Re imagining science education in South Africa the affordances of indigenous knowledge for self directed learning in the school curriculum
It is a well known fact that South Africa has, for many years, languished at the bottom of the list when it comes to the performance of school learners in science and mathematics. Three of the major constraints leading to poor performance of South African learners are that there are not enough well qualified science and mathematics teachers in our schools, that affective outcomes are marginalised in an examination driven school system, and that many schools have a lack of appropriate equipment and materials for effective teaching and learning. In this article the author firstly argues that the inclusion of indigenous knowledge in the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) Life Sciences, Natural Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics curricula could improve the situation. The argument is based on recent research in neuroscience, and from an embodied, situated and distributed cognition perspective. Secondly the author describes research on an intervention programme (focusing on indigenous knowledge) for teachers. The aim of the programme is to assist teachers in developing their pedagogical content knowledge on indigenous knowledge, and to show teachers how to use science on a shoestring approaches in the underresourced classroom. In this research Cultural Historical Activity Theory was used as a research lens. The author concludes by showing what affordances indigenous knowledge holds for self directed learning. In an era where the decolonisation of the curriculum in South Africa receives a lot of attention, it is important to focus on developing teachers' pedagogical content knowledge to effectively implement indigenous knowledge in the classroom. Equally important is to use pedagogies in the classroom that will equip learners with 21st century skills, and to promote self direction in learning.