What kind of science do educators present to learners in South African classes?

Abstract

Designing school curricula in SA took on an insightful phase since 1976 when learners rejected Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. The South African Department of Education (DoE) has tried to align curricula with the new constitution with consternation about the kind of product that curricula will graduate from school. I narrate personal, observations about, and understanding of the science curricula, as a science education student, a science educator, and a manager of projects on science educator development. My comments were supported by class visits, during which I used a Science Teaching Observation Schedule (STOS) and recorded events in 31 science classrooms, as well as by interactions with educators during workshops. My observations revealed that few educators remember common names in psychology such as Piaget, were skeptical about Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), and none would say anything about the Nature of Science. Neither could they articulate the reasons behind new National Curriculum Statements. Educators blend philosophies and psychologies in science classrooms inadvertently, but neither do the DoE, nor many educator training institutions mention the traditional epistemologies. This could be one of the reasons for poor science teaching.