Natural Sciences teachers' conceptualisation of 'science and society' in South African curriculum documents
Date
2018
Authors
Austen, Karryn Lynda
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Abstract
The potential for South African science teachers to become powerful
agents of transformation needs to be explored. Speaking of Fensham's
(2002) term “educo-politics” Aikenhead (2010) argues that, "all science
teachers are constantly engaged in ‘educo-politics'” (Aikenhead,
2010:615). In this study I attempted to uncover some of the socially critical
aspects of science and society related themes.
This study investigated how science and society themes outlined in the
Natural Sciences Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS)
(Department of Basic Education [DBE], 2011) are understood and valued
by teachers. The study provides an account of how science teachers
under the direction of the curriculum statement conceptualise the
pedagogical use, and social value, of Specific Aim 3 in their regular
teaching of Grade 9 Natural Sciences. The Science-Technology-Society-
Environment (STSE) currents presented by Pedretti & Nazir (2011)
provided a theoretical framework from which this inquiry was conducted
and structured.
This was a qualitative, small-scale study limited to 32 participants. The
theoretical foundation of this study was influenced by the ideology and
pedagogical frameworks which underpin science and society philosophies
and movements in science education. An evaluation of the Natural
Sciences CAPS (DBE, 2011) using such frameworks informed the
development of the two research instruments used. A questionnaire was
administered to 32 Grade 9 Natural Sciences teachers from government
schools in the Johannesburg-West and Johannesburg-North districts in
Gauteng. Three of the questionnaire participants were then interviewed
using a semi-structured interview schedule. The participants varied in age,
race demographics, distribution of home languages, professional
qualifications and years of teaching experience. The schools where
participants teach were varied in terms of demographics and available
resources.
The study found that participants did not communicate a clear
understanding of the principles which form science and society in the Natural Sciences CAPS. Time constraints, deviation from science content
and limited usefulness for science learning were commonly cited to justify
limited science and society practices. Furthermore, participants regularly
made statements which communicated their belief in the superiority of
science in terms of its explanatory value. In this regard participants
showed insensitivity to the cultural barriers students may experience when
learning science.
This study has contributed to our understanding of how South African
science teachers conceptualise and use science as society themes as
outlined in the Grade 9 Natural Sciences CAPS. The findings of this study
confirmed that the effects and consequences of the prescriptive elements
and nature of the Natural Sciences CAPS (DBE, 2011) need to be critically
evaluated. Although curriculum reform in South Africa was intended to
empower teachers in their decision-making about what and how to teach,
over-reliance on work schedules and Learning Support Materials (LSMs)
results in the constriction of teacher agency (Stoffels, 2008). Such
tendencies were observed in this study and hence it is suggested that this
aspect of teacher agency be explored in further research.
KEY WORDS
Science and Society
Scientific literacy
Humanistic science education
Curriculum
Teachers
Science-Society-Technology
Science-Society-Technology-Environment
Socioscientific Issues
Description
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science,
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science.
Johannesburg, 2017.
Keywords
Citation
Austen, Karryn Lynda (2018) Natural Sciences teachers' conceptualisation of 'Science and society' in South African curriculum documents, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/25656>