The Indigenous Knowledge of African Traditional Health Practitioners and the South African Science Curriculum

Hewson, Mariana G.; Javu, Mirranda T.; Holtman, Lorna

doi:10.1080/10288457.2009.10740647

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“… Collaborate with IK holders such as community elders, herbalists, or traditional healers. Possibly invite them to the classroom (Hewson et al, 2009).…”

Section: What Hinders Teachers To Integrate Ik? Identifying and Overcmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The purpose of the article is to contribute to the knowledge integration project by sharing, and reflecting on, practical experience. By knowledge integration project I mean the multi-levelled discourse that ranges from the abovementioned calls to indigenise education, to theorising how such an Africanisation might be realised (e.g., Yishak & Gumbo, 2012), to foregrounding cooperation between teachers and traditional healers (e.g., Hewson, Javu, & Holtman, 2009), or collaborating with communities to suggest suitable IK and integration strategies (e.g., Keane, 2006;Khupe, 2014). The final step completing the knowledge integration project would be its actual operationalisation, that is, teaching indigenous knowledges in education.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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South African science teachers' strategies for integrating indigenous and Western knowledges in their classes: Practical lessons in decolonisation

Seehawer¹

2018

Educ. res. soc. change.

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Framed within the broader discourse on decolonising African education, this article aims to contribute to the project of integrating indigenous and Western knowledges in southern African education. Following a participatory action research (PAR) cycle, a team of five South African science teachers and one German researcher explored whether and how indigenous knowledges (IK) could be integrated into the teachers' regular classes. The article focuses on the first two phases of the PAR cycle and discusses how challenges impeding knowledge integration were solved and how science lessons that integrated aspects of Western and indigenous knowledges were planned. While the South African science curriculum explicitly invites knowledge integration, it hardly contains any IK and there are no generally available teaching materials. Moreover, some of the participating teachers did not have IK. Yet, integration was possible, for example, through using the learners' communities as resources, a strategy that worked well in both primary and secondary grades. The article suggests that the very practice-oriented research process was also a process of intellectual empowerment and decolonisation. Calling on the agency of teachers, parents, community elders, traditional healers, and academics, the article argues for a bottom-up approach to knowledge integration and to decolonising education.

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“… Collaborate with IK holders such as community elders, herbalists, or traditional healers. Possibly invite them to the classroom (Hewson et al, 2009).…”

Section: What Hinders Teachers To Integrate Ik? Identifying and Overcmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

South African science teachers' strategies for integrating indigenous and Western knowledges in their classes: Practical lessons in decolonisation

Seehawer¹

2018

Educ. res. soc. change.

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“…Brandt and Kosco (2009) suggest that we still 'know little about the ways that teachers … enact indigenous science in the classroom ' (p. 403). This is the case in South Africa where even if some teachers are aware of IK amongst their learners, they may not know what to do with such knowledge when they do find it in their classroom discussions (Hewson et al 2009). Several important contributions have been made in terms of learning and teaching concepts, e.g., social-spiritual-cultural relational frameworks (Cajete 1994), collateral learning , place-based teaching (Riggs 2003), and bordercrossing (Aikenhead 2001).…”

Section: Iks and Education Researchmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…In a previous paper, experienced school science teachers in the Western Cape suggested that before introducing IK into science classrooms it would be reasonable to require checking of the subject matter in terms of its veracity and usefulness (Hewson et al 2009). This raises numerous issues such as: Are the IK concepts identified by educators for inclusion in the curriculum representative of large groups or are they local and specific to We have to see argumentation as a tool that can be used to analyze etc.…”

Section: Needs Appropriate Curriculum and Materialsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Argumentation-teaching as a method to introduce indigenous knowledge into science classrooms: opportunities and challenges

Hewson

Ogunniyi

2010

Cult Stud of Sci Educ

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An innovative school science curriculum in South Africa requires the inclusion of African societal/cultural knowledge, such as indigenous knowledge (IK). The main project involves introducing argumentation to accomplish this requirement. We used a focus group plus critical incident technique to ascertain nine teachers' understandings of argumentation and IK, their perceptions of how argumentation helps in teaching IK, examples of how argumentation-teaching had (or had not) worked in their classrooms, and their suggestions. Our results show that the teachers accepted argumentation as a viable approach to teach science and introduce IK into their classrooms. Executive SummaryIiNgcali kwezemfundo, ehlabathini jikelele, ziya qala ukuwaqonda ngoku amaseko emfundo engenamkhethe, edlelana nabantwana ezikolweni; yiyo loonto zinomdla ngokona kwimfundo engqinelana nolwazi lwezemvelo. Ikharityhulamu entsha nehlaziyiweyo yoMzantsi Afrika icebisa ukuba abafundi bafundiswe isixa esimashumi mathathu ekhulwini (30%) kwezeNzululwazi ngokungqinelana nendlela yolwazi oluphuma kwizithethe nobugcisa bakwaNtu. Oku kungumcelimngeni kubafundisi-ntsapho (ootishala) abangenalwazi lwezemvelo olufana nolo lwabafundi babo okanye ukuba banalo, bangaluhlomelela njani ezifundweni zabo. Injongo yolu phando lwethu kukubona ukuba aba bafundisi-ntsapho benze mqela mni na ekufundiseni unzululwazi ngale ndlela, iziziphina iindawo abaxinge kuzo. Xa bekusetyenziswa intlanganisela yendlela yodliwanondlebe lwamaqela (ifokhas-gruphu) kwakunye nendlela yodliwano-ndlebe locikido (ikhrithikhal-insidenti), abafundisi-ntsapho abalithoba (abenza izifundo zophando kumabakala ezidanga zembeko nangaphezulu) bebexoxa: malunga nabakwaziyo ngendlela yokuxoxa ekuthiwa yimvunyelwano-mpikiswana (i-adyumenteyishini) kwakunye nolwazi lwezemvelo (i-indijinas noleji); izimvo zabo malunga nendlela ingxoxo-mpikiswano ethi incede ngayo ekufundise ngolwazi lwezemvelo; imizekelo apho ingxoxo-mpikiswano ethe

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“…When ideas come up, they can concretize them." Hewson et al ( 2009 ). Reprinted with permission from the publisher.…”

Section: Xhosa Traditional Healer Suggests Children's Learning Needsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Educational Research on Indigenous Knowledge in Science Teaching

Hewson

2014

Embracing Indigenous Knowledge in Science and Medical Teaching

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In this chapter I return to thinking about teaching science. A failed university course in Lesotho suggested a reexamination of basic principles of teaching science in Africa. I offer a model of teaching and learning, and discuss the criteria for a functional educational curriculum. My recent investigations of the indigenous knowledge of traditional healers concerning the education of children in both South Africa and Lesotho indicate agreement amongst the traditional healers. They also suggest a way forward in trans-cultural teaching.

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The Indigenous Knowledge of African Traditional Health Practitioners and the South African Science Curriculum

Cited by 11 publications

References 9 publications

South African science teachers' strategies for integrating indigenous and Western knowledges in their classes: Practical lessons in decolonisation

South African science teachers' strategies for integrating indigenous and Western knowledges in their classes: Practical lessons in decolonisation

Argumentation-teaching as a method to introduce indigenous knowledge into science classrooms: opportunities and challenges

Educational Research on Indigenous Knowledge in Science Teaching

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