaining the utilisation of indigenous knowledge is inherent with obstacles. Such obstacles include that indigenous knowledge is not “packaged” as school resources and therefore the teacher must start by accessing it before he/she interprets it.
Contrary to the above advocacy for the use of indigenous knowledge in a pedagogical sense is the view held by Driver, Asoko, Leach, Mortimor, and Scott (as cited in Dziva et al., 2011), who found that a consistent finding in science research is that students’ everyday common knowledge often inhibits their learning of science through students resisting the re- conceptualization of their prior knowledge. This view is in line with an earlier stance taken by Wilson (1981) who viewed traditional culture as a hindrance to the teaching of science.
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written from the teacher’s point of view in terms of their intentions. The table below states the three subject specific objectives referred to as specific aims in Life Sciences (DoE, 2011).
Specific Aim 1 Knowing Life Sciences
Relates to knowing the subject content which involves the understanding and making meaning of sciences which enables the learners to make connections between the ideas and concepts. Such connections enable the learner to apply their knowledge in new and unfamiliar contexts. The scope of knowledge that learners should acquire is not just knowing a lot of facts but also includes knowledge of process skills related to carrying out investigations.
Specific Aim 2:
Investigating Phenomena in Life Sciences
Relates to doing science or practical work and investigations. Learners must be able to plan and carry out investigations as well as solve problems that require some practical ability. This aim is underpinned by an attitude of curiosity and an interest in wanting to find out how the natural world and living things in it work.
Specific Aim: 3 Appreciating and understanding the history, importance and applications of life sciences in society.
Relates to understanding the applications of Life Sciences in everyday life, as well as understanding the history of scientific discoveries and the relationship between indigenous knowledge and science. Learners must be exposed to the history of science and indigenous knowledge systems.
Table 2.4 The three broad subject specific objectives referred to as specific aims in Life Sciences (DoE, 2011, p. 13).
An outcome is what learners should achieve in terms of them acquiring skills at the end of a lesson that is generated from specific observable components which indicate various levels of complexity with the use of Bloom’s taxonomy. Evidence of the differences between the various goals can be found in the CAPS (DoE, 2011) for Life Sciences. The objective/specific aim that is relevant to IKS and is found in the Life Sciences curriculum is specific aim 3 which is found in the table above. One can see from this objective/specific aim that it is in fact more specific than the curriculum aim and therefore is an objective. Within
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the CAPS (DoE, 2011) for Life Sciences, skills which learners must be able to perform include accessing and analysing information, selecting key ideas, recalling information, describing knowledge, organising and reorganising, writing summaries, developing flow charts, recognising patterns, apply and use knowledge and identify assumptions. As stated in defining an outcome, the use of Bloom’s taxonomy is of importance in order to identify the learner’s achievement of complexity level in terms of the skills mentioned above. Therefore, keywords are used in order to ascertain their achievement of the complexity level. Figure 2.3 (Bloom’s taxonomies) shows how outcomes are constructed according to observable keywords that indicate different levels of complexity as mentioned above. The original concepts of Bloom’s taxonomy are indicated on the left hand side of Figure 2.3 which are concerned with a teacher – centred approach while a second version is indicated on the right hand side which is a learner – centred approach of Bloom’s taxonomies:
Figure 2.3 Bloom’s Cognitive levels of outcomes and keywords (adapted from Khoza, 2015a).
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Rao (2010) writes that societal values influence the goals of education. This idea is pertinent to South Africa. Evidence of this can be seen in CAPS for Life Sciences (DoE, 2011) which states that the curriculum is based on the Constitution of the country whose aims include healing the divides of the past, the improvement in the quality of life of all citizens and freedom for each person to fulfil his/her potential. One can see that the value ascribed to IKS in terms of development is well aligned with the curriculum serving as a vehicle to secure the aims of the Constitution.