Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Education
Edited by
Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw
University of Education, Winneba, Ghana
George J. Sefa Dei
University of Toronto, Canada
Kolawole Raheem
University of Education, Winneba, Ghana
Foreword by
Jophus Anamuah-Mensah
University of Education, Winneba, Ghana
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
vii
Foreword
ix
15
29
55
63
73
81
103
127
149
175
TABLE OF CONTENTS
195
209
217
Contributors
223
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work stands as a credit to the many scholars willing to share their knowledge
from different locations on the complicated subject of African science education.
In many ways, we believe our contributors have something valuable to say on the
topic and our job has simply been to assemble their ideas into what we hope will be
seen as a coherent piece. Anyone who has put together such a volume knows it is a
tremendous challenge and opportunity. We thank the many countless individuals,
colleagues, family and friends who have assisted us in this endeavour to put
together the edited collection. We have been lucky to the inter-disciplinary edge
and lens to the topic which in a number of ways have helped inform our own
thoughts and ideas on the subject. Our contributors are engaged in some exciting
work on African education and the perspectives they have shared on science
education in African contexts can only help build and strengthen existing
scholarship in the area. We would like to thank colleagues at our various
institutions and our collective conversations that have informed the presentation of
an intellectual vision for the collection. There are many but permit us to mention a
few: Mr. Stephen Dennis, Dr. Thomas Tachie Young, Emmanuel Kutorglo, Marlon
Simmons, Jagjeet Gill, Dr. Rosina Agyepong and Isaac Darko. We are also grateful
to Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, Director of the Centre for School and
Community Science and Technology Studies (SACOST), University of Education,
Winneba, Ghana for writing the Foreword to this book. We thank George J. Sefa
Deis doctoral student, Yumiko Kawano, of the Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education of the University of Toronto for the administrative and partial editorial
work to get the volume to the publisher. Working across the Trans-Atlantic has not
been easy but the process has been facilitated by the love of learning that Yumiko
brought to the work. We also want to thank Sense Publishers for the many ways of
taking up the challenge to publish a book on Africa which is governed not strictly
by market considerations but by the intellectual justice and rewards that accrue
from such undertakings. The editorial staffs at Sense Publishers have been helpful
and encouraging throughout the entire process from the initial conception of the
idea of the book to its final production. We are deeply indebted to our individual
families who have always been the backbone of our academic and professional
growth and careers over the years. Finally, we dedicate this book to the young
learners of today who are helping to redefine the goals, purpose and objectives of
education and the role science education can and does play in African development
and human condition.
vii
FOREWORD
If you want development, you should provide relevant education. Education has
come to be seen as the key to unlocking the potential of African countries in their
struggle to pave a sound pathway for the socio-economic and political
transformation of their citizenry. However, this attempt to use education and
schooling as the driving force has and continues to pose numerous challenges to
many governments. One of the areas required for development but which at the
same time poses a great challenge is science education or what is occasionally
referred to as science, technology and mathematics, education (STME). It is
accepted that without a strong foundation in science education, a countrys
development can be dwarfed. Science education has been a source of concern and
worry to many parents, policy makers, teachers, school administrators and
students. For one thing, science is perceived to be a difficult and alien subject by a
number of students who believe they are incapable of handling it. Community
elders wonder why science education is not transforming their communities and
helping them to solve their problems. So how do we [as educators] present science
in ways that are easily discernible to young learners? How do we ensure that
science education maintains its important place in school teachings so as to help
communities find practical solutions to the many problems encountered as part of
everyday living? In effect, how do we prioritize and teach science education in
African schools? These are not questions with ready answers. They are sources of
contentions even among educators. The science teacher like any other teacher and
learner has tremendous responsibilities, the least of which is to understand what
constitutes science and how to approach its study and application of the knowledge
gained to serve society. As societies struggle with basic existence, increasingly the
role of science education is seen as critical to human survival.
In fact today, not many would dispute the fact that education is critical to
national development. Arguably, the central or most pertinent question has been
what kind of education and how educators place science and technology in debates
linking education and development. Africa presents us with an interesting case. We
have ample evidence of science education that happens everyday in our homes and
communities, which is often either ignored or not seen as science. We are also
still trying to overcome the legacies of entrenched past when colonial education did
not always place the question of educational relevance at the front and centre of
national debates. Colonial, and to some extent even post-colonial, education was
and has been geared to serve not necessarily local needs but the interest of external
markets. This situation arose from the abortion of Indigenous cognitive traditions
as a result of the imposition of Western science, which failed to integrate those
traditions into mainstream science. It is my considered view that only a broad view
of science that integrates the accumulated knowledge, values and customs of the
people will help provide a holistic development of societies. According to Amartya
Sen (in his book, Development as Freedom), education should expand the freedom
that people need to make development possible. The expansion of science to
include local/traditional knowledge expands the freedom that is needed to make
ix
FOREWORD
FOREWORD
xi
FOREWORD
xii
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION TO CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN AFRICAN SCIENCE
EDUCATION
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
ontologies express the essence of the relationship of the individual to society and
nature. Most things in the natural world are imbued with spirits. Humans do not
stand apart and neither are we above the natural world. We are part of the natural
world. Meaningful social existence is by establishing communion with the
spiritual world (e.g., through the veneration of ancestors). In fact, within African
systems of thought, ancestor/ancestress worship is based on two related notions, (a)
life after death and (b) a continuity or linkage between the world of the living and
that of the dead. This system of thought and belief process guides and regulates
social conduct. It respects an ordered way of knowing with its own ontology and
epistemological basis
Epistemology is more than a body of knowledge. It is a way of understanding
social reality and explaining the guiding principles of social action. Within
Indigenous epistemologies, certain contested claims are made; for example, the
idea that spiritual identity is a way of knowing; and knowledge production is a
connection to the body, mind and soul. We cannot privilege body of matter/mind
and soul and vice versa. It is asserted that all knowledge is accumulated
knowledge, based on observing and experiencing the social and natural worlds and
thus every way of knowing is subjective and based in part on experiential
knowledge. Social learning, it is argued, has to be personalized in order to develop
the intuitive and analytical aspects of the human mind. To understand ones social
reality, is to have a holistic view of society. The world is about inter-connections
and inter-relations. In effect, we cannot separate politics from economics, culture,
religion, cosmology, family and kinship (see also Dei, 1993, 1996). Spiritual
epistemologies connect place, spirit and body (see also Meyer, 2008). The spiritual
is embodied and every life form exists in paired relationships and interconnections.
What this means is that there are no definitive distinctions in life (as in young/old,
man/woman, individual/communal, mind/body, personal/political and the social/
natural).
THE QUESTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE EDUCATION
beliefs systems and worldviews/worldsenses that herald the sanctity of land and
physical environment. It is such a knowledge base that has helped local
communities sustain their environments through time. Unfortunately, todays
market forces and, particularly, the forces of globalization are fast encroaching
upon and abusing the sanctity of land and physical resources held in local
communities. Local environments have been under assault as people seek out daily
material existence well beyond their means. Local peoples have continually been
told to conserve their physical environmental resource only for multinational
corporations to turn around and abuse such environments. In such cases, local
peoples have not enjoyed the benefits of their restraint. We need critical education
that protects and makes for sustainable environmental resource in order to preserve
the physical environment for current generations and the generations to come.
Environmental science education is more than impacting knowledge about the
working of the biosphere. Environmental science education is about taking
responsibility. It is teaching about how local communities can maintain a fitting
balance between their needs and sustain resources for use through time. It is about
teaching to battle the ills of individual, social and corporate greed that have and
continue to wreak untold havoc on physical environments and racialized
communities. It is about teaching ways communities are addressing and can redress
ongoing environmental degradation and the ecological imbalance of the
environments. Science can contribute to the task of sustaining local physical
environments through knowledge about appropriate technology use. We know how
science and technology can contribute to environmental degradation when they are
not conducive to local environments. The development of science and technology
in Africa has to take into account the impact of such knowledge on local
environments.
Apart from been viewed as a productive resource, the environment has been a
site of knowledge. Environmental science education in school must therefore
examine the power and asymmetrical power relations that have been structured
around the environment and human use and how ecological spaces have been
created, owned and territorially defended. The environment also raises key
questions of ethnic/race, gender and class relations in terms of how such identities
inform our everyday relation to local environments and the particular knowledge
we develop and work with. Particular conceptions of humanity have become
dominant discourses that express our collective destiny in maintaining environments
without acknowledging our differential responsibilities and culpabilities in
degrading environments and the problem of modernity (e.g., globalism and forces
of globalization) that continue to create environmental disasters (e.g., polluting gas
emissions, climatic changes and other human-made environmental disasters).
Environmental science education would teach about the impact of development on
local developments and the relevance of local science knowledge for ordinary
people to be aware and combat environmental degradation. Let us take for
example, the building of the Akosombo dam, an anthropogenic hydroelectric
project situated on the Volta Lake in Ghana. This project supposedly sought the
interest of local peoples through offering jobs such as fishing, farming and
6
INTRODUCTION
Science education must also promote civic and peace education (see Wangui
Mburus paper in the collection). For example, Indigenous science knowledge and
teachings relating to African proverbs highlight youth moral and character
development, the importance of developing a sense of civic responsibility,
community building, citizenship and schooling as a community (see George Deis
paper in this volume). Learners in our schools, colleges and universities come from
diverse and different economic, regional, linguistic, cultural, ethnic, religious and
linguistic backgrounds. African education in a post-colonial context cannot sweep
such differences and the diversities in the student population under the carpet.
While post-colonial education must promote national integration and social
cohesion, such goals cannot be achieved by simply sweeping away social
differences. These differences can be tapped into as sites of strength and education
by science educators to enhance learning for the entire student population. Science
education can contribute to the cause of civic education teaching about collectivity
among young learners moral and community values that cherish mutual
interdependence and responsibilities to self, family, community, nation and global
citizenship. In many pluralistic contexts, multicultural education has promoted
cultural diversity as an intrinsic and valuable component of the social, political and
moral order. A diverse schooling population is valued on the basis of a common
humanity with a collective future assured by goodwill on the part of all. The
contributions of different cultures and ethnicities to national well-being and destiny
are acknowledged (see Dei, Asgharzadeh, Eblaghie-Bahador, & Shahjahan, 2006).
Science education can contribute to this goal of education by emphasizing the
varied contributions of our different groups to science and culture knowledge.
Effective science education will include an analyis of the processes of teaching,
learning and administration of science in schools and the ways in which these
processes combine to produce differential interests and learning outcomes among
young learners. Teaching about science as civic education for peace is bringing
into the schooling dialogue discussions around identity, citizenship and belonging,
as well as pointing to how citizenship, community building, claims of ethnic,
gender, class, religious identities, history, politics and knowledge all converge to
7
produce and inform the contemporary learner. Science as civic education is about
making claims to self and collective worth that include a connection to everyone
around us (including social communities and our natural environments). A critical
approach to science education ontology would herald the interface for society,
culture and nature and point to a spiritual sense of self and place. Science as civic
education for peace is bound by connections of inter-dependency and inclusion
(see also Asabere-Ameyaw & Adzahlie-Mensahs paper in this collection). Science
for peace education is teaching the social as science. Science as civic education for
peace must speak of the intersubjective nature of human interest. Such education
must be cognizant of the different ways and methods through which we come to
know and understand social relations. It calls for moving beyond armchair
theorising to respond to local problems with colonial historic specificities through
the Indigene. Notably, the relations with the Indigene and the intersubjective
ontology of the social are incommensurable and not categorised through a
collective valid list of rules, but more so through the lived experiences embedded
within the African commune. Science as civic education is about dialogue through
critical consciousness as it cogitates itself through the particularity of the African
social as historically developed. In rethinking African science as civic education,
the knowing self cannot assert itself as authentic, as the lone expert of knowledge.
Instead the self itself is rooted in an ontology through transgressive pedagogies in
order to speak through a certain primacy of the African social. Educating about
African science as civic education is guided by the principle that the conditions of
knowledge are embedded within the social practices of local African communities
and moreover, these practices have been ontologically oriented through oral
histories, folklore and proverbs. Our position is one where science as civic
education is not about substituting conventional classifications of science, with
African science as civic education, but instead about troubling the hegemonic hold
underscoring the multiple ways of interpreting particular epistemologies through
cultural difference as science.
CHAPTER OUTLINES
The beginning chapters of this book set out the nature and context of the problem
of science education that African schooling and education has to contend with.
Subsequent chapters offer inclusive and counter visions of science education that
can be embraced in order to provide and ensure that the African learner receives a
more holistic and inclusive understanding of science education in general.
Our beginning chapter, The question of Indigenous science and science
education is basically an examination of some of the relatively recent literature
addressing the question of instruction, pedagogy and pursuit of science education
globally and specifically in the African context. While we broach and appreciate
the complexity and depth of the subject matter and attempt to understand the
various scholarly methodological approaches to research studies on the topic of
teaching science education, we highlight in particular the significance of the nexus
of the society, culture and nature in understanding and revising science education.
8
INTRODUCTION
Indigenizing the school curriculum can strengthen young learners in the acquisition
of scientific knowledge and skills.
Richard Akpanglo-Nartey, Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw, George J. Sefa Dei and
Kodjo Donkor Taales paper, Childrens Indigenous ideas and the learning of
conventional science examines young learners Indigenous ideas and the learning
and acquisition of conventional science. The paper is informed by the findings of a
specific case study that sought to know and understand some of the ideas children
had on scientific processes and concepts prior to learning of school science.
Through the administration of a questionnaire and conduct of interviews with a
sample of Ghanaian high school students and science teachers, the authors point to
the prior knowledge about science that young learners have about conventional
science is largely informed by their own observations, customs and beliefs of the
society and their religion. Though most of these prior conceptions were at variance
with conventional school science, science teachers found a way to work such
knowledge pointing to the place of conflicting ideas in science education.
Unfortunately, school curriculum materials often do not integrate or work with
learners Indigenous ideas about science. It is argued that a transformed curriculum
that is able to work with learners Indigenous ideas, placing them on the table for
discussion in science education, holds promise for radical science teaching in our
schools.
John Enimah, Kodjo Donkor Taale and Kolawole Raheem in their study
Science student teachers attitude towards improvisation, note that the shortage
of science instructional materials in pre-university institutions in Nigeria has been a
topical issue for quite some time now. The persistence of the problem prompted
their study which targeted levels 200 and 300 students in the education department
of a tertiary institution in Katsina State, Nigeria. A total of 150 randomly selected
students were requested to complete a questionnaire containing 16 Likert-type
attitude items on improvisation. Data from 129 usable questionnaires were then
analyzed. Among study findings, it was revealed the students had a positive
attitude towards improvisation, while the teachers (among the respondents) had a
higher positive attitude than the non-teachers. Notwithstanding, the overall positive
attitude of the students towards improvisation, it was found that 12 of them
had negative attitudes towards improvisation. This interesting finding appears
to indicate that in spite of the students aspiration to be science teachers after
completing their programmes, some of them had not acquired the dispositions
required of professional science teachers. One can only surmise that the nature of
the problem has equally to do with how science has conventionally been taught and
understood in African schooling context.
Dorian Barrow in his paper, Beliefs about the nature of science held by African
teachers in the Caribbean Diaspora argues that theory, methods and knowledge
gained from years of study of Indigenous science and practices apply to the
understanding and improvement of teacher quality and ultimately, student
achievement. With these applications, science education research has the strong
potential to make more effective and systematic contributions to the improvement
of science teaching in culturally diverse school settings. This potential can be
10
INTRODUCTION
Ethiopia survives: Reintegrating our spirituality and culture into our own science
argues that any viable educational options [including science education], must take
into account students spiritual and cultural values. Given that the process of
knowledge construction is influenced by experience, prior knowledge, values,
beliefs, as well as socio-cultural factors of community life, the author argues that
improving science education in Ethiopia requires an examination of the spiritual
and cultural practices in which education is generally contextualized. Using an
ethnographic study based on interviews, observations and focus group discussions,
the paper highlights specific spiritual and cultural values of Ethiopian communities
that can be engaged in science education. It is noted that science has been an
integral part of Ethiopian spirituality and culture and a science education that
resuscitates Indigenous culture can facilitate students learning of science.
Wangui Mburus paper Indigenous conceptions of civic education explores
the educational implications of Indigenous knowledge for promoting science and
civic education in African contexts. The author argues that in the face of rising
violence in many communities, a growing number of educators have viewed civic
education as possessing pedagogic and instructional relevance for the promotion
social cohesion and democratic practices that enhance peaceful coexistence. Mburu
argues that in many Indigenous cultures, civic education has been pursued
primarily as a way to bring about social harmony among diverse cultures and
peoples and also, to ensure mutual coexistence with nature. It is opined that
Indigenous conceptions of civic education is good for humanity in general and that
schools in Africa, rather than mimicking Westocentric conceptions of civic
education, could return to their local cultural resource knowledge base and
understand the principles and ideas that promote genuine civic education. Using
case material from her doctoral dissertation research in Kenya, Mburu shows the
relevance of civic education in Kenyan schools as part of a new wave of critical
science education.
Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw and Vincent Adzahlie-Mensahs article, Achieving
the culture of limited aggression The role of higher education institutions,
undertakes the debate on African science education further through a socio-cultural
and political lens/context. This paper recognizes that educational reform initiatives
are not possible without peace. The necessary conditions for the pursuit of
education must be achieved before one can pursue genuine educational initiatives
in Africa. The paper highlights the nature and extent of the deadly conflicts all over
the globe in the twentyfirst century. It cites the increase in terrorists activities, the
greed in exploiting and use of natural resources and degradation of our
environment are resulting into preventable conflicts and deaths and asks: what can
be done to deal with these problems and lessen the conflicts and the terrible
consequences? It is argued that perhaps an answer lies in establishing Peace
Education in our schools and higher institutions of learning. Through a Culture of
Peace Education, it is hoped that educators can contribute to resolve conflicts
without resorting to war or using the survival of the fittest approach. The paper
advances the principles behind peace education and how it shapes the role higher
education plays in the development of peace culture. There is a focus on the World
12
INTRODUCTION
Education Forum in 2000 that led to two major frameworks relevant to the
development of peace education programme: first, the establishment of the
International Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), which was formed to
coordinate the provision of education and how it can be used for conflict
prevention, both as humanitarian response and for post-conflict reconstruction;
and, second the Dakar Framework for Action which called for the promotion of
educational programmes in ways that promote mutual understanding, peace and
tolerance to prevent violence and conflict. It is argued that peace education
curriculum of education in higher institutions should consider the increasing
migration, the effects of globalization and the advancement of information and
communication technologies which have made people today increasingly mobile.
The chapter by Mawuadem Amedeker and Thomas Young on Environmental
hazard communication: Revisiting the Indigenous methods to meet the challenges
in Ghana, notes that environmental awareness level of rural and urban dwellers in
Ghana has been called into question on a number of occasions. The turning point in
Ghanas environmental concerns came when the Environmental Protection
Council, which later became the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was set
up on 23 January 1974 to protect and improve the environment in Ghana. Since
then, Ghana has initialized a number of international agreements for proper
environmental management and also signed a number of environmental protocols
(e.g., the Kyoto Protocol, signed on 30 May 2003 under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, aimed at halting global warming). The
authors argue that in the Southern world today our institutional frameworks for
environmental impact assessment are modeled on those obtainable in the West.
The motivating factor being that most environmental impact assessment policies
emanate from and are funded by the Western world. Unfortunately, these
international environmental prescriptions often ignore potential contributions from
Indigenous knowledge, hence their failures in African countries. The paper outlines
ways in which students of environmental studies can contribute to Indigenous
science and environmental knowledge. The authors show how parents, families,
elders and the local environment are cultural custodians of invaluable sources of
environmental issues. The authors make a case for integrating Indigenous
knowledge about local sustainable environmental use into the environmental
discourse so as to effectively deal with pressing contemporary environmental
problems and challenges
REFERENCES
Battiste, M., & Henderson, J. Y. (2000). What is indigenous knowledge? In M. Battiste & J. Y.
Henderson (Eds.), Protecting indigenous knowledge and heritage (pp. 3556). Saskatoon: Purich.
Castellano, M. B. 2000. Updating aboriginal traditions of knowledge. In G. J. S. Dei, D. Goldin
Rosenberg, & B. Hall (Eds.), Indigenous knowledges in global contexts (pp. 2136). Toronto:
University of Toronto Press.
Dalvit, L., Murray, S., & Terzoli, A. (2008). The role of indigenous konwledge in computer education
in Africa. In M. Kendall & B. Samways (Eds.), Learning to live in the knowledge society (pp. 287294).
Boston: Springer.
Dei, G. J. S. (1993). Indigenous African knowledge systems. Tropical Geography, 14(1), 2841.
13
14
INTRODUCTION
The possibilities of Indigenous science and the incorporation into school science
and technology education are tremendous. We assert that educators can further the
cause of schooling and education by helping the youth to engage the self, group
and community in the responsibilities of national development, and together with
our diverse communities of learners, develop an in-depth understanding of what it
is we are teaching, learning and why. So we ask what is educating about science?
This is not an easy question. As already noted, this is in part because the term
science itself as has been argued is a loaded term with lots of cultural baggage.
The question is also contentious for a people whose Indigenous/cultural knowledge
base has constantly been devalued over centuries. In this paper, we look at some of
the relatively recent work in the area of pedagogy and instruction of science
education and what they point to in terms of a call for a multicentric perspective on
the education of science through the integration of local cultural knowledge. The
examination of the existing literature, while not exhaustive by any account,
suggests to us that the questions of Indigenous culture, identity, history and politics
can implicate a radical revisioning of science for contemporary learners. It also
suggests that even from a methodological position there are broader philosophical
and theoretical implications of our understanding of science, science education and
Indigenous science. The challenge to create space for the study of Indigenous
science in our schools/academies will require that we understand and examine our
current pedagogical and instructional modes.
THE PEDAGOGY AND INSTRUCTION OF SCIENCE EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS
pedagogies to better address it. Overall, it is apparent in these readings that there is
one way to do science and that students are not presented with any other methods
of knowledge production. Buss (2010) explains that many preservice elementary
teachers exhibit concerns regarding the teaching of math and science. His study
aims to examine the initial efficacy of preservice teachers for teaching science and
mathematics and compare their efficacy for teaching these areas with other
elementary school content areas (p. 290). In his study, Buss (2010) operationalizes
efficacy to refer to the level of competency an individual expects to attain when
teaching elementary content area material efficacy beliefs may vary as a
function of the personal experiences an individual had in a particular content area
(p. 291). He found that preservice teachers efficacy scores were lower for math
and science than other areas. Possible reasons for the lower efficacy scores in
science and math by these teachers include doubts of their own abilities in these
subject areas. In order to increase efficacy ratings, Buss (2010) proposes two
procedures to improve teachers efficacy: witnessing teachers deliver efficient
lectures and taking more effective models of science methods courses and
mathematics courses (p. 295). Finally, a number of questions are asked including
would individuals who have low efficacy beliefs for teaching science spend
less time teaching it? Would they engage in less planning time? Would they deliver
instruction less effectively? Would they expend less energy in the science teaching
situation? (Buss, 2010, p. 295). The object of course is to warn the reader of the
possible ineffective practices of science education and the effects on the students
who do not receive quality schooling. While these questions are important, this
volume seeks to expand the concept of science education in a manner that engages
with many methods of conducting science. After all, science education, if taught in
a manner that engages the knowledges and methods of knowledge production of
the community may become an easier task for the student as well as the educator.
Thus, questions relating to this reading may be: how can the methodologies and
pedagogies of Indigenous science help teachers feel more comfortable in teaching
science? How can the teaching of a subject that inherently engages diverse learners
in the practice of science help a student feel more confident and more engaged?
Efficient teaching may also be a result of finding new methods of engaging with
the material. Hong and Kang (2010) insist on the perceived need to foster and
encourage creativity in science students. The authors argue that science is
ultimately a creative endeavour and most scientific processes involve creativity
(p. 822). Their research surveyed educators in both the United States and South
Korea on their feelings and understanding of creativity and creative students. The
study comes on the heels of reports from educational agencies in both countries
delineating the need for creative students and an emphasis on fostering creativity as
a major facet of a teachers work. The researchers found differences in the ways
how teachers understood creativity, for instance, in relation to ethics, when
creativity was used for an unethical purpose 10% of the participating U.S.
teachers and 39% of Korean participating teachers denied that the student was
creative (p. 830). Most participants in the study also believed that creativity could
be fostered; however, the majority also did not believe that students had this talent.
16
According to the participants of this study, however, teaching for creativity was
limited due to standardized achievement tests which require understanding and
applying only basic concepts, not creativity (p. 835). In this way, given the
prevalence of standardized testing, science education has become a process of
repeating information for the purposes of passing a test rather than the application
of concepts as they affect daily life.
The employment of knowledges to daily life is difficult given the ways that
science is taught. Deanna Kuhn (2010) in her work proposes an argumentation
curriculum that exposes students to the different aspects of making an argument.
Kuhn, quoting Bricker and Bell (2009), points out that the goal of science must
not only be the mastery of scientific concepts but also learning how to engage in
scientific discourse (p. 810), as such, to Kuhn (2010), the goal is to communicate
and most of all to persuade. Scientific thinking becomes a social activity (p. 811).
However, there is a dissonance here because while scientific thinking is
conceptualized as a social activity, the process is presented in individualized
terms and the object is to ensure ones position as the only way of thinking about a
problem. Thus, arguing is understood as conflictual rather than collective learning
experience where the object is to secure commitments from the opponent that can
be used to support ones argument. The second is to undermine the opponents
position by identifying and challenging weaknesses in the opponents argument
(p. 813). As such, the learning experience is not relational experience where both
individuals push the boundaries of their understanding to arrive at a correct
response, instead it is understood as an individualistic process where the object is
to devalue the others point of view and ultimately win. The author goes on to
discuss the role of evidence in this endeavour as a necessary facet of the scientific
process whereby it can strengthen ones argument as well as weaken the counter
argument. However, the author does not speak about the need to engage with all
information surrounding a topic rather than only focusing on that which furthers
ones argument. This process would then make it difficult for a student to change
opinions as an argument goes on since the objective is to win the argument and the
shifting of positions can be constructed as undermining ones initial argument. In
all, while learning how to effectively argue is a valuable tool, it can be
counterproductive as each conversation is then understood as duel where one must
discredit the other until victory is proclaimed in such a combative context.
In the teaching of science, many authors focus on the pedagogical employment
of the scientific method. This topic is taken up in relation to engaging with inquiry
and scientific questions, learning how to observe and finding ways to employ
technology to further scientific thought. Mike Padilla (2010) writes about a
perceived need to increase the inquiry skills of students as well as their ability to
link those skills to critical thought. He defines inquiry as being about logic, its
about reasoning from data and its about applying scientific techniques and skills to
real-world problems (Padilla, 2010, p. 8). With this in mind, Padilla states that
inquiry teaching is an approach that engages student curiosity and wonder, that
inspires students to observe and reason and that helps them to sharpen their criticalthinking and communication abilities (p. 9). Reason and inquiry in this sense
requires a positivist and empirical approach that is data driven. According to the
17
meaning in the science classrooms leads to disenchantment from science in the part
of Indigenous students. As such, Elliot utilizes Aikenheads (2006) concept of
humanistic science to develop a new paradigm that links Western science with a
conceptual shift mediated by metaphoric meaning. This model introduces new
perspectives of human cognition and meaning-making, as well as new approaches
to scientific objectivity and observations of self and others. From a Western
scientific perspective, this includes cognitive and affective understanding of events
in the natural world (p. 296).
Similar to Elliots conceptualization of the false prescribed divergence between
Western understandings of science and Indigenous knowledge, Bradshaw (2010)
writes about trans-species communication. He begins by relating the long history
of Indigenous peoples speaking to animals and then by refuting what used to be
mocking discourses of these practices through the use of Western science.
Bradshaw (2010) explains the framework employed in Indigenous communities
regarding wildlife communities where they were generally treated as sovereign
nations with authority equal to, if not greater than, that of humanity (p. 408).
While these conceptualizations were mocked, some elements of Western science
have begun to adopt similar understandings whereby slowly, modern humanity is
turning from anthropocentrism toward ecocentrism: away from ways of being that
separate humans from other animals and a return to those that bring multiple
species into community (p. 408). Beginning by citing studies finding little genetic
difference between animals and humans, Bradshaw (2010) states that science has
found what Indigenous people have known, that other animals posses (sic)
capacities formerly assumed to be uniquely human and neuropsychological
discoveries have led to a species-inclusive model of the mind depicting humans
and other animals with virtually the same neurobiological structures and
mechanisms underlying what seemed to make us special, including cognition,
emotions, ethics, decision-making, a sense of self, the capacity to suffer
psychologically and vocal learning (p. 409).
In this way, the capacity for humans to interact and communicate with animals
is highlighted by citing individuals who have lived with lions, bears, elephants and
birds. These experiences are understood as employing forms of communication
whereby meaning can be derived. Speech then is critiqued as an ineffective method
of communication and as such an unacceptable excuse for believing animals are
unable to communicate, as Bradshaw (2010) states the verbal channel is a
relatively poor medium of expressing the quality, intensity and nuancing and
emotion of affect in different social situations (p. 414). This then can challenge
beliefs that the ability to engage in human speech provides the holders of such
language as superior species. At the same time, it provides a way to imagine other
forms of communication as more developed and complex. Finally, Bradshaw
(2010), after explaining the close link between humans and animals, as well as
their ability to communicate, critiques the use and abuse of animals as unethical
and cruel and as part and parcel of the supremacist belief of humans over nature.
Other writers have also taken up Indigenous knowledges to critique the
limitations of Western science. Some researchers take up such knowledge in the
20
context of ecology and conservation. Peloquin and Berkes (2009) describe the
ways in which Indigenous knowledges encompass complex understandings of the
ecology in which people live. They argue that while Western science based
societies have tended to simplify ecosystems in order to manage them the
environmental monitoring practices of some Indigenous and rural societies are
significant in identifying ways to perceive the continuum of nature holistically
(p. 533). These practices by Indigenous societies they argue, allow for the
replenishment of valuable resources rather than prioritizing some resources while
squandering all others such as in science-based management practices. However, at
the same time the authors provide an argument of Indigenous science as having a
greater understanding of a phenomenon than Western science, they discredit the
intervention by employing terminology that ultimately devalues such knowledge.
Peloquin and Berkes (2009) place Indigenous ways of knowing in a category
termed fuzzy science. They explain fuzzy science as a form of multi-valued
logic that seeks explanation through approximate rather than numerically precise
reasoning (p. 535). While the authors explain that fuzzy science is used in
different disciplines including computer programming, engineering and
environmental monitoring and assessment (p. 535), it also appears as a backhanded comment as it creates a binary between real or clear science and fuzzy
science. Of course, given the ways in which Indigenous knowledges are
delegitimated, they are relegated to the latter.
What ultimately appears to be the argument for Peloquin and Berkes (2009) is
that science has a quantitative basis while Indigenous ways of knowledge are based
on a complex understanding of qualitative factors. As such, the authors state that
there is a distinction to be made between knowledge as content versus ways of
knowing. The former is static and assumes that knowledge can be treated as
something that can be transferred from one container to another. The latter is
dynamic and focuses on the way knowledge is acquired through practical
experience (p. 585). However, there is still an understanding that through the
employment of a separate prism labeled as fuzzy science, Indigenous knowledges
do not belong in the science category or fit within a limited category that is less
noteworthy. In order to explain the complexity of the method employed by
Indigenous people, the authors provide information from a study in the James Bay
where Indigenous peoples have studied a myriad of factors that affect their geese
hunts. Peloquin and Berkes (2009) provide a number of factors that are taken into
account by the hunters to determine when and how to hunt. These factors include
the need for places to rest to diffuse hunting pressure in space in time, with the
goal of not disturbing migratory geese past a threshold beyond which they would
avoid the territory altogether (p. 537). As the geese hunts have produced less and
less geese, Peloquin and Berkes (2009) highlight the explanations provided by
hunters. These explanations include the encroachment into their territories by
government bodies, industrial interests, changing climate, transgressions of hunting
rules, availability of berries which serve as food for the geese, etc. These factors
explain the complexity of the Indigenous ways of knowing as well as a clear
understanding of the many factors that can affect a single activity, the hunting of
geese. The authors attempt to display the compilation of factors through a model
21
but given the complexity it appears as if the limitations of maps cannot nearly
cover the overall complexity of the understanding of such an environment.
As noted repeatedly, Indigenous ways of knowing are highlighted by their
ability to remain dynamic to the changing conditions of their environment. An
example is a study by Orlove, Roncoli and Kabugo (2010) which focuses on
knowledge of climate weather by a group of people in southwestern Uganda. The
authors begin by operationalizing the term Indigenous knowledges to mean the
place-based knowledge that is rooted in local cultures and generally associated
with long-settled communities which have strong ties to their natural environments
(p. 244). This knowledge, they argue, tends to be the result of cumulative
experience and observation, tested in the context of everyday life and devolved by
oral communication and repetitive engagement rather than through formal
instruction (p. 244). In contrast to what they term modern science, the authors
state that Indigenous knowledges are a flexible entity, which by virtue of [their]
diverse and empirical nature, can easily integrate skills and insights from other
knowledge systems as well as from experimental practice (p. 244). Orlove,
Roncoli and Kabugo (2010) then go on to explain the need for knowledge of
climate systems given the importance of agriculture [and a] domestic water
supply (p. 247). Climate knowledge is of the utmost importance given its scarcity,
a limited labor supply due to the AIDS epidemic, high cost of seed and the
vulnerability to predatory lending. As such, farmers in this region depend on a
system of knowledge regarding historical climate patterns that predates
generations. According to the authors, the collective memory of the farmers in the
district stretches back at least to the early decades of the last century, well before
the beginning of [weather-related] data collection at the nearby meteorological
stations (p. 252). People also employ a number of signs to determine the coming
of rain including an increase in nighttime temperature, shifts in prevailing winds,
the flowering of trees and the arrival of migratory birds. The flowering of coffee
trees represents a dynamic nature of the knowledge system since the trees are
relatively new and there is not a long history of coffee production in the region.
Finally, individuals employ a social nature to knowledge as they share
information about weather with travellers and in their travels. These elements, to
the authors, represent a system that relies on a variety of spatial, temporal and
social scales (p. 261) while also maintaining a strong practical emphasis and
enabling the possibility of including new elements. It is interesting to note that
even after explaining the complexity of the process under which knowledge in
relation to this phenomenon is created as well as the ways under which it has been
tested, the term science is not employed to define it. This may speak to our
collective deficiencies in conceptualizing science as a concrete practice only
happening within specific spaces by particular bodies and labeling all other
methods of knowledge production as being either fuzzy or well outside the
boundaries of science.
There is a large dissonance between Western science and traditional ways of
knowing. Deborah McGregor (2009) takes up this issue by first distinguishing
between different understandings of traditional knowledge and then providing
22
three examples of ways in which such knowledges have been taken up in projects
attempting to incorporate it. According to McGregor (2009), terms like traditional
knowledge tend to connote a false homogeneity of knowledge across the diverse
nations and cultures of Aboriginal peoples. She adds as well traditional implies
that the knowledge is static and confined to information gained in the past (p. 73).
With this in mind, McGregor (2009) outlines differences between traditional
knowledges and western knowledges, she writes:
traditional knowledge is both more and different from Western definitions.
Aboriginal understandings tend to focus on relationships between knowledge,
people and all of creation. Traditional knowledge is viewed as the process of
participating fully and responsibility in such relationships, rather than
specifically the knowledge gained from such experiences. For Aboriginal
peoples, traditional knowledge is not just about understanding relationships; it is
the relationship with creation (p. 75, emphasis in original).
While there have been many attempts to understand traditional knowledges,
these have often involved Western scientific research frameworks. McGregor
(2009) argues that as a result, traditional knowledge is frequently reduced to a
catalogue of information (p. 76). There are also a number of barriers hindering the
use of traditional knowledges including Aboriginal people are not accorded
meaningful participation in studies and other work that should and in some cases
does attempt to use traditional knowledge; Aboriginal people and their
knowledge are viewed as objects suitable for study rather than as people for
working with; Aboriginal people have little control over how the knowledge they
share will be used. Such knowledge can be (and has been) used against its original
holders, or otherwise abused, at a later date (p. 77). To further her point regarding
the different ways in which traditional knowledge and Aboriginal peoples can be
engaged in initiatives in Ontario, McGregor outlines three cases. These cases are a
state-led initiative, a co-operative initiative between the province and the
Anishinabek Nation and a case where a First Nation is in the drivers seat. These
cases, given the ways they are conceptualized engage with traditional knowledges
and the holders of such knowledges in vastly different ways.
REVISIONING SCIENCE EDUCATION IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXTS
modern technology. The author claims that in STS education, one needs to do a
couple of things: first, use familiar materials and processes; second, teach and learn
science through Indigenous technology and third, employ accommodation and
assimilation (co-existence between cultural values and Western science). Jegede
(1994) notes that Africa had and still has its own science and technology [and
that] these were based on very different conceptual and cognitive models, which
were not apparent to, or regarded by, the colonialists who first introduced Western
education to Africa (p.121). Historically, it was assumed that African peoples had
no science (see Maddock, 1981). Jegede (2004) shows in his work the differences
between African and Western science. The former is monistic-vitalistic (see also
Odhiambo, 1972), metaphysical and based on people. Western science is
mechanistic, exact and hypothesis-driven which seeks empirical law, principles,
generalization and theories. Jegede (1994) argues that the problem occurs when
the African must learn Western science against the backdrop of myriad
sociocultural factors brought from the traditional environment. (p.122). He refers to
Knamillers work (1989) linking school science with Indigenous science and
technology in Malawi and notes this quote:
One of the reasons why school science has remained alien to most African
children is because we often fail to take into account the science and technology
local people are doing, what knowledge and skills they have and what problems
they feel are important to consider (see Knamiller, 1989, p. 2.).
Jegede (1994) concludes with the suggestion of a conceptual ecocultural
paradigm which is a state in which the growth and development of an
individuals perception of knowledge is drawn from the sociocultural environment
in which the learner lives and operates (P. 130).
Keanes (2008) relatively recent work explores the ways in which science
educators can contribute to both meaningful science education and community
well-being through understanding key aspects of an African worldview in Zulu
community. Relying on the South African case study of 2005 when the National
Research Foundation formed focus groups on Indigenous Knowledge system and
repeated calls for development and inclusion of Indigenous Knowledges [IK] come
from academics, the focus was on how school science can contribute to solving
problem in relation to environmental issues. Keane (2008) notes that [a]ttempts to
include IK in textbooks usually consist of traditional bit that fit into the current
syllabus (i.e., only fragments of IK). This is a gross oversimplification of IK
preservation and it demonstrates our Western science hubris (p. 589). She further
observes that even when IK examples are currently included in science curricula,
the examples occur within a Western science paradigm (p. 589). Through her
study at science education for two schools in rural communities, she highlights
some themes critical to acknowledging a collective Chibini worldview, such as
history, medicine, nature, water, time and Ubuntu. She states that [e]ducators and
curriculum designers in South Africa need to understand the role of worldview
related to these themes (p.610).
Le Grange (2007) has also argued for rethinking the science education in South
Africa. The study examines the ways in which Western science and Indigenous
24
crafts as the method to aid the teaching of computer science. They point out that
Ubuntu, African philosophical concept, has named one of the most popular Linux
distributions, which values of sharing and emphasizes the interdependency
between humans. Ubuntu captures the spirit of open source community more
precisely than comparable Western terms. In effect to further African youth
education in computer science, the authors call for a new software programme for
marginalized students. In their project at Rhodes University, they developed and
tested materials (more than 150 computer terms) in isiXhosa which also integrates
multimedia. This programme was developed with students input. The authors
conclude that culturally appropriate metaphors and examples that support existing
computer skills course help students build their confidence and uncover the
potential of their own local languages and cultural knowledges to help them
academically.
Ezeifa (2003) draws on his experience teaching mathematics to Indigenous
students in Canada, America and African countries. He unequivocally states that
the integration of Indigenous knowledges such as folklore, myths, legends and
taboos in science and mathematics education, will help address current issues of
low enrolment and academic performance of students from Indigenous cultures.
The author argues that while Indigenous communities of African, Asian, Mayan,
Hispanic and Aboriginals contribute to the development of science and mathematics
(for example, the modern system of numerals, negative number, concepts of
congruence, Algebraic concepts, etc.) their contributions are largely ignored in
textbooks. Ezeifa (2003) argues the lack of teaching Indigenous students real life
and place they live (where they are connected to, physically, psychologically and
spiritually) in the science and mathematics curriculums and current methods of
teachers is a huge problem. The author argues the distance from the connection
between the subject areas and place [home environment] is one of the strong
reasons why students feel alienated from science and mathematics. Regarding to
the teaching methods, students from Indigenous cultural background usually adopt
the holistic approach to information processing and also field-dependent learners.
Bringing local cultural knowledge into school science education in Africa will
demand that we rethink some of our deeply held reservations about cultural forms
of knowing. We argued in the introductory chapter, for example, about the place of
spirituality in schooling and education. As we move forward in educating young
learners for tomorrow, we have to grapple with key questions about science
education that implicate spiritual knowings: How do we teach local cultural
knowledge as Indigenous science that emphasizes a physical and metaphysical
interdependence and connections? How do we approach science and technology
studies that connect with local learners and their surrounding social and physical
environments? How do we work with Indigenous spiritual ontology that asserts the
universe is basically a spiritual universe? How do we broach the teaching of
spiritual identity as a way of knowing in schools? These are not questions with
easy answers. Elsewhere, one of us has proposed the creation of what he has
termed a trialectic space in schools (see Dei, 2011). This space will involve a
dialogue among multiple parties a sort of dialogic encounters with an epistemic
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The current scientific activity in Africa reflects the view that quality science
education and science-based community development projects can effectively
transform social welfare (Bamiro, 2007). That view is based on the long standing
experience with the content of school science and its direct and indirect
transformation of conditions in everyday life. For this reason, development
scholars in general and science educators in particular, have proposed science
education as one of the key means for social economic development (ADEA, 2011;
Bamiro, 2007; Dei, 2003; Thisen, 1993; UNESCO, 2008, 1983). Yet, despite
decades of the science education endeavour in Africa, Africa is still challenged in
the 21st century in many areas of social welfare development. But the literature
points to a likely cause of the problem: lack of sustainable science in Africa or lack
of an endogenous culture of science (Bamiro, 2007; Swift, 1992; Thisen, 1993).
Endogenous culture of science refers to the absence of a critical mass of people
who purposefully attempt to transform the living conditions in everyday life using
the principles of the discipline of science. A working definition for science and
other terms is provided toward the end of the Introduction.
Additionally, judging from the burst of scientific activity in Africa, it is
reasonable to assume that science education and science-related community
development activities are gradually and implicitly facilitating the development of
a culture of science. This is a fair assumption, especially given the long-standing
move worldwide in the science education endeavour to enhance the transfer of
school-based science to solve problems in everyday life (Fensham, 1992; Layton,
1991). Furthermore, there is evidence in the literature to show that the science
curricula and community development projects have responded to the knowledgeapplication challenge by revising curricula (UNESCO, 2008), improving the
quality and quantity of development projects (IDRC, 2007) and re-evaluating the
science and technology policy expectations (Bamiro, 2007).
This chapter will explore the science education and social welfare concerns that
are directly addressed by science education literature and community development
efforts. I will argue that, to engender endogenous science in the African continent,
science education policy makers, researchers, educators and community developers
must begin to bring together and act upon the excellent, but disparate, ideas that
inform capacity building and science education endeavours. The following areas of
Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw et al.,(eds.), Contemporary Issues in African Sciences
and Science Education, 2954. 2012 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.
WANJA GITARI
the literature will be reviewed and synthesized to examine how the opportunities
afforded by school science and community development projects might be utilized
to promote social welfare in Africa: (i) science and technology policy and practice,
(ii) the use of school science to solve problems in everyday life and (iii) social
economic welfare and community development projects. Before reviewing these
areas, I provide a working definition of key terms in the following paragraph.
The meaning of the term science as it used here reflects the emergent concern of
this chapter, which is mainly the efficacy of science education in African school.
Discursively, science is used (i) to refer to the explanation and understanding of
natural phenomena concerning the physical, biological and chemical domains.
Such reference is located either in the school culture (school-based science or
science education as distinguished by various subject areas) or in the everyday
culture (Indigenous science or local knowledge). Specific meaning for science is,
of course, located in the context in which the term science is used. (ii) The term is
also used to refer to the outcomes of skilfully integrating concepts, skills and
practices of various subject areas such as economics, sociology, religion,
mathematics, literature, politics, technology, biology, chemistry, physics and so
forth, or knowledge domains such as Indigenous knowledge to solve problems in
everyday life. The result of such multi-faceted integration is the broad multidisciplinary scientific literacy posited by Roth and Calabrese-Barton (2004).
Further, drawing from the specific and general meaning of science, the science
project in Africa refers to the organizationally structured attempts to use schoolbased science and Indigenous/local science, by various knowledge generating and
leadership sectors such as schools, universities and colleges, governmental
organizations, non-governmental organizations and international organizations to
positively transform living conditions.
Endogenous science is the scientific literacy that is inspired by local needs, but
crafted using knowledge from all domains of life. Notably, the lack of endogenous
science in Africa has resulted, in part, from the advancement of the narrow view of
scientific literacy. The narrow perspective promotes the position that scientific
literacy is developed only through certain school subjects, specifically biology,
chemistry and physics. Additionally, the narrow view of scientific literacy has
contributed to the devaluing of the role of Indigenous and local knowledge in the
development of endogenous science. Such devaluing emanates from the mode of
knowledge production in the academy that privileges certain forms of human
experiences over other forms. For instance, analytical methodologies are advanced
over holistic methodologies, written communication is favoured over oral
communication, performance is given prominence over participation, competition
is nurtured whereas cooperation is marginalized and the sense of sight is elevated
over other human senses. For a full exposition of the ways in which knowledge
production in the academy has marginalized and stunted the development of
knowledge production in other domains, see the edited work by Dei (1999) and
Riley (1999).
The remaining part of this chapter is organized into seven sections. The first
section is the cultural context for the discussion (School-based science as a human
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race and culture to other fields of human experience. For instance, natural
philosophers (the scientists of the time) separated the discipline of science from the
discipline of technology in an attempt to purify scientific pursuits. They viewed
technology as the application of scientific knowledge and not a part of natural
philosophy (Aikenhead, 2006; de Vries, 1996).
Eventually, a new name science was adopted to replace the name natural
philosophy. One of the consequences of the name change was the organizational
separation of science from technology. According to Aikenhead (2006), the
separation that is still prevalent today is the erroneous notion that technology is
solely applied science, thereby maintaining the ancient Greek philosophy
(ideology) that holds pure science superior to practical knowledge (p. 11). From
then on the label science and its symbolic import to do with purity influenced the
emergence and practice of school science curriculum worldwide (Fensham, 1992,
1988). But in recent times, science and technology educators have sought to
re-integrate science and technology to reflect the synergetic existence of the two
disciplines (Gilbert, 1992; Hodson, 1999; Jenkins, 1996; Layton, 1991; Pedretti,
1996; Venville, Wallace, Rennie & Malone, 1998). Currently the epistemological
separation of science and technology is no longer tenable. Indeed a new term,
technosciences has been coined to underscore the interrelatedness of science and
technology (Sillitoe, 2007; Turnbull, 1997). In the ensuing discussion, the
reference to science will assume the practical and logical co-existence of science
and technology will privilege the role of other ways of knowing in the science
project in Africa, as emphasized below.
Another point to note is that science is one way of understanding and explaining
natural phenomena, among other ways (Bayboy & Maughan, 2009; Bazin, 1993;
Cajete, 1999; Dei, 1999; Harding, 1996; Hodson, 1993; Iaccarino, 2003; KruglySmolska, 1994; Sillitoe, 2007; Turnbull, 1997; Worsley, 1997) and therefore
educators and development specialists need to be cognizant of other ways of
explaining and understanding natural phenomena that are outside the traditional
positivistic paradigm of school science (Aikenhead & Mitchell, 2011; Swift, 1992).
Sillitoe (2007) emphasizes this observation:
This is necessary not only because [local or indigenous knowledge] should
continue to add to global sciences awesome fund of knowledge, but also
because it might help us to manage this knowledge more effectively for the
planet and humankind. It is becoming increasingly evident that our astounding
scientifically informed technological advances are coming at considerable and
possibly unsustainable costs (p.16).
Setting aside the sometimes contentious issue as to whether other ways of
knowing about nature should be granted similar recognition as school science (see
for instance, Cobern & Loving, 2001), I will assume there is value in allowing
other ways of knowing space where they can interrogate each other. Interrogation
is a term used to depict the art and technique of allowing scientific knowledge and
local knowledge to co-evolve so as to build endogenous or sustainable science
32
(Bazin, 1993; Cajete, 1999; Harding, 1996; Iaccarino, 2003; International Council
for Science [ICSU], 2002; Sillitoe, 2007; Turnbull, 1997; Worsley, 1997).
For purposes of the discussion in this chapter, I also need to debunk the
erroneous popular view of scientists as uniquely distanced and objective and
science as impeccable (Harding, 1996). Scientists, like all human beings, work in
cultural and social contexts, they have passions and dreams and they accomplish
their goals within certain human limitations. There is also evidence that
mystification of science in science curricula impacts the way students view and
respond to school-based science (Sutherland, 2002; Hodson, 2003). On this point,
Kozulin (2003) argues that students appreciation of the specificity of scientific
approach and scientific language as distinct from the everyday one constitutes one
of the major factors contributing to the acquisition of scientific concepts (p. 29).
Kozulins (2003) observation is a valuable contribution to the discussion on the
development of endogenous science. It sets the conceptual tone for this chapter,
although the argument is not further developed in this chapter to maintain focus on
scientific and development activities in Africa.
THE NEED FOR ENDOGENOUS SCIENCE
Give people fish and you have fed them for a day, teach them how to fish and you
will have fed them for the rest of their lives. Although this proverb has become a
clich in public discourse, it captures very well the dire need for capacity building
in Africa. Subsequently, in this chapter, I argue that science teaching and learning
in Africa, in school and in community settings, must focus on the development of
endogenous science that can nourish the roots of capacity building in the continent.
The scientific activity located in Africa must be creatively integrated into everyday
life if lasting change in social welfare is to be attained from effective capacity
building.
In the last four decades, Africa has been largely targeted for capacity building.
Yet, the gains are dismal judging from general living conditions and extensive
material poverty and all its implications (United Nations, 2011). Based on the
conclusions drawn by several scholars (see ADEA, 2011; Dei, 2003, 2004;
Fagerlind & Saha, 1989), capacity building aid to African governments has, so far,
encouraged corruption and dampened creativity. Indeed, the problem of capacity
building is enormous and intriguing. This reality was, for instance, brought to the
fore during the 2009 Munk Debate on Foreign Aid in Toronto, Canada (Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation [CBC], 2009). The debate panel consisted of celebrated
international economists: Stephen Lewis (North American context), Hernando De
Soto (South American context), Dambiso Moyo (African context) and (Paul
Collier, European context). The panellist grappled with the question of whether aid
has done more harm than good in developing countries. The debate was framed
around the thesis of Moyos 2009 book Dead Aid: Why aid is not working and how
there is a better way for Africa. Although the panellists differed in their emphasis
on how best to deliver development aid, it was unanimously argued that the roots
of capacity building must above all else be nourished in developing contexts.
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the way they act upon their environment and the collective creation of new knowledge
(externalization). In this regard, Engestrom (2009) stresses that object-oriented
actions are always, explicitly or implicitly, characterized by ambiguity, surprise,
interpretation, sense-making and potential for change (p. 3). Further, Engestrom
(1999) observes that externalization reaches its peak when a new model for the
activity is designed and implemented. As the new model stabilizes, internalization
of its inherent ways and means again becomes the dominant form of learning and
development (p. 33). Ultimately, lasting development and learning is achieved
when skill, understanding and perspective are advanced to meet the needs of the
local culture (Mezirow, 1991; Rogoff, 1990; Vasquez, 2006). The cultural approach
seeks to imitate parameters of learning that resonate with real life settings. The
practical application of the cultural learning theoretical stance is outlined later in
the chapter.
Arguably, learning that occurs in community development activities is
facilitated through everyday learning tools such as repeating information,
classifying, categorizing, predicting and inferring. The occurrence of repetitious
information in everyday life and the opportunities to classify, categorize, predict
and infer is what builds an individuals or groups interpretive knowledge
(Bransford & Schwartz, 1999, p. 71; see also Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1996).
Interpretive knowledge is the communities mind map that has networks of
concepts organised in an intuitive format to aid in future learning, further
knowledge network extensions and spontaneous and non-spontaneous retrieval of
information for solving problems in everyday life.
School learning is important in this regard because it gives the opportunities for
spontaneous and non-spontaneous acquisition and application of the pertinent
school-science concepts. Notably, both school-based learning and everyday
learning are important for the effective acquisition and use of information.
Panofsky, John-Steiner and Blackwell (1990) for instance, point out that school
learning gives opportunities for the exercising of higher psychological processes,
whereas, everyday contexts allow for immediacy of meaning (p.251).
In addition, Bransford, Brown, Cocking, Donovan & Pellegrino (2000) discuss
the conditions that promote the use of school-based science for problem solving in
everyday life. These include (i) the study of similar key attributes in the source
(school) and target (everyday life) settings as mediated by the teachers, by
addressing students prior conceptions of natural phenomena. (ii) The meaningful
application of one concept at a time, in varied real life settings. Such application
may be achieved, initially through the acquisition of a rich body of facts that is
organized into networks of ideas from which knowledge users can retrieve
information for application. Organization of knowledge into networks of ideas is
obtained through metacognitive practices. Metacognition involves helping learners
systematically reflect upon their thinking and their learning. (iii) The presence of
social, historical, psychological and cultural factors outside school that are
cognitively known and actively questioned by learners. In order to be effectively
redressed, the social, political, historical, psychological and cultural factors in the
students world must be clearly understood using school science concepts and local
36
Bransford et al. (2000) maintain that transfer from school to everyday environment
is the ultimate purpose of school-based learning (p. 78). The expectation that people
will use the knowledge acquired formally at school, in out-of-school contexts
assumes far transfer, for example in the use of the knowledge of titration in high
school chemistry to innovate a devise for water filtration in the village. Other forms
of transfer are vertical and near. Vertical transfer is the application of foundational
knowledge in the understanding of more complex ideas as in learning the patterns in
the periodic table and using that understanding to predict the chemical reactions of
different elements. Near transfer is applying a set of skills learned in one task to a
different but related task across disciplines, for example, graphing in mathematics
and graphing in geography (Bransford, et al., 2000).
The need for the transfer of scientific knowledge from the school context to
everyday life has been widely demonstrated in the literature (Aikenhead & Ogawa,
2007; Bransford & Schwartz, 1999; Bransford, et al., 2000; Calabrese-Barton &
Tan, 2009; Roth & Calabrese-Barton, 2004; Roth & Lee, 2004; Sable, Howell &
Wilson, 2007). It is, for instance, argued that to a significant extent, cognitive and
affective aspects of far transfer are influenced by the micro and macro contexts of
school and everyday life: the political, social, economic aspects and so forth. And
as mentioned earlier, there is also much to be gained when school scientific
knowledge is informed by or informs the local knowledge in problem solving.
Sillitoe (2007) is for instance of the view that the learning process should be a
two-way affair, not only facilitating the adoption of scientifically informed ideas
by local communities but also the informing of scientific understanding with local
knowledge (p. 3). Increasingly science educators and curriculum policy-makers
are calling for such reciprocal informing, that would eventually facilitate far
learning transfer.
Consistently, educators advocate for science learning that not only will help
learners understand and explain natural phenomena by scientific means but also
motivate them to apply science in their environments, a consequence of taking
ownership (agency) of science concepts. As mentioned earlier, learners take
ownership when the content of their learning resonates with the experiences in
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their everyday lives. This is an issue of relevance (see for instance, AAAS, 2001;
Boaler, 1993; Canadian Ministers of Education [CME], 1995; Fensham, 1988;
Gagne, 1985; Griffiths, 2003; Haskell, 2001; Hodson, 1993; Howie, 2001; Hurd,
1997; Jenkins, 2003; Roth & Calabrese-Barton, 2004; Roth & Lee, 2004).
Globally and for several decades science educators and policy planners have
grappled with the problem of relevance. Focusing on relevance, the 5th
International Council of Associations for Science Education [ICASE], 1986
conference in Malaysia suggested that curricula topics be planned around issues in
everyday life such as health, food and agriculture, energy; land, water and mineral
resources; industry and technology, the environment and information technology
(Hodson, 1994; Kelly & Lewis, 1987). Accordingly, the ultimate goal for science
teaching and learning is for students and teachers to re-evaluate school science in
terms of its application in local situations. In furthering the concern for relevance,
Ogunniyi (1988) proposes the fusion of school science and Indigenous science
through the careful examination of students worldviews, followed by case by case
analysis of pertinent curricular elements. Additionally, Jegede (1994) suggests the
use of a conceptual ecocultural paradigm a state in which the growth and
development of an individuals perception of knowledge is drawn from the socio
cultural environment in which the learner lives and operates (p.130).
Other findings that have direct implication for the school-science project in
Africa explain the apparent lack of relevance of school-based science in
communities that are historically under-represented in the scientific enterprise and
that underachieve in school science. The lack of relevance has been noted (i) as the
result of inefficient science education programmes, in general and ineffective
science teaching and learning, in particular, (ii) cultural incongruity between
school and home environments evidenced in the epistemological polarity between
the scientific world view and learners world views, (iii) ethnic, racial and gender
bias in science curricula materials and practice and (iv) inadequate linkage of
industry, education and the science and technology sectors (Aikenhead & Mitchell,
2011; Atwater, 1998; Bamiro, 2007; Cajete, 1999; Cobern, 1991; Gitari, 2003, 2008;
Hampton, 1995; Howie, 2001, Jenkins, 2003; 1996; Lemke, 2001; Ogawa, 1995;
Thisen, 1993), among others.
In the remainder of the chapter, the four questions posed earlier will be discussed:
(i) how will the science project in Africa make a sustainable and positive change in
the way people solve problems in their everyday lives? (ii) How might student
agency be facilitated through school-based science? (iii) How will local knowledge
be validated within science-related development efforts? (iv) What is required in
order for rural people to mobilize science for the amelioration of suffering?
BUILDING AGENCY AMONG YOUTHS AND ADULTS
There are currently excellent ideas in the science education literature for framing
relevant science curricula for capacity building in developing contexts. A few of
these approaches will be highlighted here. One of the most innovative is Hodsons
(1999) framework of teaching about science, teaching science, doing science; and
38
teaching students about their world, our world and the world (Hodson, 1993).
Using Hodsons frameworks science is demystified and students are effectively
motivated to find ways in which science concepts can be applicable to solve
problems in everyday life and to take action where necessary. Importantly,
approaching the teaching of science through the students worlds gives them the
opportunity to identify with aspects of science that resonate with their experiences
in everyday life. Students world can be integrated through community
development projects, as described later in the chapter. By identifying with the
needs in their worlds, students acquire the agency necessary for action on a daily
basis. Hodsons (1993, 1999) formulations are applicable to the existing challenges
in science education in Africa and greatly satisfy the cultural approach to learning
that was discussed earlier.
Further, as reported in Wellington (2001), Millar has provided questions that
educators should ask themselves when designing and implementing science
curricula. Millars curriculum design inventory is instructive for the purpose of
capacity building because it prompts educators to intentionally reconsider the
purpose of engaging in educational acts, such as the selecting of topics. To
illustrate the practical application of Millars inventory, I will show the kinds of
curricular decisions that might be involved in a rural agricultural economy such as
my village, Kirumi, in Kenya.
Millars curricular inventory has four categories bearing the codes, U, D, C and
X, respectively. U codes for everyone ought to understand this at an appropriate
level, for utilitarian reasons (i.e., it is practically useful). D codes for everyone
ought to understand this at an appropriate-level, for democratic reasons (i.e., it is
necessary knowledge for participation in decision making). C codes for everyone
ought to understand this at an appropriate level, for cultural reasons (i.e., it is a
necessary component of an appreciation of science as a human enterprise).
X codes for it is not necessary that everyone know this. It need not be included in
a science curriculum whose aim is public understanding of science (quoted in
Wellington, 2001, p. 30, emphasis in the original). The topics are listed from
number 1 to number 12: (1) the germ theory of disease, (2) the heliocentric model
of the solar system, (3) the carbon cycle, (4) the reactivity series for metals, (5) the
electron magnetic spectrum, (6) radioactivity and ionizing radiation, (7) newtons
laws of motion, (8) energy: its conservation and dissipation, (9) an understanding
of simple series and parallel electric currents, (10) the theory of plate tectonics,
(11) Darwins theory of evolution, (12) acids and bases.
In considering Millars inventory for Kirumis curricular purposes, it seems that
some topics equally fit in more than one category. For example, the germ theory of
disease could be taught for its application (utilitarian aspect), for individual and
community health, as well as for helping with decision making (democratic
reasons) that affect the local community. Democratic decision making might
concern the availability of contaminant free drinking water, from the local river,
River Ganga. Other topics for utilitarian and democratic purposes are acids and
bases, radioactivity and ionizing radiation, Darwins theory of evolution, the
heliocentric model of the solar system, energy: its conservation and dissipation and
39
WANJA GITARI
the carbon cycle. The latter four topics would especially help students acquire
relevant and balanced knowledge with respect to the causes and consequences of
climate change. The Kirumi students could learn the following mainly for
utilitarian and cultural purposes: reactivity series for metals, the electromagnetic
spectrum, an understanding of simple series and parallel electric currents and
Newtons laws of motion.
Although a discussion with respect to the cultural appropriateness of the topics
and the extent of their coverage to enhance knowledge transfer to everyday life
cannot be fully developed in this chapter, aspects of the question of knowledge
transfer that are within the scope of this chapter will be discussed later.
One of the most instructive projects in the use of school science ideas in real life
situations has been carried out by Aikenhead (2000). Aikenhead and team
members developed teaching units that have relevant content for the First Nations
residents in Saskatchewan. The project specifically facilitates the students
identification with tribal roots by using applicable and appropriate cultural
content (Aikenhead, 2000, p. 4). For example, the cultural knowledge of
manufacturing snow shoes has been used to motivate students to study synthetic
materials, a domain of the discipline of chemistry, thus promoting cross-cultural
science teaching and learning. Such cross-cultural teaching and learning honours
knowledge integration and may result in the successful combined use of local
knowledge and school-based science to solve problems in everyday life, as
advanced in this chapter.
But Aikenhead (2006) also cautions about the importance of paying attention to
the various mechanisms by which school-based science concepts might be adapted
by pupils, through assimilation, acculturation or enculturation. Arguably, the extent
and quality of the transfer of school-based science to everyday life depends on
which of these mechanisms is prevalent in the science education setting. Assimilation
involves a loss of self determination and cultural identity. Enculturation is expected
where the ethos of school science is congruent with the everyday culture of the
student. Acculturation is characterized by the appropriation by students of
applicable aspects of school-based science resulting to transformative everyday
thinking: everyday thinking is a combination of commonsense thinking and some
scientific thinking, often depending on context (Aikenhead, 2006, p. 19).
Another significant research project that has dealt with knowledge use in
real-life contexts was conducted by Calabrese-Barton (2003). The design of her
study is based on the cultural approach to learning and Frerian (1970) model of
consciousness-raising. The study involved middle school students in an inner city
school in the United States of America. Using critical questioning and consensus
building, akin to Freires thematic analysis, the students made positive change in
their community by constructing a playground in a space that previously served as
a dumping ground. Calabrese-Barton (2003) found that most of the students
acquired agency from the new awareness they had of their own abilities and
responsibilities to use the knowledge acquired in school for the betterment of their
community. Arguably, Calabrese-Bartons after school programme model and
40
WANJA GITARI
that coding and decoding of lived reality generates contradictions and tensions. The
contradictions and tensions eventually lead to a transformation of subjects
thinking and an alteration of their means of acting upon their environment leading
to the collective creation of new knowledge, as explained earlier. Freires (1970)
approach is well supported by theorizing in the social sciences on thinking,
knowing and and knowledge-use. As discussed earlier the literature maintains that
when people are involved in goal setting, deliberating on their goals and acting
upon their goals, they achieve a meaningful understanding of received information
and knowledge, that is, lived reality (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Rogoff, 1990; Roth &
Calabrese-Barton, 2004; Roth & Lee, 2004).
Yet, it is important to note again that the construction of new knowledge is not
conceived as the act of a single individual but of the collective: individuals do not
create knowledge, they reproduce or transform it by acting on what they receive
from collective formations, or the larger society (Engestrom & Miettinen, 1999, p.
10). Importantly, the community aspect of knowledge creation discussed here
resonates with ways of knowing in majority of cultural groups in Africa. The
knowledge creation approach is therefore culturally relevant in the attempt to
improve social welfare and advance the science education project in Africa.
Admittedly, the use of coding and decoding of existing realities (thematic
analysis) to help integrate the school scientific way of knowing with the local ways
of knowing is not easy to implement within the current African education systems
(Dei, 2004). The nature and structure of the education systems and the content of
the underlying policies largely militate against such a goal (Gitari, 2008). Instead,
teaching is geared toward standardized tests leaving no room for the exploration of
how school science may be integrated with local knowledge for problem solving in
everyday life, or for far transfer. It is necessary to stress that for both adults and
school going youth, it is crucial that knowledge and skills that are useful for
problem solving in everyday life become common knowledge within the
community. Indeed, there is evidence to support the claim that everyday thinking is
more active in students thought processes than school-based science as recourse to
problem solving in everyday life (Gitari, 2009a).
Alternative approaches to teaching and learning science refer to a model that is
markedly different from the existing ones for promoting the creation of
endogenous science in Africa. I have already mentioned that the existing model
focuses on adults in villages and and that the formal science education setting does
not emphasize the building of endogenous science. The model I am proposing here
involves science teaching and learning by adult villagers, pupils, teachers and
facilitators and/or researchers in the course of participating in rural development
projects through emancipatory action research. Emancipatory action research
typically follows dissatisfaction with prevailing conditions, for example,
dissatisfaction with the ecological conditions of a local river. Following, decisions
on the suitable cooperative strategies and action research principles are evaluated
based on the cultural approach. The action research process involves collaborating
in framing the questions, deciding how to go about finding answers or the right
cause of action, agreeing on what counts as evidence and resolving emerging
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WANJA GITARI
contradictions and tensions. Furthermore, the action research process follows the
principles of cooperative learning, such as observe, plan, act and reflect (Atkinson,
1994; Engestrom, 1999; Moss, Girard, & Haniford, 2006; Roth & Lee, 2004;
Vadeboncoeur, 2006).
Although action research has traditionally been associated with the need to
improve professional skill and performance (see for instance, Feldman & Atkin,
1995; Elliot, 1992; McNiff, 1988; Zeichner, 1993), in educational research it has
emerged as a methodology that encompasses a wide range of social endeavours
(Noffke, 1997). Ladkin (2007) adds that the production of practical knowledge in
the everyday lives of participants is a central goal of action research. In this
respect, Ladkin (2007) defines action research as a research methodology grounded
in the belief that research with human beings should be participative and
democratic: researchers working within this frame are charged with being
sensitive to issues of power, open to plurality of meanings and interpretations and
able to take into account the emotional, social, spiritual and political dimension of
those with whom they interact (p. 479). Furthermore, with regard to formal
education Grundy (1987) points out that emancipation is one of the three keystones
of curricula concerns: emancipatory curriculum entails a reciprocal relationship
between self-reflection and action (p. 19).
To illustrate the emancipatory action research approach, I will use a hypothetical
object of activity situated in my village, Kirumi. The object of activity is the
reclamation of the local river, River Ganga. For the activity, youth and adults
would establish learning relationships around the short term goal to rehabilitate
River Ganga. And for the purpose of the envisioned river reclamation project, the
pupils and their teachers at the local secondary school are considered a part of the
rural community in which their school is located and to which they are invited to
give back. The giving back is facilitated through the proposed river reclamation
emancipatory action research project. In addition, science learning and improvement
of living conditions is anticipated.
In particular, it is envisioned science learning and the transformation of social
welfare will occur through the establishment and continued participation in an
epistemological space that I refer to as the Community Advancement and Innovation
Centre (CAIC). [See Appendix A for a sketch of the organizational structure for
the centre.] The CAIC would be based on the principles of the cultural approach,
which requires the youth (students) and the adults to collectively agree on the need
to reclaim the river. Following the agreement, they should work together to find
information on river reclamation repertoire from the everyday knowledge domain
and school-based science. The centre should help to sustain and move the gains
from emancipatory action research projects into the future, while integrating and
legitimating local knowledge.
This might mean that the resulting Community Advancement and Innovation
centres in various parts of Africa should be located within the local secondary
schools to enable material and knowledge sharing. Such school-community
collaboration would contribute to the schools science departments, specifically
and libraries, as well as facilitate the acquiring of knowledge by youth and adults in
44
the communities. Further, the centres would promote school and community
partnerships in an infrastructure that would sustain the mutual learning and transfer
of school science and everyday knowledge even after the community development
facilitators have long left the field.
In sum, what I am advancing here is, the view that the fostering of agency
should be the guiding principle in science teaching and learning and that changefostering research methodologies such as emancipatory action research might make
important contribution to the science project in Africa. Emancipatory action
research would grant the right conditions for youth and adults to cooperatively set
goals, pose problems, ask questions, find answers and critically evaluate the
solutions for implementation. Indeed cooperative activities are the hallmark for
adult learning (Merizow, 1991; Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 1998). And as
already stated, science education literature posits that school going youth are
motivated to engage in learning activities when they can determine the topic to be
investigated and when the learning activity involves seeking a solution to an
existing problem with which they identity (Aikenhead, 2001; Bransford, et al.,
2000; Hodson, 2003).
It is also expected that group discussions on how to solve the problem, and
mediation from local knowledge experts will heighten students awareness of
everyday knowledge (their everyday understanding) as a likely source for problem
solving tools (Gitari, 2009a). For instance, the river reclamation problem would
require exchange of information and judicial questioning of the information by
individuals within the community through leadership and encouragement by those
who are knowledgeable about river reclamation. As new information is acquired
and the already available information modified, the ways in which people relate to
each other and understand the conditions of the river would be transformed. These
changes might lead, in a cyclical pattern involving feedback and output loops, to
the creation of new ideas and artifacts, thereby helping residents mobilize
knowledge to ameliorate suffering. For example, the changes might lead to the
transformation of the way people perceive their reality, ranging from the provision
of clean abundant water, to environmental protection.
As already stated, the CAI centres would help enhance the long term goals in
community development projects. The purpose of the long term goals would be to
engender life-long learning of scientific and everyday concepts and skills
concerning everyday life in the local area. In the case of the river project, the
reclamation would be short term. However, the long-term benefits of the project
would be the residents increased capacity and confidence to deal with other
problems using a knowledge-and-action-framework. That is to say, for instance,
the goal of reclaiming the local river should also involve discussions about the big
picture of climate change, in effect educating the youth and adults about global
environmental issues.
Specifically, the environmental problems in the community are to be framed
from a global perspective, as they are not necessarily unique to Kirumi village or
the River Ganga. For example the reasons behind the depletion of snow on Mount
Kenya are global in scope. However, the community still must focus on what can
45
WANJA GITARI
be accomplished at the local level. Evidently, the catchment area for the local river
(River Ganga) in my village in Kenya includes the Mt. Kenya ice cap, which is
gradually melting away. Additionally, land use practices such as farming have
depleted River Ganga of most of its riverine vegetation, thereby exposing the river
banks to natural and human caused erosion. Hopefully the envisioned CAI centre
will create an epistemological space where youths and adults might apply their
scientific thought processes outside of school with the hope of establishing a
problem-solving connection between school science and local knowledge. In the
long term, projects such as the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (CCAA,
mentioned at the introduction of this chapter) will be characterised by sustainable
integration of knowledge by youth and adults from school-based science, local
knowledge and other spheres of knowing in everyday life.
SUMMARY
There are many reasons (for example, political, historical, cultural and
epistemological) why school-based science, a universal human activity, is not
readily applicable for problem solving in everyday life to improve social welfare.
In this chapter, I have argued that science students and teachers working in
cooperation with community members and researchers could transform social
welfare while developing student agency. That way, school-based science could be
fully mobilized to help ameliorate the challenging living conditions in most of
Africa. Referring to the published literature and case examples of teaching and
learning approaches, I have shown that mobilizing school-based science will
require, most importantly the integration of local knowledge with scientific
knowledge.
The desired integration might be achieved by conducting school science related
community development projects using a cultural approach. The key principle in
the cultural approach is that transferable knowledge is best learned using
cooperative principles where novices are mentored by knowledgeable members of
the community (experts). Novices might work with experts through emancipatory
action research projects to bring about the necessary changes. Change will
inevitably be realized when tensions and contradictions in the living conditions
demand the creation of a new reality.
The application of the cultural learning theoretical position is that positive
impact of school-based science in the everyday lives of the African people will be
gainfully achieved through engagement with real life issues as anticipated in
development projects. Consequently, any school science related activities
that involve community development should be cognizant of society and the
constituent parts of history, current reality and community vision. Participants of
such projects should comprise of youth (novices) and adults (experts). The primary
role for the experts is to help novices identify local knowledge and skills suitable
for the set goals, whereas both novices and experts incorporate pertinent concepts
from school science and local knowledge in the problem solving activities. One
way to sustain active knowledge integration and the application of the knowledge
46
47
WANJA GITARI
on the way we currently live our everyday lives? What are the positive effects of electricity in/on our
lives? What are the negative effects of electricity in/on our lives? How should we move forward,
with the reality of rural electrification?
(iii)Synthesize knowledge: How are heat and light from electricity similar to or different than heat and
light from traditional fire? To engage such a question, an electrician from the community would be
requested to inform the community about the similarities and differences of the heat and light
generated by electricity and traditional fire.
(iv) Utilize information: Community members would engage with questions such as, how else might we
utilize electricity to improve the conditions of our lives? That is, to do the things that we could not
do with traditional fire?
(v) Create and appraise everyday knowledge ii : In what areas of our lives are we experiencing
challenges? What new perspectives can we bring to these areas? How do we go about creating new
knowledge given our understanding of electricity and fire as scientific phenomenon?
Where will it be located?
The CAI centre would be located in a designated area in a local secondary or primary school, or in a
suitable area within other institutional campuses, e.g., church.
Who will be involved?
Key elders who are knowledgeable about everyday life in the traditional setting, schooled people
(retired or actively employed) in the community, such as agriculturalists, forestry managers, science
teachers, nurses, doctors, clergy, sociologists, economists, linguists and other knowledge seekers would
be involved in learning at the CAI centre. Their learning would be coordinated and facilitated by a
coordinator and researchers.
What will be the activities?
Volunteer participants would meet bi-weekly for three hours, with a nutritional break after one and
half hours, to exchange information, evaluate incoming information, synthesize knowledge, utilize
information and create new knowledge.
What will be the duties of the facilitators?
Coordinator: The coordinator would be highly conversant with the cultural dynamics of the
community. From time to time, she or he will need to enlist the help of informants in order to tap into
most of the human resources in the community. The coordinator will consult key people (traditional
knowledge experts, schooled individuals, etc.), set the time and place for meetings and invite people to
attend.
Researchers: If necessary the researchers would conduct research to document (i) the social, cultural
and financial dynamics involved in the setting up of the centre, (ii) the details concerning the types of
information exchanged, how incoming information is evaluated, synthesized, utilized and the new
knowledge that is proposed.
What will be the procedure?
Activity details should be determined by project participants and facilitators..
NOTES
i
ii
48
Dr. Angela James is a senior lecturer of science education at the University of Kwa-Zulu-Natal,
South Africa and the current secretary and treasurer of the International Organization for Science
and Technology Education (IOSTE).
Everyday knowledge is the facts, information, skills and procedures that are known and/or applied
by the community or by individuals in the course of their lives. Some of the everyday knowledge is
traditional, transient, or foreign. Traditional knowledge is categorized as such, if, a significant
proportion of the population [60% or more of the adult population, 18 years and above]), maintain
the knowledge has existed in the community for many generations. Transient knowledge is,
according to a significant proportion of the population, ideas and skills that were introduced within
the last ten years and are in the process of being incorporated into the communitys bank of
knowledge. Foreign knowledge refers to ideas and skill that were, according to a significant
proportion of the population, introduced within the last ten years and are in the process of being
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54
INTRODUCTION
effect, reason and result and chronological or logical sequence in science content
learning (Lemke, 1990).
Difficulties in speaking and writing English are factors that limit the
performance of Chinese-Australian students in science (McRobbie & Tobin, 1996).
Limited English language proficiency has been noted to be a major causal factor
for the low abilities or potentials for academic success in the sciences and the
under representations of such populations in advanced science classes and careers
requiring advanced level science skills in developed countries (Sutman, 1993).
Belamy (1999), reporting for the United Nations on the State of the worlds
children, mentioned that one major obstacle identified as contributory factor to
dropout from basic level of education in developing world is the use of the former
colonial language such as English, French, Portuguese or Spanish in the delivery of
lessons. The report further added that if the medium of instruction in school is a
language not spoken at home (or not the first language of the learner) and in
particular, when the parents are not literate, then the learning problems increase
and accumulate and the chances of dropping out of school increases. This is even
more so in science because of the Latin and Greek repository of science words,
which may not have their English equivalents.
In this paper, we review the existing knowledge on the effect of language
proficiency on science concept learning.
CONCEPTUALIZATION OF LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
countries attach to developing the first language of the child and using it as the
basis for further language acquisition and concept development.
HOME LANGUAGE AND SCIENCE CONCEPT LEARNING
Studies that compare the use of native language and English language as medium
of instruction for concept acquisition have shown that limited English proficiency
inhibited students science achievement when learning was in English (Bamgbose,
1984; Curtis & Millar, 1988; Tobin & McRobbie, 1996; Brock-Utne, 1997; Torres
& Zeidler, 2002; August, Artiz & Mazrum, 2010). In Nigeria (Bamgbose, 1984),
and in Namibia (Brock-Utne, 1997), have shown that where a foreign language is
used, majority of learners are not able to exercise their conceptual potential. The
performance of learners in these studies was remarkable where assessment items
were translated into the home language.
Similarly, in TIMSS-2003 (Trends In Mathematics and Sciences Studies
2003) in which test in mathematics and science were administered in English to
Ghanaian level eight students, there was a strong positive relationship between low
achievement and non-frequent use of the language of the test (and therefore
language of instruction) in the home. This situation was also true for science
achievement (Anamuah-Mensah, Asabere-Ameyaw & Mereku, 2007). There could
be many factors that can influence learners performance but a major determinant
that needs consideration is the degree to which learners are bilingual or
multilingual and can use this facility in language in the learning of science.
GENDER, LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY AND CONCEPT ACQUISTITION IN SCIENCE
LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
in science between boys and girls as a result of the type of test format used.
Interestingly, girls have been observed to generally score higher than boys in
science if an open-ended test items are used but and the converse is the case when
multiple test items are used (Brantmeier, 2004).
The difference in performance or achievement between male and female
learners in science is insignificant even though there is overwhelming evidence that
females are more proficient in languages. We therefore wish to state that
performance in science though has a direct correlation with proficiency in the
language of instruction, there are other determinants in high achievement in
science.
SCIENTIFIC LITERACY AND LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
their behaviour in the classroom, relationship with the teacher and classmates and
academic performance.
In many different cultural settings, educators have anguished over teaching
school science without assimilating pupils at the expense of already diminishing
pupils cultural identities (Jegede & Aikenhead, 1999). Probably, the most ignored
of the cultural identities is the native language. The exclusive use of second
language of children for instruction can result in non-participation and frustration
and thus can lead to children making choices against science and science related
disciplines. Pomeroy (1994) suggests that teaching science for language minority
children, the learning process be adapted to the childs native language since
learning science in a language not in ones mother tongue creates major difficulties
for achievement. Mother tongue instruction may therefore be the best alternative
medium of instruction to these children. This approach to teaching should help the
child crossover from the home environment to the school science environment.
IMPLICATION FOR EDUCATION
60
LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
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61
INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In order to achieve the objective of the study, three research questions were
formulated to guide the study. These were:
Do learners from the study areas have Indigenous knowledge that they use as
alternative explanations to science concepts they learn in school?
What alternative explanations do learners from Indigenous societies have for
science concepts?
Does the Indigenous knowledge learners bring to the science class conflict with
some of the science concepts?
METHODOLOGY
Information gathered in this study was obtained from pupils in Primary 5 and 6,
JHS 1 and 2 and the basic science teachers in selected schools in southern Ghana.
Various sampling procedures were employed in selecting participants for the study.
First, cluster sampling was used in obtaining the towns in which the schools were
located. The various clusters were the circuits in which the various schools in the
district were found. Two circuits were randomly selected. Having obtained the
circuits, the towns were grouped into two major strata - big towns/cities and small
towns/villages. The small towns/villages stratum was selected for easy accessibility
to schools. These small towns/villages usually had only one or two schools and so
every school was selected as sampling school. Selection of pupil participants for
the study was done through purposive sampling. Teachers helped in selecting the
pupils who could read to understand since they had to respond to questionnaire.
A total of 55 schools were visited and ten pupils were selected from each school
resulting in a total of 550 pupils participating in the study. The sample was selected
with the help of the science teacher(s) after the objective of the study had been
explained to them. They were advised to pick a sample of ten pupils from Primary
5 and 6 and JHS 1 and 2. The JHS 3 pupils were getting ready to write their final
examinations and were excluded. Questionnaires were administered to all the 550
pupils and when they had finished responding to the questionnaire. In every school,
the participating pupils were also engaged in group discussion. Apart from the 550
pupils, 60 science teachers also responded to Teachers Questionnaire.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
long before they started formal schooling. These included living things, natural
phenomena (e.g. rain, clouds, thunder and lightning, drought and tides) and human
activities such as fishing and farming. The pupils responses to the items were
categorized into scientific and non-scientific ideas. It is believed that the scientific
ideas were acquired in the classroom and the non-scientific ideas were acquired
through their interactions with the natural world and the society. The group
discussions with the pupils threw more light on how these Indigenous ideas helped
the pupils to explain the happenings around them.
Three fundamental knowledge systems have been identified to inform pupils as
they seek for explanations to occurrences around them. These are the Indigenous
Knowledge System in their society, the religion into which they were born and
childrens own Common Sense Knowledge (Akpan & Anamuah-Mensah, 1992).
The accumulated knowledge system of the society is dispensed to the children who
happen to be integral part of it. Indigenous knowledge systems inform pupils prior
conceptions and could be inferred from responses such as, The mother has
stronger blood which is a pupils response to the item What makes some children
look like their parents?
For those who believe in God as the creator of the universe, God is omnipotent
and omnipresent. Children from such homes attribute most occurrences to God.
Responses such as, It was during Noahs time when God destroyed the earth with
water. So God is telling us that the earth shall not be destroyed again and Rain
falls from God depict pupils prior knowledge being informed by their religious
background. Other respondents believed that Droughts come from God. One
respondent who thought there was no scientific explanation for children looking
like their parents wrote that, Because it is God who created the child to look like
his/her parent. It is God who created human being. Another respondent wrote that,
I dont believe there is a scientific explanation for children looking like their
parents, because the scientists were not there when God was creating human
beings. This corroborates Akpan and Anamuah-Mensahs (1992) assertion that
religion is a strong factor influencing the learning of science by children from
Indigenous African societies.
Teachers need to recognize the impact of religion on pupils acquisition of
science concepts. This should put them in the position to helping the Indigenous
child draw the line between religion and science so that the effect of one on the
other would be minimized. It is expected that when this is done, the levels of
scientific literacy desired in the pupils is likely to be achieved.
Thirteen percent of the pupils who responded to the questionnaire did not
consider plants as living things. Various explanations that these pupils gave
included, Because plants cannot move to anywhere, Plants stay at where they
are and grow, Plant is not a living thing because plant cannot walk and
Because they (plants) cannot think, they cannot talk about their friends. These
responses by the pupils could be seen to stem from their common sense knowledge.
Pupils had also associated rainfall with thunder and lightning so much so that they
tended to think that thunder was caused by rainfall. The children saw the similarity in
the colour of clouds and smoke and tended to think that it is smoke that goes up to
65
form clouds. To this effect, a respondent wrote, It formed like black as the
response to the item seeking their opinion on how clouds are formed. These
responses given by the pupils were indicators that pupils came to school with ideas
that they used as alternative explanations to science concepts they learn in school.
In addition to the Pupils Questionnaire, six items on the TQ were pooled to
provide answers to research question one. The Teachers Questionnaire had two
types of items Likert scale and open-ended. The responses for the Likert-type
scale items were scored. For positive statements, Strongly Agree was scored 5,
Agree 4, Not Sure 3, Disagree 2 and Strongly Disagree was scored 1. But this was
the opposite for negative statements. All items answering a particular research
question were pooled. These were entered into the SPSS and an analysis was done
using the mean. The calculated mean was then determined and used to describe the
group. For each item, the frequency (number of teachers who chose a particular
response) was multiplied by the score to determine the product. The sums of the
products were added to arrive at the total score (see Table 1). The sum of the total
scores was then determined. This figure was divided by the summation of the
number of teachers that responded to each of the items to arrive at the mean score.
Table1. Teachers Views on Children and Indigenous Knowledge
Teachers View on Children
Children come to school with preconceived ideas
Children use preconceived ideas to explain phenomena
Children use only ideas learnt in school to explain phenomena
Children hardly use Indigenous preconceived ideas in
answering questions
Childrens preconceived ideas help them explain occurrences
Childrens ideas are only learnt in the classroom
Total
Mean Score = 3.98
Total Score
264.0
262.0
226.0
186.0
n
60
60
60
60
245.0
246.0
1429
60
59
359
fires) and give off waste (smoke). Similarities can be seen to exist between
childrens conceptions in New Zealand (Osborne & Freyberg, 1985) and children
of Indigenous societies of Ghana. If the childs knowledge base is anything to
reckon with for further leaning to take place, then these ideas of children should be
thoroughly investigated and appropriate remedies put in place so that they do not
create a blockade for the scientific knowledge the child is expected to acquire at
school.
Though the majority of the respondents were of the view that plants are living
things, a few of them thought otherwise. To these few respondents, the fact that a
plant cannot move from one place to another is an indication that it is not living. A
respondent explained that plant is not a living thing because it cannot walk.
There were many others like this respondent. Many of those who said plants are
living things gave textbook explanations to prove that plants are living. One of
such statements was, Because plants have cell, because plants have shape. Others
claimed plants are living because they are a part of the natural environment. For
instance, a respondent stated that, Because they are not man-made. A child who
takes natural things to be living might have a problem classifying other things such
as rivers and rocks.
In the view of the constructivists, learners should no longer be passive recipients
of knowledge supplied by teachers (Fosnot, 1996). From this perspective, learning
as a process of acquiring new knowledge, is active and complex. It is also an active
interaction between teachers and learners and learners try to make sense of what is
taught by trying to fit these with their own experiences. An emphasis on
constructivism to promote childrens conceptual knowledge in science lessons is
by building on their prior understanding, active engagement with the subject
content and applications to real world situations (Stofflett & Stoddart, 1994).
Hence, plants and animals in an area should be actively used in the teachinglearning process if the teacher should make any headway in teaching and the
children learning meaningfully. If pupils should have reservations and be
apprehensive on the kinds of teaching-learning materials that are used in the
classroom, meaningful learning cannot take place. At best, pupils will be engaging
in rote learning to pass their examinations.
Some of the pupils who participated in the study were of the opinion that certain
plants possess magical powers with which they can cause harm. Apart from
Flagellaria sp., most of the plants that the participants claimed to have magical
powers were common plants that could readily be used as resource materials
during instructions. In fact, the baobab (Adansonia digitata) which 11 % (Table 2)
of the respondents thought possessed magical powers and could cause harm is cited
as an example of a plant that stores water in its stem and, hence, is able to survive
in arid areas. In teaching vegetative propagation of plants, Bryophyllum is a very
good teaching/learning material for the illustration of a leaf that can be used for
vegetative propagation.
67
Percent
11.4
10.7
4.2
2.9
6.2
1.4
1.1
3.8
58.3
100.0
n
63
59
23
16
34
8
6
20
321
550
There were certain animals that pupils thought had magical powers. Some of
these animals were the owl (Tyto alba), chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon),
vulture (Neophron percnopterus), goat (Capra hircus), crocodile (Crocodilus
niloticus), domestic cat (Felis catus) and the python (Python regius). Few of the
animals such as the owl, chameleon, python, cat and vulture were mentioned by the
research participants in all the districts the study covered, but others such as the
crocodile and dwarf were district specific.
Table 3. Some Animals Pupils Considered to have Magical Powers
Name of Animal
Vulture
Cat
Chameleon
Crocodile
Dwarf
Goat
Owl
Pig
Python
Other animals
No animal
Total
Percent
6.0
4.5
12.4
3.6
1.1
6.0
30.4
2.4
3.2
9.5
20.9
100.0
n
33
25
68
20
6
33
167
13
18
52
115
550
Seventy-nine percent (n=435) of the pupils (Table 3) thought some animals had
magical powers and could cause harm. More than 30% of the pupils who
participated in the study regarded the owl as having magical powers to harm
humans. This view was shared by pupils throughout the study areas. This bird has
been nick-named by the various tribes to depict the mystery and fear surrounding it.
Apart from its regular name ptu (ptu) and patu, the owl is also called bonsam
anoma (evil bird) and ay loofl (witch bird) in Akan and Ga respectively. Adas
call it aze looebi (witch bird) just as it has been nick-named in Ga. In Larteh, it is
called bonsam abobi (evil bird) aside its correct name. It is the belief of the pupils
that witches turn into owls at night to engage in destructive nocturnal activities.
68
Witches are also believed to turn into vultures and sometimes less harmful
domestic animals such as cats and goats.
The crocodile and the python are totems of the Dangmebiawe and Sega clans
respectively of Ada and are seen to possess the spirit of the ancestors of these clans.
These animals are revered by all. Most children consider them as having magical
powers. Quizzed on when the animals with magical powers harm people, a
respondent simply wrote, The crocodile doesnt like noise.
The chameleon is another animal that is believed to have magical powers. It was
revealed during a group discussion that when a pregnant woman looks at a
chameleon, she would give birth to a baby that would behave like the chameleon.
Apart from the domestic cat and goat, most of the animals children gave as having
magical powers are not so much classroom animals. Nevertheless, they may have
influence on science instruction because they are likely to influence childrens
worldview.
Childrens Misconceptions on Certain Concepts in Science
Childrens understandings of some concepts and phenomena were sought for. Their
perceptions on these concepts and phenomena were categorized as scientific and
non-scientific and are presented in Table 4.
Children have been made to understand that they tend to look like the parent
with a stronger or heavier or better blood. The children were, therefore, of the
opinion that blood is what makes a child look like any one of the parents. These
findings of the sampled childrens prior conceptions on hereditary were not
different from those of Aladejana and Odejobi (2006). The misconceptions that
blood and not chromosome is responsible for the transfer of genetic information is
one that transcends cultural and national borders.
Most of the respondents who did not have scientific explanation for the cause of
thunder and lightning were of the opinion that thunder is caused by rainfall. Few of
the pupils were of the opinion that people are able to cause thunder to strike and
that there have been several deaths attributed to thunder and not lightning.
Eighty five percent of respondents (n=547) thought the eclipse of the sun is as a
result of the sun and the moon fighting rather than the moon coming in between the
earth and the sun and thereby preventing the suns rays from reaching the earth. This
shows a clear case of Indigenous worldview and science subculture being at odds.
Illustrating what collateral learning is with the rainbow, Aikenhead and Huntley
(1997) claimed that in some Indigenous African cultures, a rainbow signifies a
python crossing a river or the death of an important chief. The African is, thus,
more interested in what the rainbow signifies than what causes it. The same can be
said of the respondents for this study. Out of the 92.2% (Table 4) of the
respondents who gave non-scientific responses to the cause of the rainbow in this
study, as many as 52% (n=541) of them gave responses which only indicate what
the rainbow signifies. When asked to give the cause of the tide, most of the pupils
rather gave what it signifies. It, therefore, behoves teachers of science in the basic
69
schools to help pupils to be critical thinkers as they discuss the causes of various
phenomena and not merely what they signify.
Table 4. Childrens Understanding of Certain Science Concepts
Concepts
Number
of Respondents (n)
What makes children look like their parents?
546
Causes of thunder and lightning
481
Causes of rainbow
541
What happens when there is an eclipse of the
547
sun?
How are clouds formed?
541
What makes rain fall?
543
Non-Scientific
Response (%)
86.8
94.8
92.2
85.3
75.6
53.0
Water cycle is taught at the basic schools. The various stages of evaporation,
condensation and precipitation are all discussed in the syllabus. It is interesting to
note that some pupils in JSS 2 did not know what brings about cloud formation. As
many as 76% of the respondents (n=541) gave a non-scientific response as to what
forms clouds. Out of this, 45% (n=243) were of the opinion that clouds are formed
from smoke. There were such responses as, Cloud is formed by fumes from
exhaust pipes of vehicles and Smoke and vapour from cooking goes up to form
clouds. Most of the pupils had misconceptions about rainfall. Fifty-three percent
(n=543) of the respondents gave non-scientific responses to what causes rainfall.
There were such responses as, smoke from cooking, smoke from burning bush,
when the world is dark, rainbow and rain falls from heaven.
Prior Conceptions or Misconceptions
Research question three was to find out whether the Indigenous knowledge pupils
have do conflict with the science concepts teachers teach. The results showed that
the teachers who participated in the study were of the view that the Indigenous
knowledge learners bring to the science class conflicts with science concepts taught
in the classroom.
Teachers responses were informed by the fact that sometimes during science
instruction, the ideas pupils have acquired from the society block their
understanding and hence they are not able to find any meaning out of the concepts
the teachers present. Teachers mentioned certain traditional beliefs and taboos that
seemed to undermine these science concepts. One of such beliefs is the fact that
pregnant women should not take eggs. Another is that eggs should not be fed to
infants. The explanation was that the babies involved in the two scenarios grow up
to become thieves. This is in conflict with lessons in nutrition in which egg is
portrayed as being rich in protein and hence a very good source of protein for a
developing and growing infant. A similar idea in the Caribbean has resulted in
malnutrition among children in this area (George & Glasgow, 1989). Another
conflicting concept teachers pointed out was the monthly menstrual flow of ladies.
70
This act of nature is shrouded in some secrecy and comes with certain restrictions.
A lady, during this period, is restricted from certain areas considered sacred and
not allowed to touch certain items such as buckets and bowls even at home. This
makes it extremely difficult to teach teenage girls the health implications and
precautions they need to take during this period.
Another area of conflict teachers were concerned with is the belief that the
outbreak of some epidemics is a punishment from the gods and or the ancestral spirits
for an offence against them. This does not encourage scientific approach to solving
problems. Also of concern to the teachers was the fact that the pupils found it
difficult to accept the notion that the earth is spherical and not as flat as they see it.
The fact that some plants and animals are possessed with supernatural forces
was another concern to some teachers as an area of conflict between the childrens
prior knowledge and science. Children sometimes find it difficult to accept that
plants are living and they go through the various activities that other living things
(animals) go through. Children do not easily accept the fact that plants can breathe
and feed. In the lower classes (Primary 4 and 5), it is almost impossible to refer to
humans as animals.
Children have been made to accept that shooting stars seen in the night sky
which science explains as meteorites are witches flying to engage in nocturnal
activities. Children also carry the notion that anytime somebody dies, one of the
stars disappears and anytime one of the stars disappears, somebody is dead.
The foregoing discussions suggest that, childrens ideas before formal science
instructions sometimes act as a blockade to their comprehension of science
concepts they learn at school. Research into childrens nave interpretations of the
world shed some insights and provided guidance for prospective and practicing
teachers. When teachers know what their students think, they can implement
instructional activities to challenge existing student ideas to address their
misconceptions to facilitate the teaching and learning of science.
CONCLUSION
Teachers should take cognizance of the fact that pupils Relevant Previous
Knowledge which they tap into to start a new topic does not only compose of the
science concepts that have been taught in the previous week(s) or level(s) but
include the diverse knowledge the pupils learn from the society before the start of
formal schooling. Teachers are therefore encouraged to use innovative ways
(prompting questions and concept maps) to elicit for pupils prior conceptions
during instructions. As much as possible, teachers are to link the science concepts
they teach at school to the day-to-day activities pupils engaged in at home so as to
make science relevant to them.
71
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Aikenhead, G. S., & Jegede, O. J. (1999). Cross-cultural science education: A cognitive explanation of a
cultural phenomenon. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 36, 269287.
Akpan, O. E., & Anamuah-Mensah, J. (1992). The tricontextual milieu to science concept learning of an
African child: Need for teaching model. Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 1, 324.
Aladejana, F., & Odejobi, C. (2006). Online: Actualizing the effective learning of science in a
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leadership.fau.edu/icscei2006/papers/Aladejana and Odejobi.doc.
Fafunwa, A. B. (1972). Professionalization of teaching. In Adaralegbe, A. A. (Ed.), Philosophy for
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Fosnot, C. T. (1996). Constructivist: A psychological theory of learning. In C. T. Fosnot (Ed.),
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George, J., & Glasgow, J. (1989). Some cultural implications of teaching towards common syllabi in
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(Eds.), First Nations education in Canada: The circle unfolds (pp. 7398). Vancouver, Canada:
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95). Mito, Ibaraki, Japan: Ibaraki University
Osborne, R., & Freyberg, P. (1985). Learning in science: The implications of childrens science.
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Osborne, R. J., & Wittrock, M. C. (1983). Learning science: A generative process. Science Education,
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Stofflett, R. T., & Stoddart, T. (1994). The ability to understand and use conceptual change pedagogy as
a function of prior content learning experience. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 31, 3151.
72
INTRODUCTION
The result of various researches and practical experience teach that at the preuniversity level, science teaching should not involve only theoretical principles and
verbal activities. Since majority of learners at this level are not cognitively mature,
science teaching and learning should involve a judicious blend of practical
activities and some theory (if necessary). To be beneficial to the learners, preuniversity science should be meaningful and also focused on phenomena in the
environment in order to promote understanding of nature.
Meaningful activities in science can, however, be organized only when the
appropriate instructional materials are available. As was noted by Bello and
Olowonefa (2004), instructional materials widen the scope and understanding of
learners beyond the basic informational needs of the course or lesson.
Generally, it is known that among other benefits, instructional materials
facilitate conceptual thinking and make learning more permanent. They also offer
various experiences which stimulate self-activity on the part of learners.
As important as instructional materials are for the teaching and learning of preuniversity science, the reality of the situation is that in most schools instructional
materials are either in short supply or are not available (Dawai, 2009; Sadauki,
2009). In such cases, science teachers are expected to take up the challenge by
improvising materials for their lessons. Improvisation is one of the recognized and
authentic ways of minimizing the absence of instructional materials. It is also an
inexpensive method of widening the scope of scientific inquiry at the classroom
level. The persistent shortage of instructional materials in pre-university
institutions is a matter of concern and requires redress.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The low supply of instructional materials in African schools has been a topic of
concern for some time now. A few years ago, Obanya (2004) lamented the poor
state of the supply of curriculum and educational materials in Africa in general. He
opined that that was one of the major challenges for curriculum and instruction for
Africa in the twentyfirst century. In the face of the current global economic crisis
and its attendant effects on educational provisions in schools, teachers can alleviate
the inadequate supply of instructional materials through improvisation (Eminah,
2009).
Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw et al.,(eds.), Contemporary Issues in African Sciences
and Science Education, 7379. 2012 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.
On their part, Magni, Provera and Proserpio (2010) have noted that
improvisation is rapidly becoming an important issue for practitioners (teachers)
and scholars (researchers). They stated that this is because of the need for
institutions and practitioners that operate under unstable economic environments to
learn to quickly adapt and respond to such instability. They also noted the need for
multi-level studies on improvisation.
Findings reported by Freedman (1997) indicate that scientific attitude has
a predominantly cognitive orientation whereas attitude towards science is
predominantly affective. Hence, determining the attitudes of science student
teachers towards improvisation will reveal their affective orientations towards
improvisation and so facilitate envisaged interventions. An additional impetus for
this study was provided by Trowbridge, Bybee and Powells (2004) contention that
positive affective orientations are critical ingredients of students intrinsic
motivation for learning.
THE PROBLEM
74
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Teachers:
Non-Teachers:
Experienced Teachers:
Inexperienced Teachers:
The research subjects comprised selected level 300 and level 200 students who
were pursuing various Bachelor of Science Education programmes in the
Department of Education in Katsina State University.
The main instrument was a questionnaire which was divided into two parts
Part A collected personal data on the research subjects. Part B consisted of sixteen
5 Point Likert type attitude items on improvisation. The intensity of the
responses and scores for positive items were as follows: Strongly agree 5; Agree
4; Not sure 3; Disagree 2; Strongly disagree 1. Negative items bearing these
responses were scored in the reverse order. Using the test retest procedure, a
reliability index of 0.885 was calculated for the attitude items when the data was
analysed using Pearsons Product Moment Correlation Formula. One hundred level
200 students and 50 level 300 students were selected and asked to complete the
questionnaire. One hundred and twenty-nine usable questionnaires were later
retrieved from 30 level 300 students and 99 level 200 students.
Portions of the data were analysed and used to answer the research question.
The null hypotheses were tested using four parametric tests and a non-parametric
test.
RESULTS
The main research question dealt with the attitudes of the students towards
improvisation. To answer this research question, the mean attitude score of all the
students as well as those of the groups of students mentioned in the null hypotheses
were calculated. On the whole, it was found that the students had a positive attitude
towards improvisation. The results are shown in Table 1.
It was also found that 12 students had negative attitudes toward improvisation
while four students had a neutral attitude. Of the 12 students who had negative
attitudes, 10 (83%) of them had previously not been trained as teachers.
75
Standard Deviation
0.4718
0.5028
0.4498
0.6223
0.4376
0.4828
0.3611
0.4561
0.4787
Hypotheses Testing
The first hypothesis was tested using the ztest for 2-sample cases. It was found
that the male students had a higher positive attitude than their female counterparts.
The difference in attitudes was found to be statistically significant. The results are
shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Z test Analysis of the Attitude Scores of Male and Female Students
Groups
Males
Number of
Students (IV)
96
Females
33
z- crit = 1.96 P< 0.05; zobs = 2.036
Standard
Deviation (SD)
4. 4787
3.445
Z Value
2.036*
0.4561
*Significant
From Table 2, the observed z value is greater than the critical z value. The
null hypothesis was thus rejected.
The data used to test the second hypothesis are summarized in Table 3.
Table 3. Ztest Analysis of Attitude Scores of the Teachers and Non-Teachers
Groups
N
Teachers
47
Non-teachers
82
Z crit = 1.96; p<0.05 ; z-obs=2.456
AS
3.7278
3.512
S.D
0.5028
0.4498
Z VALUE
2.456*
* Significant
Since the observed zvalue was greater than the critical zvalue, the null
hypothesis was rejected. It was concluded that the difference in attitudes between
the teachers and non-teachers is statistically significant.
The third hypothesis was tested using the data in Table 4.
76
N
16
31
AS
3.604
3.789
S.D
Z VALUE
0.6223
1.0632**
0.4376
** Not significant
The null hypothesis was upheld because the observed zvalue was less than the
critical z value. Hence although the inexperienced teachers had a higher positive
attitude than their experienced counterparts, the difference was not statistically
significant.
The data that were used to test the fourth hypothesis are summarized in Table 5.
Table 5. Z-test Analysis of the Attitude Scores of the Levels 300 and 200 Students
Groups
Level 300 Students
Level 200 students
Z crit = 1.96 p<0.05 ; z-obs = 4.356.
N
30
99
AS
3.859
3.512
S.D
Z VALUE
0.3611
4.356*
0.4828
*Significant
The data showed that the level 300 students had a higher positive attitude
towards improvisation. The difference in attitudes was found to be statistically
significant leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis.
Table 6 contains the data that were used to test the fifth hypothesis. Since the
data used were nominal, chi-square test was used for this hypothesis.
Table 6. Chi-Square Analysis of the Students Attitudes Towards Improvisation
CATEGORY
Positive Attitude
Negative Attitude
2 crit 3.84, df = 1; p<0.05
N
113
12
%
88%
9%
*Significant
2 VALUE
81.608*
The null hypothesis was rejected because the observed chi-square value was
greater than the critical chi-square value. It was concluded that the difference in the
number of students with positive attitudes and those with negative attitudes
towards improvisation is statistically significant.
DISCUSSION
The results clearly showed that on the whole, the students had a positive attitude
towards improvisation. This is encouraging in that it is an indication that given the
right training and motivation these student teachers will be favourably disposed
towards improvisation when they enter active service.
The finding that the teachers had a higher positive attitude towards improvisation
than the non-teachers is not surprising. Being professionals before gaining entry
into the University, the teachers must have had first-hand experience of the
77
inadequate supply of teaching and learning materials for science lessons. This past
experience, coupled with their professional training might have impacted positively
on the teachers as they responded to the attitude items on improvisation.
The fact that the difference between the attitudes of the teachers and nonteachers was statistically significant implies that extra efforts need to be exerted to
ensure that the non-teachers adopt the right disposition towards improvisation
before passing out of the university. It was also found that the female students had
a lower positive attitude than the male students towards improvisation. Similar
findings have been reported by Duhoh (2004). Informal talks with random
selections of the research subjects indicated that pre-university science teachers in
Katsina State were dissatisfied with the level of educational provisions and
financial support for improvisation in the schools. It thus appears that the male
students were more willing to face the challenges associated with the improvisation
of materials under the adverse conditions existing in the schools. Hence, they had
more positive attitude towards improvisation than their female colleagues.
One surprising discovery was the fact that the inexperienced teachers had a
higher positive attitude than the experienced teachers towards improvisation. As
was observed by Powell (1970), the professionalism and dedication of teachers,
particularly in Africa, wane with time due to their unattractive working conditions
and auxiliary benefits. This observation is consistent with findings reported by
Mensah and Antwi-Danso (2010) with respect to teachers job satisfaction.
The study also found that the level 300 students had a significantly higher
positive attitude than the level 200 students. This might be due to the impact of the
greater number of methods courses taken by the former in the department of
education. The finding that 12 students had negative attitude towards improvisation
is revealing. It shows that in spite of their aspiration to be teachers, not all the
students possess the dispositions expected of professional teachers.
CONCLUSION
Although the study found that the research subjects had an overall positive attitude
towards improvisation, the finding that 12 of them had negative attitudes gives
cause for concern. It is possible that such students are not really committed to the
teaching profession but want to use it as a stepping stone. Even if such students
stay in the profession, their dispositions may not augur well for a subject as
important as science at the pre-university level. As Tufuor (1989) noted, if the
negative attitudes of science teachers are not addressed, they may transfer them to
the students or pupils.
RECOMMENDATIONS
78
79
DORIAN A. BARROW
INTRODUCTION
DORIAN A. BARROW
me to this research project on beliefs about the nature of science and science
education of African teachers in the Caribbean diaspora. This chapter is therefore
written from the perspective of someone who has identified himself as a member of
the African science educators in the Caribbean diaspora for almost two decades,
suggesting that I bring an optics [that] is a politics of positioning (Haraway 1996,
p. 257). It was therefore considered personally compelling for me to carry out this
cross-cultural analysis of the NOS with another Indigenous group of science
teachers teachers in Alaska with whom the link with the African diaspora in the
Caribbean was minimal.
Furthermore, the fact that the Alaskan study was carried out by prominent native
Alaskan science educator Deborah Pomeroy (1993), who has struggled to maintain
the Indigenous voice on an international level was difficult to resist, even though
fully recognizing that the two countries politics and histories are very different.
Background
Despite the fact that the Anglophone Caribbean covers a huge space, its actual land
mass is relatively small. The seventeen territories that comprise the union
(CARICOM) were all former British colonies that were populated initially by
enslaved peoples of African descent and subsequently by Indian indentured
labourers who were brought to the Caribbean for the sole purpose of meeting the
labour demands of the European plantation agriculture. The history of Tobago is
only slightly different in this regard. Though Tobago was discovered by
Columbus in 1498 like most of the other Caribbean territories, the international
rivalry for its control did not commence until 1626 when the Dutch settled the
north-western end of the island. This rivalry continued until 1814, when Britain
gained final control and absolute possession of it by the Treaty of Paris (Luke,
2007).
Tobago and Trinidad were amalgamated into a single British colony in 1898,
when Tobago was made a a Ward of Trinidad (Brereton 1997). British and
French colonization of Tobago was accompanied by plantation agriculture and the
introduction of African slavery. Thereafter Tobagos society comprised a tiny
minority of white settlers and an overwhelming majority of enslaves peoples of
African decent. Luke (2007) states [T]he ethnic mix has continued to the present
time and it formed the foundation on which Tobagonian identity was built (p. 3).
Unlike Trinidad for example, where the ethnic mix is approximately 35% Afro and
40% Indo-Trinidadian, Tobago was ideal to draw a sample of African science
teachers in the Caribbean diaspora. Its unique ethnic mix therefore contributed
significantly to the focus of this study.
Sweeney (2003) has made his plea for more science education research in spite
of the fact that science education research in the Caribbean has been occurring at a
steady space over the past 40 years. This is, in part, because no current research
offers insights into how Caribbean teacher beliefs might be similar to, or different
from, their teaching counterparts in other regions of world such as Africa, North
America, Europe or Asia. Current related research largely focuses on students
82
Indigenous knowledge and the school science curriculum. For example, George
and Glasgow (1999), George (1999, 2001) and Herbert (2008) have examined the
dynamics of Indigenous knowledge (IK) held by Caribbean students of mostly
African decent and the Modern Western Science (MWS) taught as school science
in schools in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica in an attempt to counter arguments
put forward by universalists science educators such as Loving and de Montellano
(2003), to account for the limited interest students show towards school science
(MWS) and their general low level of performance in science exams at the
secondary school level.
More specifically, George (1999), in her work in Trinidad and Tobago identified
several ways in which school knowledge (MWS) and IK are both similar and
different and presented a fourfold categorization of the relationship between the
two knowledge systems. George (1999) argued that though the two knowledge
systems are different they are linked in her categories one (where conventional
science can explain Indigenous practice) and three (where there is a conventional
science link with traditional knowledge, but the principles may be different).
Because of this critical link, she argues, there is justification for both WMS and IK
to be included in the schools science curricula, a suggestion which policy makers
in the region have persistently ignored.
Elsewhere, researchers have argued that the inclusion of culturally relevant
situations in science curricula can help to raise Indigenous students achievement
(McKinley, 2007). Jegede (1995) for example, in his proposal on how rural African
students should approach the learning of science, has warned that the cultural
clash and difficulties associated with border crossing and collateral learning create
an educational imperative that science education research must understand the
cultural basis to learning within Indigenous societies; otherwise the education of
these communities will never be effective (McKinley, 2007, p. 217). The solution
Jegede (1995) asserts involves restructuring science education and refocusing
teacher education programmes to ensure that their philosophical foundations are
located and guided by the Indigenous cultures imperatives. It is the line of
reasoning that this research project is attempting to further explore in the
Caribbean context.
Rationale and Conceptual Background
Though the goals of this research project are ultimately similar to those being
proposed by Jegede (1995), the conceptual framework adopted to achieve these
ends is different. Dominating the field currently are approaches derived from
anthropology such as Jegedes collateral learning and Georges IK categories
(McKinley, 2007). The anthropological approach is a seductive one because it
focuses on culture and cultural practices of different groups and treats science as a
cultural activity (Hammond & Brandt, 2004). This approach, however, has
limitations for studying Indigenous teachers of science since it has no way to deal
with issues of power and economic privilege (McKinley, 2007, p.220).
Furthermore, such a framework was not seen as being helpful in finding an answer
83
DORIAN A. BARROW
to the question what views of the nature of science should Indigenous science
teachers have to enhance their effectiveness in the classroom? This latter question
came directly from parents in the Tobago community who were concerned about
the underperformance of their children in science.
Instead, a mixed epistemological framework that combines both historical
positivist and social constructionist notions is adopted in this study. Constructivism
assumes that knowledge, including Indigenous knowledge, are mental constructs
created by agents as they interact with their environment. For example, it holds that
a metaphor is a way of thinking, an image that once captured in the mind can guide
an action to its completion, that is, it is a way of coming to know something (Elliott,
2009). Hence, understanding the metaphors teachers use offers a glimpse of the
ideas of the person (Tobin & Tippins, 1996).
Though the framework used in this research project is in part positivistic, the
teachers as historical agents are not constituted as deficit. For example, it is
recognized that science teachers in Tobago are in a constant struggle against a
Trinidadian hegemony to maintain first and foremost their Tobago identity. This
tension that began in 1898 when the two colonies were amalgamated and Tobago
became a Ward of Trinidad remains as intense today as it was over a century ago
and continues to influence their worldviews, beliefs, attitudes and images of what it
means to be Indigenous in Tobago while teaching science to Tobagos children of
the same Indigenous stock (Luke, 2007).
In summary, the problem for which a solution is sought through this study is
that Indigenous science teachers of Tobago have only been provided with very
limited opportunities to reflect on the nature of their science disciplines. They are
not sufficiently conscious of how their subconscious views of the nature of science
impacts on their beliefs about science education and on how they present Western
Modern Science (WMS) to Indigenous students of Tobago in science classrooms in
secondary schools throughout the island.
Purpose and Research Questions
The purpose of this mixed-method study is therefore to survey the views of the
nature of science and science education of a purposive sample of science teachers
from Tobago using the NOS questionnaire developed by Deborah Pomeroy (1993)
and to compare their views to those of a sample of science teachers from Alaska.
The qualitative part of the study will describe the teaching metaphor the Tobago
teachers adopt when teaching science at several secondary school sites in Tobago.
At this point in the research, nature of science refers to the values and beliefs
inherent in scientific knowledge and its development (Lederman & Ziedler, 1987,
p. 721); and nature of science education refers to values and beliefs teachers hold
about the teaching and learning of science (Gallagher, 1991).
The two research questions that guided this study are:
To what extent are the views of the nature of science and the nature of science
education of science teachers Indigenous to Tobago similar to those of science
teachers in Alaska?
84
What are some of the metaphors teachers of Tobago use to describe their
classroom science teaching?
Significance, Assumptions, Limitations and Delimitations
This is a beginning effort in cross-cultural studies involving Caribbean science
teachers. It attempts to begin the process of linking science teachers Indigenous to
the Anglophone Caribbean directly with their counterparts in other regions of the
world and to share their views of nature of science and science education with
teachers living and working in other regions of the world. The hope is that this
sharing will benefit science teachers everywhere.
An even more significant set of purposes for carrying out this study are the
potential novel learning opportunities it offers science teacher educators working in
the context of small island states like the Anglophone Caribbean, for crosscultural comparative analyses (Sweeney, 2003), given that many of us were
trained in and did some, if not all, our teacher education research projects in the
context of larger, more developed nation-states (Fraser-Abder, 1988).
It is important to note that there were several limitations to this inquiry. One was
that the two surveys used to collect data for analysis, were carried out at two
different points in time and for two different sets of purposes. The survey of the
Alaskan science teachers carried out by Deborah Pomeroy (1993) was part of a
study to determine if there were differences in beliefs about nature of science and
science education among elementary, secondary and university science teachers in
that State. Hence, only a part of the rich quantitative data generated, that is, those
responses by high school science teachers, was used in the analysis in this paper.
Additionally, the size of the Tobago sample was smaller than the Alaskan sample,
which makes the comparative analysis more descriptive and exploratory, since
such a significant difference in sample size pose some threats to the validity of the
comparison in the formal quantitative research paradigm. These threats however
were minimized by using non-parametric techniques in cases where the parametric
assumptions could not be confirmed.
Secondly, in the Tobago study there was no deliberate focus on the schools
planned science curricula. Furthermore, there was limited focus on the Tobago
schools governance structures. The Tobago study was therefore severely delimiting
in these respects. Finally, though there was not a deliberate focus on students as the
fourth common place of schooling (Schwab, 1964) in either of the two studies, the
interest in seeing how the teachers in the Tobago sample enacted their teaching
metaphors in the science classroom, did provide opportunities to gain some
insights into how students responded to the enactment of the various teaching
metaphors. This allowed for some observations to be made on the received science
curriculum (Berry, Poonwassie & Berry 1999) in Tobago. The Tobago study was,
therefore, limited to focusing, in varying degrees, on two (students and teachers) of
Schwabs (1964) four common places of schooling, while the Pomeroy (1993)
study centred on one, the science teachers only.
85
DORIAN A. BARROW
Definition of Terms
Three terms used in this study require operationalizing. These are:
Traditional views of science: This is a pre-Kuhnian view of the nature of science
in which many myths about what science is and how it works are embedded. The
more traditional your view is the more of these myths you consider to be true.
Traditional views of science education: This is a statement about the extent to
which you still value and believe in theories of teaching and learning that are
currently believed to be or have been proven to be false. For example, if you
believe that students can only learn science in a formal classroom setting, this
would be considered a traditional view of science education.
Non-traditional views of science: This is a post-Kuhnian view of science in
which you consider yourself an agent in the creation of scientific knowledge and so
consider scientific knowledge a cultural artefact. You value both the process and
the product of science.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Background
As no prior teacher training is necessary to be appointed as secondary school
teacher, science teachers in both Trinidad and Tobago enter the secondary schools
science classrooms, invariably, after three years of exposure to university science
teaching. This exposure is to science teaching by people who are experts in a
modern western science discipline/s, who are steep in discipline-related pure
scientific research and who generally have little or no formal exposure to
secondary school science pedagogy (Barrow, 1993; Gallagher, 1991). Furthermore,
these university scientists are also almost always active members of a larger MWS
scientific research community that is networked on a global scale (Barrow, 1993).
The professional development of secondary school science teachers in T&T is
therefore done through in-service teacher training programmes. UWIs postgraduate
diploma in science education is one such in-service treaining programme.
The postgraduate diploma programme is a 30-credit-hour programme that is
delivered over an 11-month time period July to May each year (UWI St.
Augustine, 2009). This is one of the flagship teacher training programmes not only
in Trinidad and Tobago, but the wider Anglophone Caribbean and has been offered
to teachers in various mutations since 1972. Currently, the programme comprises
four courses (two in the theory of education, one in the curriculum process and one
in the practice of education) offered in a modular format. The practice of education
course is a field-based course and provides the framework for this study.
The practice of education course comprises of two modules: a theoretical
module in which pedagogical principles are taught using a blended delivery
platform; and a field module through which supervised school visits are made to
teachers in their school setting and field days, when teachers are given
opportunities to teach a science lesson in another secondary school (UWI St.
Augustine, 2009). Through the combination of school visits and field days each
86
DORIAN A. BARROW
(capability) in students. In addition to teaching them the facts, laws and theories of
science, it involves teaching them about the methods of science, its culture,
philosophies and histories, as well as an appreciation of the practical and social
implications (AAAS, 1993; Driver, Leach, Millar & Scott 1996; McComas & Olson,
1998; Osborn, Collins, Ratcliffe, Millar, & Duschl, 2003; Lederman, 1992). Hence
the mandate to todays secondary science teachers both in Trinidad and Tobago and
elsewhere, is in helping out the individual student understand these basics of science
in order to promote in the student an effective literacy in science.
Metaphors of Teaching
Prior to the 1990s, research on teaching and teacher behaviours in many developed
countries centred mainly on how teachers were behaving in the classroom and field
and how well students were learning (Cameron, 2002). Since then, the emphasis
has shifted to an exploration of the internal world of teachers, including their
thoughts, perspectives, knowledge and values (Ornstein, 1999). By the mid
nineties, narrative techniques and story-telling were being used to analyze teaching
and teacher thinking (Behar-Horenstein, 1999). The use of narrative analysis
techniques to better understand how teachers teach revealed that metaphors have
been used in guiding the search for best teaching strategies (Cameron, 2002).
A metaphor is a way of thinking, an image that once captured by the mind can
guide an action to its completion, that is, it is a way of coming to know
something (Elliott, 2009). Metaphors can be understood as a way of expressing or
conceptualizing something esoteric, abstruse and/or abstract in terms of that are
well known or familiar (Tobin & Tippins, 1996). Metaphors can make an idea
more transparent and easy to understand. A metaphor about teaching expresses in
the form of imagines or analogies the work that teachers do. A teacher is the
captain of a ship, for example, is one familiar metaphor (Tobin & Tippins, 1996).
Since metaphors about teaching are used by teachers to conceptualize what is
going on in daily activities, understanding the metaphors the teacher uses offers a
glimpse of the ideas of the person (Ornstein, 1999).
There are many critical entailments or attributes of the teaching metaphors
teachers use in their classrooms (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003). A metaphor about
science teaching compares the processes and concepts related to instruction to
something more familiar or more clearly understood and so is linked to the science
teachers conceptions of teaching science (Hewson & Hewson, 1989). Metaphors
about teaching therefore aid the construction of analytic relationships and in so
doing may help in facilitating conceptual change. Tobin and Tippins (1996) have
pointed that metaphors also serve as a link between what is known and what is
unknown and provide a connection between images and language. These two
qualities, they argue, may allow the teacher to build new knowledge and construct
better strategies for teaching.
Hence the strongest warrant for the use of metaphors in an analysis like this one,
lie in their ability to stimulate critical self-reflection in both prospective and current
teachers. A classification system will obviously make it easier for both the
88
researcher and the teachers to become more aware of the nature of teaching
through metaphor-based reflection, as well as provide the researcher with an
operational typology for classifying in-service science teachers conceptions of
science teaching. This should allow for comparisons between conceptions of
teaching among science teachers. Comparing and contrasting the teacher metaphors
may reveal several aspects of the conceptions of science teaching (Hewson &
Hewson, 1989) that could be unique to science teachers operating in the context of
small-island education units like Tobago.
There are many ways to categorize teaching metaphors. Four classes into which
teaching metaphors are traditionally assigned include art-oriented, businessoriented, science-oriented and power-oriented metaphors (Cameron, 2002).
Business-oriented metaphors liken teaching to a business-related activity. Here,
teaching takes on all the important aspects of business that result in its success. An
example would be when a teacher views science teaching as banking. This
metaphor assumes that learning is a form of commodity and that learning and
teaching are, respectively, the receiving and delivering processes. Business-based
metaphors may contribute to the efficiency of classroom management for teachers.
The obvious danger is that in reducing an educational institution to a business setup
the pursuit of truth as a fundamental plank in the nature of science may be
sacrificed for the sake of practicality (McComas, 1998).
One common thread that connects all the science-oriented metaphors, the
second class of metaphors, is that there are rules and principles of teaching that can
be studied and modeled and that it is possible for anyone to reproduce the results
created by the expert teacher. An example would be when a science teacher views
himself or herself as a football coach. The strength of these metaphors is that
they encourage teachers to focus on the things that can be controlled, making it
easier for them to run the classroom. One weakness is that it might lead to
stringency and inflexibility in the teaching process (Koppi et al., 1998). Poweroriented metaphors, on the other hand, are concerned with who has control in the
classroom (Tobin & Tippins, 1996). In this category of metaphors, the distribution
of power reflects what is happening in the science classroom. Like the scienceoriented metaphor, its strengths and weaknesses are similar.
Power-oriented metaphors are a very popular category among science teachers
in developed nations. Gurney (1995) for example, in reporting on a study he
carried out in the United States, said that among the 130 metaphors volunteered by
prospective high school science teachers 56 metaphors dealt with the teacher
having control, only 13 with students having control and 27 with having shared
control. A popular example of a power-oriented teaching metaphor is teacher as
the captain of a ship. The power-oriented teaching metaphors are in many ways
diametrically opposite to the art-oriented metaphors of teaching.
The art-oriented teaching metaphors focus on the creative side of the teaching
process, including judgments, insight, sensitivity to the needs of students and
spontaneity in responses to student questions and demands. An example would be
teacher as conductor of an orchestra (James 2006). When teachers take on the
perspectives of an artist, they place as much emphasis on the process of teaching as
89
DORIAN A. BARROW
on the results. Many science educators believe that the regular use of art-based
metaphors can produce better teachers (Tobin & Tippins, 1996).
Summary
The debate in the literature is dominated by publications in favour of culturalist
approaches. However, teaching practices have changed little and remain based on
traditional universalist views of the nature of science and of science education.
(Aikenhead, 2001; Scastlebury, McKinley & Jesson, 2002). In reviewing the
literature on science teacher education, Atwater and Crocket (2003) point to some
omissions that urgently need attention. It is essential, they say, that science
educators and researchers examine their personal worldviews, beliefs, attitudes and
images of science learning and teaching. In summary, the literature argues strongly
that Indigenous student participation and performance in science are undermined
by low teacher efficacy, low student self-expectation, cultural stereotypes,
inadequate teacher subject, pedagogical and cultural knowledge and conflict
between the culture of the home and the culture of the school (McKinley, 2007).
What makes the phenomenon even more complex is that many of these factors
interact with each other and are difficult to separate out. Hence exploring
Indigenous teachers beliefs about the NOS and science education and how they
enact those beliefs in their science classrooms as a possible solution in enhancing
science teachers efficacy to improve their teaching is a viable research activity.
METHOD
Survey
A 50-item survey instrument developed and validated by Pomeroy (1993) was used
to examine teachers beliefs about the nature of science and the nature of science
teaching. It consisted of: .agree-disagree statements on a 51 Likert scale
ranging from Baconian beliefs to some alternative ideas suggested by Popper,
Polanyi, Keller, Gould and Kuhn. These include consideration of the roles of
deduction, art, perception, attitude, judgment, community and prior belief in
shaping the work of scientists and their knowledge of nature (Pomeroy, 1993, p.
263).
The questionnaire also inquired into beliefs about science education, including
statements about the role of the laboratory experience, process vs. content, depth
vs. breath and mastery vs. exploration (Pomeroy, 1993, p. 263). Demographic and
biographic data was also collected for comparative and descriptive purposes.
This survey was selected for two reasons. The first is that I had over a three year
period (2006 2008) validated the scales of the questionnaire using samples of
T&T primary and secondary school science teachers and had found the scale
reliability to be moderate (Alpha Coefficient = .7721). The second reason was that
it allowed for the juxtaposition of data generated in this study on to the data
generated in the original study that Pomeroy did in 1993 with science teachers in
Alaska to attempt a limited comparative analysis of the views of the nature of
90
science and to the extent possible of science teaching, that the surveys data
suggested these teachers in these two communities displayed.
Samples
The size of the sample in the Tobago inquiry was about one seventh the size of the
sample in the Pomeroys (1993) Alaskan study, which reflected somewhat the
relative sizes of the student populations these two sets of teachers serve. The
teachers in the Tobago study were all enrolled in the pilot postgraduate diploma in
education programme. The latter may have therefore felt obligated to fill out the
survey when requested to do so by the investigator given that he was coordinating
the programme. They may also have felt that they had to respond to the questions
in ways that would please the investigator. In Pomeroys (1993) study the
participants volunteered possibly given their interest in the philosophy of science,
which she cited as a potential source of bias. None of the teachers in the Tobago
study had taken a course in the history or philosophy of science as was the case
with the Pomeroys sample and so their responses may not have been influenced in
this way. There was however great variance (range 23 years) in the number of
years of teaching science to high school students in the Tobago sample, which may
have increased the likelihood of some of older teachers hearing about these modern
views of science and science education, than the younger ones.
Demographic Description of the Teachers
The 49 secondary school science teachers who responded to the survey in the
Pomeroy study had mean age of 37.3 (SD = 7.99) and they reported a mean of
12.7 (SD = 7.05) years of teaching experience (Pomeroy 1993 p.264). There was a
2:1 ratio of women to men. Seven science teachers participated in the Tobago
survey. The ratio of women to men was 2.5 to 1. They all had first degrees (B.Sc.)
in science in the traditional disciplines of Physics (2), Biology (4) and Chemistry
(1). Three taught in two rural high schools and the remaining four taught in urban
high schools. Six of the seven went straight into teaching upon graduating from
university. One of the biologists had worked three years at a marine biology field
station in Tobago as a research assistant before she went into teaching. None
expressed any special interest in the history and philosophy of science.
Portfolios as Data Sources
As part of the course each of the Tobago teachers was required to develop a
teaching portfolio whose purpose was:
To showcase your unique professional identity, highlighting the specific
elements contributed to its formation. [Furthermore it was to] provide a holistic
record of the professional work you accomplished during the year, [and] to
demonstrate your integration of theory and practice and your ability to reflect on
your work. (UWI, St. Augustine, 2009, p. 13).
91
DORIAN A. BARROW
DORIAN A. BARROW
these cluster of questions was 3.54 (SD = .46). Pomeroy did not report on the mean
score of the Alaskan high school science teachers on this cluster. She did, however,
noted that elementary teachers (mean = 4.13, SD = .47) scored significantly (p =
0.009, F = 0.432) higher than secondary school teachers (Pomeroy 1993, p. 268).
Teaching Metaphors
The seven teachers described their teaching using metaphors that characterized
all four orientations. This suggests that they came to know how the nature of
science is related to science education, in at least four different ways (Elliott 2009).
The distribution of the metaphors adopted by orientation categories are as follows:
Business-Oriented, one, T4; Science-Oriented, one, T6; Power-Oriented, two, T2
& T3; and Art-Oriented, three T1, T5 and T7. This feature was specific to the
Tobago study.
The Art-oriented category had the highest frequency of metaphors, followed by
the Power-oriented category. The latter category had the added distinction of
comprising of all female science teachers, each with five or less years teaching
experience. The Power-oriented category comprises a female (T3) with limited
teaching experience (5 years or less) and a male science teacher (T2) who had been
teaching physics at the same secondary school for 26 years. This is how T3
described how she came to know how to teach through her Power-orient science
teaching metaphor:
T3: At the start of the diploma in education programme I was encouraged to
reflect on and document my metaphor of teaching. I considered myself to be the
captain of a ship, the classroom. My tasks as captain include ensuring the ship
moved forward by policing, mothering, doctoring, and counseling. My purpose for
teaching was developing competencies in my students in my particular subject area
so that my students are equipped with the knowledge necessary for passing both
their internal school examination and the CXC examinations.
This view of teaching is in sharp contrast to T7, who conceptualized her
teaching using an Art-oriented metaphor.
T7: [As a teacher] I am an artist and my students are the pieces of a collage.
Everyone in the classroom brings a little piece to the table. Each piece is of
different shape and size, texture and colorThe pieces are all unique and
represent each childs special talents, , background, even faults. [As teacher] I
am a guide, not a director.
Though all four metaphor orientations will be utilized in how the Tobago
teachers come to know how to teach science in the analysis, emphasis will be
placed on the Power and Art-orientations, as most of the Tobago teachers
Metaphors fell in one or the other of these two categories.
Interpretation of Findings
The question of the impact that context possibly has on the differences between
Tobago and Alaska secondary school science teachers views of the nature of
science and related aspects of science education has been suggested within the
limits of their summative responses to the clusters of statements in these two
94
surveys. There are three findings that require further analysis and interpretation:
the suggestion that both groups have moderately traditional views of the nature of
science, the noted and significant difference in their views of the nature of science
education and the significant negative correlation (Pearson r = - .841, p = .018)
between years of teaching experience and traditional views of science education in
the Tobago sample.
Years of Teaching
Summaries of the t-tests and the Pearson correlations performed on the three
summary variables with the biographic data were generated using the SPSS
statistical programme. The only statistically significant correlation (Pearson r = .841, p = .018) was that between years of teaching experience and traditional views
of science education. A negative sign gives the direction of the correlation and
suggest that an inverse relation exist between years of teaching experience and the
traditional views of science education, that is, the younger teachers (those with less
than five teaching experience) have more traditional views of science education
than the older, more experienced teachers.
There are several possible explanations for this apparent trend. The first is that
the younger teachers just recently left university (within the last five years) where
they have been exposed to science taught to them in traditional ways of objective
normal science (Kuhn, 1970). This is opposed to revolutionary science where
there is a constant questioning of the adequacy of the core theories, principles and
procedures of the science discipline and there is less faith in the absolute nature of
scientific knowledge. The older teachers have been away from that milieu for a
much longer period and so some of its hold on them may have weaned off.
Furthermore, the older teachers being in the system longer, may have had more
opportunities to attend in-service teacher training workshops, where they would
have been exposed to some of the more contemporary views of science education,
including such philosophical ideas as constructivism which undermines some of
the traditional positivistic assumptions of normal science (Mathews, 2000). That
this may in fact be the case is suggested in the comment that T3 made in an elite
interview on professional development opportunities:
T3: I have been teaching at this school for almost five years and have been to
only one workshop and that was the one organized by CXC when they were
launching the new CSEC Chemistry syllabus. The THA has not sponsored any
science workshop that I know of over this period. And our science department head
here at school has not organized anything since I have been here either.
Additionally, the older teachers have been in the science classrooms for longer
periods of time and so have been provided more opportunities to experience what
science education is really like [T2, teacher with 26 years experience] from
interactions with and learning from their students in the reality of the science
classrooms. Mccomas (1998) has pointed out that young science teachers bring to
the classroom many of the myths associated with the nature of science and the
nature of science teaching, some of which they obtain from science textbooks
95
DORIAN A. BARROW
(Chiappetta, Sethna & Fillman, 1993). These myths include: modern western
science (MWS) models represent reality; scientists are particularly objective;
scientific laws derived through MWS and such ideas are absolute; a general and
universal scientific method exist; and, science is more procedural than creative
(Mccomas, 1998). The older science teachers are generally less dependent on
textbooks in their teaching having covered the material taught repeatedly for
many years [T2] and so may be less influenced by these textbook myths about the
nature of science. On the other hand, the younger science teachers, who are
generally much more dependent on textbooks in their teaching than their senior
counterparts (Stern & Roseman, 2004), might also be more inclined to not only
continue to propagate these myths among Indigenous students, but may also
continue to view modern western science in these mythical ways.
Traditional View of Science
As the two sample statements (26 and 29) illustrate, the traditional view of science
cluster comprise those statements that Mccomas (1999) cites as mythical beliefs
about the nature of science. That the best path to becoming successful in science is
through finding ways of how to memorize huge chunks of science texts and
regurgitate the [undigested] material in these high stakes examinations, is a popular
notion among some science teachers in the Caribbean. This is one possible
explanation for why the supplementary tutoring industry in the Anglophone
Caribbean has remained so profitable over the last two decades (Lochan & Barrow,
2008). T3 in elaborating on her power-oriented teaching metaphor said: My
purpose for teaching was to developing competencies in my students in my
particular subject area so that my students are equipped with the knowledge
necessary for passing both their internal school examination and the CXC
examination. This not only suggest a narrow focus of the purpose of science
education, but also a traditional view of science that Schwab (1964) calls a
rhetoric of conclusions, a view that scientific knowledge found the finest texts
were handed to us as is. This is opposed to the more contemporary view of
scientific knowledge being the product of a process of human thought, constructed
through a process of careful observations, critical inquiry and human creativity.
Over seven decades ago, Riechenbach (1938) and more recently Feyerabend
(1993), argued that this traditional view of science is the result of a confusion
between what they call the context of discovery and the context of justification.
What appears in textbooks and science journals are not verbatim reports on how
the knowledge was generated, but instead a rational argument in the effort on the
part of the scientists to communicate and even persuade, the scientific community,
or the research patrons, of the validity of the discovery. In the actual process of
discovery where the real work of science is done, Feyerabend (1993) contents that
the process is anarchic and anything goes. With science for many teachers being
whatever is in the science textbook (Chiapetta, Sethna & Fillman, 1993), or on the
CXC syllabus/examinations [T3], or in the case of the Alaska science teachers ,
whats in the State Standards (Maccomas & Olson, 1998), it was not at all
96
surprising that both sample of teachers had summative views of science that tended
to the traditional (Mean score 3.20) and the strong consistency in the cluster
suggests that respondents were expressing a coherent philosophy at work
(Pomeroy, 1993, p. 269).
Traditional Views of Science Education
Responses to statements in this cluster suggest some fundamental differences
between the two samples of teachers surveyed on this dimension of the study. The
Alaskan teachers are shown to be less traditional in their views of science
education than the Tobago teachers. Specifically, their views about the role inquiry
in science education and the role of induction, two of the most important process
skills in the scientific enterprise, differed significantly. For example there were
distinctly divergent responses to the statement: 40. Children in science should be
discouraged from wild ideas and encouraged to think carefully and logically,
with the Tobago teachers largely agreeing with the statement. The same level of
differences in response to the statement: 37. Reading and worksheets can be a
very effective way to teach science. Hence the average scores on this cluster of
statements (Alaska teachers mean = 2.36 and Tobago teachers 3.02) and the
respective high and moderate level of variance, suggest that the respondents in the
two samples were experiencing coherent differences in beliefs about the nature of
science education.
What can reasonably account for this difference? As pointed out by
Pomeroy(1993), Gallagher (1991) has offered a plausible explanation for the
strength of the traditional view points among secondary science teachers. Gallagher
(1991) sited teacher preparation programmes that are heavy in science, have no
room for philosophy of science and are taught by professors who do not believe in
the importance of such studies. Beginner teachers emerge from these programmes
with maximum of content at the expense of reflection about process (Pomeroy
1993, p. 270). The Tobago teachers, all of whom enter teaching with only the B.Sc.
in their science discipline, emerge from these university science programmes with
even more science content than their Alaskan counterparts, who by and large
acquire their science content as part of the B.Ed. degree. These B.Ed. degree
programmes include at least one full course on science teaching methods that
provide prospective teachers with some opportunities to reflect, in a formal way,
on the processes of science and on the teaching-learning processes. Given that this
fundamental difference in the way how these two samples of science teachers are
prepared to come to science classroom exist, may account for the significant
difference in their views on science education. Furthermore, the critique of the
universalist conception of modern western science as articulated by culturalist
science educators like Aikenhead (1996), Barnhardt (2001), Cobern (1993) and
Pomeroy (1993), has been apart of the Alaskan teachers consciousness for a much
longer period of time than their counterparts in Tobago who are now just begining
to struggle with the idea of viewing modern western science as cultural
knowledge (Aikenhead & Huntley, 1999).
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DORIAN A. BARROW
CONCLUSION
study, suggest that the experience of T3, was more the norm than an isolated
experience. This clearly is not the desirable state of affairs. There is therefore much
to learn from the way how the more developed nations, as well those in a similar
state of development, prepare and support their science teachers in their efforts to
move towards the common goal of scientific literacy for all students and to make
better use of the Indigenous scientific knowledge students and communities
possess. Support for more cross-cultural studies like this one can be one of ways to
move forward in this direction.
NOTES
i
ii
As cited in Sweeneys (2003) review, the people who have done work in these areas are: The role
and purposes of science education (Lambert 1974, Mark 1978); Culture and cognitive development
(Fraser-Abder 1985, King 1978); Science and curriculum development (Alexander and Glasgow
1981); Science teacher education (Brathwaite 1978); The impacts of science on social issues and
concerns (King 1987); Scientific literacy (Glasgow 1986); The relationships between Caribbean
beliefs and conventional science (George & Glasgow 1999, George 2001, Herbert 2008).
Belize is one of the 17 member states that make up the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Like
Guyana and Surinam, Belize is not an island-state, being situated in the Central American isthmus
east of Guatemala, north of Honduras and south of Mexico. Its land mass is about the size of the
State on Maine with a population of 350,000 people. The population comprise of two major ethnic
groups, Creole and Mestizo, and two minor ones, Maya and Garifuna. Creole and Garinagu peoples
are descendants of enslaved Africans.
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INTRODUCTION
The chapter is organized as follows. The first section focuses on the discursive
lens that undergirds the paper. We believe that the development, articulation and
implementation of clear goals for mathematics and science education will set the
direction for the development of relevant instructional practices and appropriate
assessment modalities. We emphasize that the theory of setting up goals with its
elements of committing to goals, feedback, publicity, specificity, participation,
competition and reward could be used for improving mathematics and science
taught in Ghanaian primary and secondary schools. The second section discusses
briefly the trajectory of the purposes, organization and outcomes of education from
the colonial to the present time. The third section concentrates on examining the
reasons for teaching and learning mathematics and science. It suggests national
goals for both mathematics and science education in Ghana. The fourth section
gives a typical portrayal of mathematics and science classroom in both primary and
secondary schools in Ghana. This section highlights the fact that the traditional
teaching pedagogyii for mathematics and science cannot achieve the goals we have
suggested; hence the need for a shift in teaching pedagogy. The conclusion
summarizes the benefits of having clear national goals for mathematics and science
education in Ghana as well as other African countries. The section also briefly
discusses possible areas of mathematics and science research in Ghana.
The sub-title of this chapter Ya Sisi Yeniii comes from the response of one of
the authors Ghanaian friends after a student in grade 3 illustrated to him the
technique of finding the area of a triangle by drawing grids. It hit the friend that he
was taught to use knowledge (formula) and so could only find the area of ideal
spaces, while the student in grade 3 constructed knowledge and so could find the
area of any space.
DISCURSIVE LENS
The above vignette leads to our discursive lens that underlies our critique of the
pedagogy of mathematics and science teaching and learning in Ghanaian schools.
Our observation is that mathematics and science education in Ghana schools lack
clear, sustained focus. That is, because primary and secondary education does not
have clearly articulated goals, mathematics and science education equally does not
have any clearly established and articulated goals. In this situation anything goes:
inadequate curriculum, irrelevant teaching pedagogy and deficient assessment
practices. Ndala (2006) has concluded that policy-makers and experts of secondary
education in sub-Saharan Africa have failed over the years to develop precise goals
for secondary education in the continent and still use the teaching pedagogy set up
by the colonialist, which has nothing to do with the problems and challenges facing
African countries.
A goal is what an individual or group strives to accomplish in a specific time
span. It is a future outcome that is more valued and significant due to the
dissatisfaction with the current situation and the desire to attain a specific outcome
in order to improve the current situation (Locke and Latham, 2006). Locke et al.,
(1981) observed that the concept of goals is similar in meaning to the concepts of
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purpose and intent, performance standards and objectives. A goal has a massive
influence on the human consciousness in that it directs and dictates action. As
Locke and Latham (2006) have observed typically, a goal, once accepted and
understood, remains in the periphery consciousness as a reference point for guiding
and giving meaning to subsequent mental and physical action (p.267). This
suggests that goals provide motivation for action.
However, goal setting without goal commitment is inconsequential. Goal
commitment is the exertion and extension of effort over time toward the attainment
of the original goal and unwillingness to abandon or lower the original goal.
Simply put, goal commitment is a psychological attachment and identification with
established goals. Several situational factors such as feedback, publicity,
specificity, participation, competition and reward structure affect goal attainment
(Hollenbeck and Klein, 1987). Feedback is evaluation or judgment of an outcome
or result with the object of motivating current and future behavior adjustment in
order to achieve the desired outcome. Goals and feedbacks are inseparably
intertwined because it is impossible to have one without the other. Feedback is an
evaluative tool that helps to maintain consistent improvement on performance
(Wilk and Redmon, 1998). Publicity is the extent to which goals are articulated to
the public, so that almost every stakeholderiv of the education enterprise is aware of
the goals to be achieved. In the case of state organizations, publically declared
goals may be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the organization. Specificity
relates to goal clarity. Vague goals are worse than no goals at all, in that they tend
to confuse implementers rather than help them. Participation has to do with the
extent of involvement of goal implementers in setting the goal. Goals have greater
likelihood of being committed to and implemented, if the implementers
participated in setting the goals (Locke and Latham, 2006). Competition internally
or externally generated is a pressure aimed at inducing goal commitment and
achievement. Competition could come from any stakeholders of the school system.
Finally, rewards for goal attainment such as public recognition, promotion, job
contract extension or increased remuneration have an impact on goal commitment.
Goals development is also related to economy, efficiency, effectiveness and
relevance (Phang, 2006; Thomas, 2007). Economy focuses on the cost of input
acquisition for production of a desired outcome or result. Inputs in education may
include facilities, teaching materials, qualified teachers, parents and community
support. The nature of a goal influences how much an organization is prepared to
pay for its input cost. Efficiency refers to the use of resources in producing specific
results. Efficiency is high when greater result is attained with lesser expenditure of
input costs. In some cases, the costs of alternative programmes for attaining goals
are compared in order to choose those that are cost effective. So cost effective is an
extension of efficiency. Effectiveness, on the other hand, has to do with why an
organization, programme, project or intervention exists. A programme or
organization should justify its existence by achieving goals that are socially
desirable with little undesirable social consequences. The last goal-related concept
is relevance. Relevance focuses specifically on programmes, interventions or
projects that are consistent with established goals.
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Setting up too high or low goals could lead to demoralization on the part of
those required to implement the goals. While SMARTv goal setting principles may
help, Ordonez et al., (2009) cautioned that goal setting requires considerable
thoughts and deep reflections.
HISTORY OF SCHOOL GOALS, ORGANIZATION AND RESULTS IN GHANA
In this section, we discuss briefly how the current Ghanaian system of school
education came into being, including its purposes, organization and related results.
We start with the colonial period and proceed to the postcolonial vi period. We
divide the postcolonial period into Nkrumah period and post-Nkrumah period,
because the set of education problems in that era was qualitatively different from
the post-Nkrumah era. It was also during the Nkrumah era that Ghanaian education
system in terms of access and enrolment won the international acclamation as one
of the best on the continent of Africa (The World Bank, 2004). After the overthrow
of Nkrumah by a military coup, the Ghanaian school education system started
deteriorating and most of Nkrumah government policies and initiatives that were
designed to link education to scientific, technological, economic and social
development of Ghana were abandoned.
COLONIAL EDUCATION IN GHANA
Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast, is a republic democracy located in West African
with an estimated population of 24million. It shares a border with the Ivory Coast
to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east and the Gulf of Guinea to
the south. In 1874 the United Kingdom established the Gold Coast Colony over a
portion of present day Ghana. In March 6, 1957, when the Gold Coast became
independent it adopted the name Ghana, reflecting the ancient Empire of Ghana
which once extended throughout much of West Africa.
The Christian missionaries laid down the foundation of colonial education in
Ghana around the 18th century. The missionary primary schools established in
Ghana were accessible to few children and youth who lived in the coastal areas. In
1890 a director of education was appointed to oversee the organization and
management of schools in the Gold Coast (Mazonde, n.d). By 1951, pre-university
enrolments in Ghana were as follows: 154,360 in primary schools, 66,175 in
middle school and 3,559 in secondary and technical schools (Thompson and
Casely-Hayford, 2008). The curriculum, teaching pedagogy, administration and
assessment of student performance were determined by the education director and
were based on a modified version of British school system. Most of the secondary
schools provided boarding facilities where students were provided accommodation
and food (Obeng, 2002). In terms of structure, the colonial administration adopted
the British education system: primary, secondary, sixth form and higher education.
Secondary school students completed their schooling by participating in general
certificate of education (GCE) examination conducted by Cambridge University or
London University in the UK. In 1952 the West African Examination council was
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science education was introduced in the colonial schools at the latter part of the
colonial period, Mereku (2000) indicates that the structure and content of the
mathematics curriculum were imported from the United Kingdom and did not have
any connections with the socio-cultural environment of the students.
EDUCATION IN KWAME NKRUMAHS ERA
After attaining political independence from the United Kingdom under the
leadership of Kwame Nkrumah, some of the implicit goals of colonial education
were allowed to direct and dictate education policies. In particular, Nkrumah
government allowed churches-run schools, along with local authority and private
schools. The education system also emphasized obedience and complete
submission to (teacher) authority to the extent that students initiative, inquiry or
questioning were discouraged through verbal reprimands or corporal punishment.
Ghanaian classrooms differed and differ little from a religious Sunday school class.
The government provided funding for both the local authority and church-run
schools. As well, the government increased the number of boarding secondary
schools on the assumption that it brought ethnic and tribal understanding and unity
among Ghanaians (Obeng, 2002). However, the establishment of the ministry of
education responsible for making and implementing education policies and
regulations gave education a definitive hierarchical structure. The goals of general
education in this era were:
To increase access to all levels of education by building more schools;
To use education as the key human resources development;
Train more teachers for primary and secondary schools by setting up more
teacher education institutions; and
To indigenize school curriculum and pedagogy.
The government achieved its goal of mass education. According to Thompson
and Casely-Hayford (2008) primary school enrolment increased by 213%, middle
schools by 142% and secondary schools by 138%. The same authors stated that
60% more teachers were produced compared to the colonial period. Nevertheless,
very little was achieved in respect of the indigenization of the curriculum and
teaching pedagogy. Secondary education supplemented higher institutions to
produce human resources for mostly administrative employment that were
abundant in this era. Paraphrasing (Adas, 1989), a large number of the educated
Ghanaians in this period, were only Africans in blood and colour but more British
in taste, intellect and opinion.
Though the government in this era did not officially articulate any precise goals
for mathematics and science education for Ghanaian schools, the following speech
by Ghanas president at that time, Kwame Nkrumah, provides a vision for
mathematics and science education:
We must seek an African view to the problems of Africa. This does not mean
that western techniques and methods are not applicable to Africa. It does
mean, however, that in Ghana we must look at every problem from the
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In the post-Nkrumah period after February 24, 1966, the national goals and
organization of education changed slightly to accommodate a few structural
changes. Ghana Education Service (GES) was established as policy and regulatory
implementation agency of the ministry of education. The 1987/88 reform goals
included the followingviii: (1) to reduce the length of pre-university education from
17 years (6 years of primary school, 4 years of middle school and7 years of
secondary school) to 12 years (6 years of primary education, 3 years of junior
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The international literature indicates that the goals of mathematics education for
schools (Kindergarten-secondary school) are politically contested among different
social groups, each with its own ideological orientation. According to Ernest
(1994) these groups are roughly divided into five ideological camps: Industrial
Trainers, Technological Pragmatists, Old humanists, Progressive Educators and
Public educators. The industrial trainer aims at inculcating in students basic
mathematical knowledge and skills in order to sustain the prevailing social and
economic systems. Technological pragmatists are industrial-centred, who want a
mathematics curriculum that will equip students with knowledge and skills as
future workers for industries. For the old humanists, mathematical knowledge and
skills should be passed on to young people as part of human cultural heritage.
Accordingly, the old humanists want students to learn mathematics for cultural
survival. The progressive educators view mathematics as an inherent tool for
creativity, innovation and exploration. The progressive educators want young
people to cultivate these characteristics in order to contribute to the progress of
their society. This group is a strong advocate for child-centred mathematics
learning rather than teacher-dominated classroom that maintains standardization,
stifling creativity, innovation and exploration. Finally, the public educators are
interested in establishing a just and fair society, with critical citizenship through
mathematics education. They are interested in empowering students to use
mathematics to identify inequalities in society and to critique mathematical
applications in different social, political and economic contexts.
Unfortunately this ideological grouping does not exist in Ghana for either
mathematics or science education. In fact, the mathematics and science education
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curricula for Ghana schools have not been the subject of any political or
ideological debate or discourse. As far as we know, no group has emerged
advocating a particular national purpose or goals for school mathematics or science
education in Ghanaian schools. This is not to suggest that the Ghanaian education
authorities or individual researchers have not suggested any goals for school
mathematics. The Ghanaian education authorities have suggested that the primary
goal of school mathematics is to nurture the inquiry and creativity of children
through investigational activities (Mereku, 2003). However, the education
authorities do not provide any sample models of investigative activities to allow
students to undertake such activities, nor are teachers prepared in teacher education
institutions to teach mathematics through investigational activities. Another
researcher has suggested that at the primary school level students should master the
principles and skills of numeracy, measurement and the relationship between space
and shape (Amissah, 1998).
Science education in Ghana schools is not as popular as the liberal arts (history,
religion, geography, literature, government, home economics, art and business
courses). Science is rarely taught in the primary grades on the assumption that it
requires special materials and equipment to teach unlike teaching mathematics.
Where taught, it is hardly organized with any specific focus. Official rhetoric for
science education falls short of concrete goals and is more flamboyant about
promoting integrated science and the use of information and communication
technology in primary and secondary schools (Ghana Government, 2003; 2007;
Baiden-Amissah, 2006). Even in secondary schools, few students opt to take
science courses and those who do only a small fraction make the passing grade
(Muwanga-Zake, 2001; Vermaak & Bradley, 2003). Comparatively, mathematics
education has received more attention from the Ghanaian education authorities
than science education has received. Ghana does not have any national goals for
science education in primary or secondary schools. As a result, science education
in Ghanaian schools is in a state of crisis as much as its counterpart in South Africa
(Muwanga-Zake, 2001). We use the term crisis here to refer to the lack of policy
framework, coordination and direction for science education in Ghanaian schools.
The crisis of science education in Ghana has been attributed to shortage of
qualified science teachers, lack of textbooks and equipment and low government
support (Cartlidge, 2005).
With respect to mathematics education, a Ghanaian researcher has suggested the
following goals for primary and junior secondary school:
To help the child to explore and understand the world around them;
To help the child to compare and contrast objectives;
To help the child to acquire the technique of problem-solving; and
To help the child to develop his logical thought process (Adetunde 2007, p.340).
While these goals of school mathematics look good they are general and lack
specificity. They are also not linked to any challenges or problems confronting
Ghanaian society now or in the future. Nor are they linked to any specific future
society that Ghanaians have envisaged for themselves.
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From our perspective, the purposes of teaching and learning mathematics from
Kindergarten to senior secondary school should be linked to the national goals of
education in order to make it relevant and effective. The purposes of mathematics
education should include the following:
To apply mathematics to all sectors of our society such as agriculture,
transportation, budgeting, construction of houses, roads, bridges and barns,
design of tools and appliances and in defence of the country;
Develop mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills and apply these
skills to formulate and solve new and emerging problems in our society;
To identify and understand the relationships among mathematical ideas and
between mathematics and other school subjects;
To develop positive attitude toward mathematics as a key to decision-making,
technological imagination and problem-solving in our society;
To understand and appreciate how mathematics is used for counting, measuring,
locating, playing games, designing of tools and appliances and explaining
phenomenon; and
Develop skills to reason logically, conduct investigation, data collection, test
hypotheses and to learn cooperatively and independently the traditions and
customs of our society.
These purposes of mathematics education are relevant to the national collective
wish to improve Ghanaian conditions of life: to produce adequate food to feed
themselves, roofs over their heads and enough clothes for the people. In addition,
the goals are connected to the socio-cultural and physical environment of the
student. In fact, quality education has been conceptualized as responsiveness to the
needs of students and their communities and relevant to their physical and cultural
environment (UNESCO, 2002, 2008). Those purposes of mathematics education
are also economical to attain because they do not require any massive infusion of
additional financial resources into education. It requires changes in teaching
pedagogy, creativity, development of new curriculum and commitment on the part
of teachers and the central and local education authorities. Certainly, pre-service
and serving teachers would need professional development on how to integrate
those goals into teaching, learning and assessment but these costs are not expected
to be excessive.
Science education in Ghanaian primary and secondary schools, as we have
stressed, is in much worse state relative to mathematics education. Yet science
education has a most important role to play in the development of agriculture,
food preservation, nutrition, sanitation, disease discovery and prevention,
information processing, transportation and communication. We support the
argument that the goals of science education in Ghanaian schools should be
linked to the socio-cultural environment of the student in order to make it
relevant and effective (Walberg, 1991; African Union, 2006). This external
perspective is concerned with what is being taught in science education in
relation to the cultural context of students and their communities. This is in sharp
contrast with the internal perspective that focuses on the topics to be taught in
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science (Cobern, 1996). The following are our suggested national goals for
science education in Ghana:
To understand science concepts, principles, processes; and inculcate in students
the spirits of curiosity, inquiry, questioning and the search for data;
To acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes for transforming natural resources
into usable products, improving traditional technologies, inventing appropriate
technologies and adapting foreign technologies into local conditions;
Utilize scientific knowledge to transform the human environment to make it safe
and livable, for disease discovery and prevention and for better health and
nutrition;
To design experiments, investigation and research (observation, measurement,
reflection, data collection and testing) to understand phenomena occurring in the
human and natural environment;
To be able to engage in public discussions, discourses and debates relating
science to issues, problems and challenges;
To understand and identify moral and ethical issues surrounding the application
of science and make decisions and judgments accordingly; and
To make personal and public decisions based on verifiable data.
The effectiveness of these science goals can be viewed in terms of justifying
science as part of the school curriculum. Students who attain these goals would
realize the relevance of their education and their ability to contribute to the wellbeing of Ghanaians. This situation should be contrasted with the current situation
in which the entire country depends on the largesse and advice of external
institutions and individuals in Euro-America. In addition, the relevance of those
goals is that Ghana is abound in a variety of natural resources and that science
should be applied to develop those resource for the use of Ghanaians (Goldberg,
1998). It may be asked, how could mathematics and science education have
anything to do with those goals? We know that mathematics could be a hand
maiden for young people to refine or enhance many of Ghanaian cultural rituals
and practices and adapt foreign or develop technologies to fit local conditions.
Counting, measuring, navigating and designing, for instance, are embedded in
every aspects of Ghanaian society. For example, how do Ghanaian farmers
navigate their way through thick forests or grasslands? How could mathematics
be used to enhance the effectiveness of navigation in Ghana? How could science
and mathematics assist to improve the design of traditional technologies such as
the extraction of wine from palm trees, brewing of pitoix, production of garix and
alataxi soap? The examples are too numerous for us to enumerate here. Effective
mathematics education could assist the development of the individual
technological imagination, which facilitates invention, innovation and creativity
(Skovsmose, 2010). Skovsmose (2010) refers to technology as any form of
design and construction (e.g. machines, tools and processes), decision-making
and organization. We share these conceptions with Skovsmose. Certainly, Ghana
needs an education system that will equip its burgeoning young population with
competencies for technological development, for competition in the
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technological world and for developing its resources at the highest level of
efficiency (Ghana Ministry of Education, 2004). And mathematics and science
education has a critical and indispensable role to play in that development
targets.
We believe that Ghanaian youth are capable of developing technological and
scientific imagination, given an effective mathematics and science education
environment: an environment that develops student mathematical proficiency to
understand the limitless possibilities of mathematical and scientific applications in
Ghanaian society and how mathematics and science can be used to solve the
myriad problems confronting the Ghanaian society. Nevertheless, Ghanaian youth
cannot develop such technological imagination if mathematics and science
education continues to be taught as merely a regurgitation of rules and procedures
without understanding the underlying logic or ontological rationality. As well, any
transformation of Ghanaian society could not take place when mathematics and
science education is disconnected from the socio-cultural environment of the
student.
Our position is that since mathematics and science was part of the colonial
school curriculum it has been accepted as good for schooling after political
independence. Even where the contents of the school mathematics curriculum are
changed, which rarely happens, the influence comes from one of the international
agencies rather than within the country. Sometimes the government may hire a
foreign consultant, as it happened after the overthrow of the Nkrumahs
government, to design new mathematics curricula for Ghanaian schools. The
problem with this approach is that the resulting school mathematics curricula are
general and as we have observed, they merely mimic the mathematics curricula of
other countries whose national developmental problems and aspirations are totally
different from those of Ghana.
The question, of why teach mathematics and science is crucial for three main
reasons. First and foremost, the answers to the question would influence the
content of school mathematics and science curricula that teachers will be
expected to teach in schools and which students will also be expected to learn.
Because mathematics is an open concept and is subject to limitless possibilities
and classifications (Skovsmose, 2010), having well-established reasons for
teaching it gives it a focus. Second, the answers to the question would also shape
considerably the mathematics and science pedagogy that will be used in
Ghanaian schools. Such specific goals of mathematics and science education
would be used to prepare teachers in teacher-education institutions and for
assessing the effectiveness of teaching and learning. As Schoenfeld (1992)
rightly put it:
Goals for mathematics instruction [education] depend on ones
conceptualization of what mathematics is, and what it means to understand
mathematics. Such conceptualizations vary widely. At one end of the
spectrum, mathematical knowledge is seen as a body of facts and procedures
dealing with quantities, magnitudes, and forms, and relationships among
them; knowing mathematics is seen as having mastered these facts and
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Historically, the traditional teaching and learning of mathematics since the time
of British colonialism in Ghana has been characterized by an extreme focus on
rote memorization and parroting of procedures with little or no understanding of
the associated concepts that underlie them. Mereku et al., (2005) noted that the
teaching of mathematics in Ghanaian primary schools focused on computation
skills, learning of formulas, rote practice of procedures and teaching as telling.
They also reported that in the 2003 Third International Mathematics and
Science Study (TIMSS) which Ghanaian junior secondary students (JSS 2)
participated, the students were able to answer mathematics questions testing
knowledge of facts and procedures rather than those asking for application of
concepts, solutions to non-routine problems or mathematical reasoning. Again,
Mereku (2003) reported that in a survey of mathematics teaching in Ghana at
the primary school level, 96% of the teacher respondents stated that they have
never encouraged students to solve problems using their own strategies or
methods; 79% of the respondents admitted that they often used teaching
methods that do not encourage discussion in the classroom; and only 15% of the
respondents often used teaching approaches that promote conceptual
understanding.
Consequently, mathematics teaching in Ghanaian schools is entirely
transmission of procedures and rules to the student. And the students
responsibility is to pay attention and regurgitate what the teacher is transmitting to
him or her. Such procedure-based, didactic mathematics pedagogy hinders the
student from developing mathematical proficiency needed for attaining any of the
mathematics education goals we have suggested in this chapter. For students to be
able to formulate and solve problems in transportation, for instance, they require
deeper understanding of what they are trying to do and demonstrate flexibility in
thinking.
In effect, mathematics proficiency in Ghanaian schools is seen as possessing a
corpus of facts and procedures and applying them when asked. In accordance with
this perspective, students are mostly concerned with memorizing mathematics
procedures and recalling them during examinations or tests. Teachers, on the other
hand, encourage students to memorize formulas because they teach with little
explanations of the underlying meanings of mathematical concepts and procedures.
In other words, teachers hardly engage their students in mathematical concept
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development let alone the various contexts in which those concepts are applicable.
Formulas are precious to Ghanaian mathematics teachers; to them knowing
mathematics is equal in effect to knowing formulas. Therefore, the usual practice is
that teachers do not give out formula sheets for examinations and tests because that
will give students an undue advantage to pass the examination. On the otherhand,
what is the use of mathematical formulas or algorithms if students have no or little
theoretical or practical understanding of why they work and in what situations they
do not work? The illustration below in table 1 is a classical example of an
algorithm that the average Ghanaian student has been uncritically taught and
memorized. It shows an instrumental understanding of mathematics (Skemp, 1978:
Beswick, 2005).
Question1: 10,000 old Ghana cedis equal 1 Ghana new cedi.
How much is 2,000,000 old cedis in terms of the new cedi?
Solution: Using the if more less divides; if less more divides algorithm:
10,000 old cedis = 1 new cedi
It is more, so less divides, therefore
2, 000, 000 x 1
! 200 new cedis
2,000,000 old cedis =
10, 000
Question 2: Two people can dig a 3-metre hole in 1.5 hours. Using the same tools
and working at the same rate per person, how long will it take 4 people to dig the
same hole?
Solution: Using the if more less divides; if less more divides algorithm
Time for 2 people = 1.5 hours
It is more, so less divides, therefore
1.5 x 4
! 3 hours . This is wrong.
Time for 4 people =
2
Correct Solution: Using the if more less divides and if less more divides
Time for 2 people = 1.5 hours
It is less, so more divides, therefore
1.5 x 2
Time for 4 people =
! 0.75 hours .
4
Comment: This rule is popular in Ghana schools but it has so many defects.
Among them are: i) It is very easy to misapply it, as shown by the first solution
to question 2; ii) It does not give any insight of the underlying logic behind such
problems; iii) It robs students of the chance to model such questions by
mathematical equations; hence, the chance to apply knowledge from other areas of
mathematics to solve such questions; iv) Such rules can only handle very simple
problems.
Figure 1. Instrumental Understanding of Mathematics Procedure.
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procedures/ rules and examples the teacher has explained verbally and
demonstrated on the chalkboard are taken exclusively from the textbook; so are
the answers to all the mathematics exercises assigned to the students. Finally, the
teacher gives out a test to the students at the end of the school term to find out
how many of the procedures/rules they can remember and practice.
Science classrooms in Ghanaian schools typically follow the same patterns as
the mathematics classrooms: (1) Teacher transmission of science knowledge as
immutable and textbook domination, (2) Note-giving and note taking, (3)
Excessive memorization of facts, procedures and formulas, (4) Lack of practical
work and (5) Poor understanding of scientific methods and concepts (Vermaak
and Bradley, 2003). Even where the teacher adds practical or experimental
activities their purposes are to enable students to clarify theories they have
learned rather than to challenge or question them. As well, such activities are not
for students to explore problems of their interests and find solutions to them; nor
are they for finding facts and arriving at new principles (Ghartey-Ampiah et al.,
2004). In other words, science education like mathematics education has
practically nothing to do with the problems and challenges facing Ghanaian
society.
So what is wrong with those typical Ghanaian mathematics and science
classrooms? From our perspective, many things are wrong with these
classrooms. First, most students find it difficult to remember all the steps when
they are doing their mathematics or science assignments. Accordingly, some
students are compelled to memorize the procedures/rules and try to match them
to similar problems during the class assignments. Indeed, students gain no
understanding of what they are doing or why they are doing it. Second, Science
education offered in Ghanaian schools is a cultural product imported from EuroAmerica. Therefore, it bears the culture of the context in which it originated. As
Wilson (1981) pointed out: There is a growing awareness that, for science
education to be effective it must take much more of the explicit account of the
cultural context of the society which provides its setting and whose needs it
exists to serve (p.297). Students need opportunities to make sense of what they
are learning rather than being compelled to memorize facts, formulas and
procedures, which have little meaning to them. In fact, rote memorization of
knowledge does not involve any sense-making process, so students easily forget
what they have memorized. Furthermore, transmission of science facts as
immutable knowledge is contrary to science as is understood as tentative,
empirically-based and part-product of human inference, creativity and
imagination (Parker et al., 2008).
Third, the teacher teaches the procedures/rules, students only receive the end
products and not the processes leading to the end products. This is the lecture
approach to teaching, which has the support of many African teachers as the most
effective way to cover the curriculum (Serbessa, 2006). In the lecture approach,
students are denied the opportunity for participation in the lesson at the beginning,
to think, communicate, discuss and to share their thoughts, experiences and
understandings on the lesson with the teacher and their peers. In short, students are
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x 2 2 x ! 1, then x 2 2 x 1 ! 0
Learner 4:
x ! 1. I drew the graphs of y ! 1 and
y ! x 2 2 x.
Learner 5:
x ! 1. I substituted a range of values in the equation and 1 is the only
one that works.
In the above example given in Figure 2, the mathematics teacher allowed the
students to explore the meaning of the equation from their own creative and
innovative understanding rather than insisting rigidly on the use of the quadratic
formula or factoring techniques. As such the freedom for creativity and
innovation inspired learner 1 to use reasoning; learners 2 and 3 used factoring
techniques; learner 4 used graphing and learner 5 substitution procedures. It is
not the use of graphing and substitution procedures that make learners 4 and 5
solutions creative, but their deeper understanding that graphing and substitution
methods are equally a solution tool for the equation. Creativity may be
conceptualized in different ways but we view it as a skill, an ability to make
unforeseen connections and to generate new and appropriate ideas (Ferrari et
al., 2009, p.iii). Innovation may also be seen as the application of new or
existing ideas to benefit a field such as mathematics learning. It is noteworthy
that creativity and innovation as abilities could be fostered or hindered by a
teaching pedagogy. We want to emphasize that without creativity and
innovative mathematics and science education it is impossible for Ghanaians or
Africans to solve the myriad problems of poverty, perennial hunger,
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The central argument in this chapter is that without clearly defined goals and goals
commitment for mathematics and science education at the primary and secondary
schools in Ghana, it is increasingly difficult to
Measure the quality of mathematics and science education at that level. The fact
is that education quality is an intrinsic characteristic that expresses the
relationship between goals and performance. Without goals or standards it is
impossible to talk about education quality generally and mathematics and
science education particularly;
Develop a focus and relevant curriculum, let alone appropriate teaching
pedagogy that can be used to motivate and help students to learn and apply
mathematics and science; and
Design effective assessment practices and tools that can be used to measure
performance and ensure that the goals have been attained or are being attained;
and
Locate resources to develop national capacity for technological and scientific
progress.
The lack of clearly defined and articulated mathematics and science education
goals for primary and secondary schools in Ghana has contributed significantly
to the low visibility of mathematics and science among school subjects.
However, a well-defined school mathematics and science education research
agenda initiated and led by Ghanaian universities will give some visibility and
prominence to mathematics and science education in Ghana. In particular, how
mathematics and science was used in the construction of houses, barns, huts,
navigation, trading, food preservation, herbal therapies and design of tools are
great areas of research. Historians have documented sites of Akan foundries for
gold, iron and steel smelting (Abraham, 1962). This is an interesting research
project to investigate how these metals, especially iron and steel, were smelted
and molded into different farming and war implements. Indeed local initiative is
needed for developing effective and relevant science school science programmes
(Walberg, 1991).
Other areas of research whose results could enhance mathematics and science
education include mathematics of Edwasoxii and how Ghanaians dealt with issues
of quantity, measurement and design before colonization. Further, research into
traditional methods of producing peanut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil and shea
butter is a great project. These research projects are likely to give a boost for the
study of mathematics and science in Ghana. They could also contribute to
eliminate the schism between school science and that of the larger society.
Furthermore, the goals of mathematics and science education that we have
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v
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ix
xi
xii
REFERENCES
Abraham, W.E. (1962). The mind of Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Adas, M. (1989). Machines as a measure of men. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Adetunde, I.A. (2007). Improving the teaching and learning of mathematics in second cycle institutions
in Ghana. Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences , 4(3), 340344.
Adler, J.,& Davis, Z. (2006). Opening another black box: Researching mathematics for teaching in
mathematics education. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 37(4), 270296.
Addo, J.D. (2004). Education or indoctrination? The vestiges of the colonial experiment in Ghana.
Retrieved from htt://www.holcimfoundation.org/portals/1/docs/F04/addo.pdf
African Union (2006). Second decade of education for Africa (20062015): Draft plan of action.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Department of Human Resources, Science and Technology.
Amissah, S.E. (1998). The role of mathematics in the FCUBE programmeme. Paper delivered at the
26th National General Workshop/Conference of the Mathematical Association of Ghana (MAG),
August 2429, St James Seminary/Secondary School, Sunyani, Ghana.
Baiden-Amissah, A. (2006). Improving the education sector in Ghana development agenda. Paper
delivered at the Study Tour of Asia by African Ministers of Education, June 19. Accra, Ghana:
Ministry of Education.
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INTRODUCTION
understand our lived social environment. Hence, social science research became
very much governed by this supposedly universal set of laws. Scientism then is
very much singular in its methodological production of knowledge and invariably
works to ontologically counter the relevance of local cultural resource
knowledging. Yet the claim for African Indigeneity is about multiple cultural ways
of knowing, for African Indigeneity speaks through the inter-subjective local of the
human. Notably, intersubjectivity becomes constituted through the primacy of
being and the ensuing socio-cultural interaction within ones lived social
environment, - a location counter to that posited through scientism which claims
the primacy of being as distinct, value-free, objective and autonomous from the
social. My challenge to scientism begins with the epistemological question of
where does knowledge reside and what are the conditions of its existence? I am
suggesting that these conditions are immanent within the local cultural resources of
African Indigeneity. Yet, social science is rooted within cultural ways of knowing,
such that I am interested in the ways in which coming to make meaning are present
beyond the expert text and instead to the incommensurable spaces of culture.
Purcell (1998) long ago noted there is a culture of science that is arguably
unique to Western societies. Western knowledge is founded on a particular
criterion of science that is too abstracted from any specific cultural genesis to be
considered Indigenous today. By engaging culture as science and integrating
nature as science in the discussion, this paper accentuates the importance and
implications of local cultural knowings as relevant in the transformation of African
schooling. I take the discursive position that there is the power of intellectual ideas
bringing about educational change. A re-visioning African education may start
with the re-conceptualization of schooling, its purpose and objectives. It may also
include placing some emphasis on the promotion of the self, group and community
identities of young learners in ways that are foregrounded in culture, history and
politics. The importance of education for development rests more than an emphasis
on teaching science, mathematics and technology. Teaching and learning about the
self, personhood and the group may be equally important in terms of the particular
learner education is hoping to create. Notwithstanding good intentions of schools,
administrators, educators and policy makers a good number of African parents still
wonder why we still have to contend with educational failures. This is not to say
there are no educational successes to be proud of. However, I am not the only to
struggle with the question and Africa and Africans are not alone. There is a need
for re-visioning African education such that contemporary learners understand the
self and group identities and the importance of social discipline and responsibility.
I will maintain that it is important for African learners today to be steeped in a
critical understanding and engagement of local/Indigenous knowledge, community
traditions, histories and social mores in order to strengthen our collective African
identities.
There are pertinent questions to ponder over: How do we create spaces for the
study of African Indigenous knowledges in our schools that promote notions of
self, group, community, identity and culture? How can such knowledge be
gathered, interpreted and theorized for the education of the contemporary African
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The question of how Indigenous is the African today is irrelevant and can only be
asked by someone who either seeks exclusive claim to Indigenous knowledge or
has lost their own Indigenity and has no way of reclaiming due to the imposition of
Euro-colonial knowledge. The challenge of identifying with Indigenous struggles
everywhere requires that all Indigenous communities learn from each other. Far too
often the need to respect local/traditional/Indigenous knowledge has been onesided in a way that denies what other peoples have to offer to multiple ways of
knowing. My assertion is not intended to mean all knowledges are the same. I do
believe in [and have written extensively on] the idea of multiple and collaborative
dimensions of knowledges.
There is always a process of self and group discovery and recovery of
knowledges. It is through a critical awareness of such processes recovery/rediscovery that a transformative project of solidarity rests. The urgency of building
such solidarities becomes clearer as we witness the extent of ongoing
institutionalized processes that have historically sustained and reinforced colonial
and imperial relations and patterns. Therefore, as colonized and resistant bodies we
must always search for creative [including Indigenous] ways of solidarity building
that is informed by a historical and political consciousness of our human condition
and social existence. For example, we must explore the theoretical, epistemological
and methodological approaches to community building not simply as tools or
methods but as ways of understanding ourselves and each other.
In meeting such challenges, I would venture to argue that certain questions are
important. For example, what does it mean to create solidarities? What does it
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I begin this section sounding a brief note of caution. I note the many contentions
around the question of identity and what exactly is meant when it is evoked. I also
acknowledge that posing the question of African identity through a continental lens
provides us with different set of questions and issues for critical analysis than when
the question is viewed through a diasporic lens. Nonetheless these questions,
concerns and issues are intertwined and sometimes inseparable given the fact that
today we speak of the necessity to theorize African beyond its boundaries. I am not
preoccupied with the question of who qualifies to be African. I am more focused
on what claiming African identity means pedagogically and communicatively. For
example how the critical teachings about the national, continental and communal
alliances and linkages of histories, cultures, heritage, language and knowledges
provide us with conduits for understanding of what it means to claim an
Africanness. Despite the different roots and routes we have taken as a people,
African identity evokes some shared and connected histories, experiences and
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In this section I provide accounts from interviews with Ghanaian educators and
students illustrating the value of informal/Indigenous education conveyed in the
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teachings of local cultural knowledge (i.e., local proverbs and traditional teachings
about self respect, discipline, identity, culture and history. An overriding question
is, how might formal education bridge such critical teachings while maintaining
those elements of local culture, traditions and stories that are absolutely worth
passing on to the next generation? In June 2007, I began a study Teaching
Discipline, Respect and Character Education: What Can be Learned from
Schooling in Pluralistic Contexts focusing on the role of African Indigenous
philosophies and local cultural knowledge forms in teaching about respect,
discipline and social responsibility as part of character development among
youth. i A particular interest is how local cultural knowledge -- contained in
proverbs, fables, tales and folklore -- assist in inculcating in all learners notions of
discipline and respect for self-worth, self-esteem and community pride.
Accordingly, the study examined the practices and measures educators, school
administrators, families and communities institute to address forms of youth
discipline and character education and how local Indigenous knowings facilitate
school teachings and learning. The learning objective is to articulate an Indigenous
philosophy for understanding questions of character, social discipline, building
respect for oneself, peers, authority and the wider community that can be relevant
to classroom teaching and learning for youth in the educational system. African
schools, like schools elsewhere, continue to search for more effective ways of
delivering education to a diverse group of learners.ii
The field study [which also took me to Nigeria in 2007 and 2009 for discussions
with local educators] has examined the instructional, pedagogic and communicative
values and challenges in local Indigenous cultural teachings (proverbs) about
[in]discipline and respect for self, peers and authority. In 2007-2008 academic
year, working with graduate assistants from the Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT) and local research assistants
from Ghana, we conducted interviews with a minimum of twenty (20) Ghanaian
and Nigerian educational theorists and practitioners who have some knowledge of
and experience in the issue of teaching discipline and respect to authority using
local Indigenous philosophies and concepts. From 2007 to 2009, at least a dozen
(12) focus group discussions were held, as well as over eighty-five (85) individual
interviews (i.e., twenty-five (25) educators; twenty (20) Elders/parents and forty
(40) students drawn from the local universities, secondary schools and community
colleges, as well local communities in Ghana and to a small extent, Nigeria) [see
Dei, 2010].
STUDY FINDINGS: SUBJECT NARRATIVES
This section of the paper reports on selected sections of research findings for the
20072009 study that is deemed relevant for discussions in this current paper. I
focus on the idea of creating a discipline learner and the role of local cultural
knowledge systems in helping mould a complete learner for today. Research
accounts presented here are based on subject responses from college educators and
university student-teachers to such questions as: What are local cultural knowings
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embedded in proverbs, songs and folktales? How do these knowings teach about
self respect, discipline, community and authority? How do these knowledges help
build the learners character, sense of self-worth, collective pride as significant
knowledge base for the contemporary youth? The aim was to understand how local
educators and students would connect the received understandings of education
broadly to include learning the society, nature and culture interface as science. The
making of holistic learning may require that educators engage the teaching of
nature as science as part of the education of youth. I have chosen to focus on a
select mix of youth, students and educators narratives that help us to understand
the relationship between self, discipline and culture as building blocks for a young
learner (see also Dei & Simmons, 2011). The narratives also highlight ways of
approaching the education and socialization of the contemporary young African
learners grounded in more critical ways of looking at local culture, traditions,
values, norms and practices as dynamic forms of knowledge to be reclaimed for
positive (solution-oriented) ends.
Proverbs as Local Cultural Teachings about Self Discipline, Respect
and Sense of Community
Ghanaian educators interviewed contend proverbs constitute part of local
Indigenous knowledge systems. They point out that proverbs are organized systems
of thought that reveal deep meanings connected to history, culture, tradition and
societal norms and expectations. Bafoah iii who has been teaching mathematics for
the past six years in a Senior High School has great familiarity with local proverbs.
To him proverbs are wise sayings and they are uttered to show maturity of
thought and a comprehension of social issues. Proverbs also contain advice and
codes of sound moral conduct for youth. As a socializing medium, proverbs show
the transition to adult status and for the Elderly the association with proverbs points
to a higher level of conceptual thinking. Similarly, educator and community
worker, Nana Abrase points to a number of everyday proverbial sayings illustrating
moral values and character teachings for youth:
.[Proverbs teach about] respecting oneself and knowing limits to our
knowing. In this context, it is also said that an elder helps to uproot debt but
does not pay debt. The elder is there to guide the youth provide them with
the knowledge skills and advice that will enable the youth carve their own
future. We also say the one who owns the thing is the one who eats. It is not
the person who is hungry. This means that if it happens that a relative of
your passes away it is the one related to the relative who gets to sit on the
throne and not a visitor.
Proverbs guide youth to good conduct and appropriate behaviour. Proverbs offer
advice and counseling. But the question is, how so these educators understand and
conceptualize discipline? In answering the question, educators offer some
interesting and conventional understanding of discipline. Kofi Yamoah is a physics
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teacher at a Senior High School. He completed the BSc. degree from the University
of Cape Coast a couple of years ago. He comments:
What do I understand by discipline? Well I believe discipline is obeying sets
of rules governing either the school or the society in which you find yourself
in.
Yamoah associates discipline with school rules and regulations and how they
are enforced. Discipline is located within the institution. Failure to comply calls for
punishment, in other words, sanction for breaking rules and regulations. Abana, an
MPhil Human Rights student at the local University of Education works with the
local Ministry of Management Affairs. He shares his understanding of discipline,
which places the onerous on the individual learner/student. At the same time he
links discipline with control:
Well discipline in my understanding is ones ability to take control of himself
in any circumstance such that you dont . You go by certain social norms
that you dont do anything outside the accepted social norms. . [An
undisciplined person].. means that, that persons at a certain time is
different from the accepted norms of whatever society he finds himself.
When asked to speak a bit about what is meant by teaching discipline, Abana
retorts:
Teaching discipline. Teaching discipline is specifically guiding students in a
way such that this is how to appreciate the fact that there is the need to go by
accepted norms and So, it is a systematic way of imparting the norms
of whatever situation in which one finds himself so that the person will
[abide] and go by [what is expected]
Teaching discipline then is about instructing the learner about what is expected of
her or him at school. Abana sees it as a part of school teachings encoded in what a
youth must learn in school. In other words, to expect discipline we must first teach
it to youth. This is important given the severe nature of the problem of discipline in
schools. Similarly, in the interview with Tamipiah, a human rights student at the
University of Education, we pressed the educator about if there was a distinction
between teaching discipline and enforcing discipline:
With teaching discipline, I will say that it is like delivering a service by the
teacher onto the learner. But the enforcing of the discipline is geared towards
correcting the person of the mistakes he or she has committed. Like causing a
blunder and the teacher or instructor is able to give the direction to the learner
in a way that it will not let him or her continue or repeat what he or she has
already done.
So, teaching discipline is about delivering knowledge while enforcing discipline
is about punishment. Amobi, a Fante student and educator who is also doing his
Masters in Human Rights Education at the local university speaks about the
schools and societal responsibility to address the problem of youth discipline:
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knowledge, the ones colonially installed to the margins, that is, to retrieve and
bring to the classrooms for all bodies, different ways to come to learn what it
means to be socially responsible, to fecund the sense of understanding these
historic moral categories and character classifications, all in the context of civic
education.
Local African peoples have long come to understand these proverbial moments
through an embodiment of knowledge. Take for example, college science student
Kessie, who heralds the importance of proverbs in teaching moral values and
character:
Many proverbs help you to know the values and characters of individuals.
When a proverb is made or when a proverb is said you can understand that it
is trying to say something about a character, so that we students will know
whether, it cushions us or strengthens us.
To her, proverbs are about teaching societal norms and values. Proverbs contain
knowledge that guide learners to appropriate social action. Educators can use
proverbs to strengthen the spiritual and moral will power of young learners.
Proverbs guide youth to critical conduct and appropriate behavior. Proverbs offer
advice and counselling. Educators who want to instill discipline in youth have a
valuable resource in proverbs to fall on to. Proverbs constitute an embodiment of
local knowledge. It helps the learner to care, know and understand the self. Elders
can utilize proverbs to get the young to be ethically and morally responsible. But it
is not only Elders who can use proverbs. Any teacher can tap into the moment and
call upon proverbs to educate young learners. In a focus group discussion with a
group of College of Education educators and student-teachers in Nigeria, it was the
unanimous view that as far as youth character development is concerned both the
home and the school have important roles to play. But it was also noted that times
are changing and traditional roles of the home, family and educators have also
changed. Two females participants echoed such views:
A: Even apart from that charity begins at home. Even if the parent or the
mother is imparting that morality into the children and she herself is not
practicing it, I think the child or the children will not accept it because they
will be looking at the parent and will ask what my parents are teaching me or
what they want me to emulate are they doing the right thing?
B: But I dont want to accept that because most of our parents. you know
we are in a different age. Ok consider a mother that was not trained very well,
how you want that mother to impart the appropriate morals onto her children.
It is because this is in schools.
Both respondents believe in the importance of moral education to instill
discipline and sense of responsibility in youth. Teaching is by doing in practice for
youths to emulate. Youth learn by example. The student-teachers see the combined
responsibilities of the home and school in the socialization of the learner. Role
modelling is as critical and just as relevant as what is learned in a textbook.
Educators have many avenues and teachable moments to make an impact on their
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students. In this extract of the focus group discussion with Nigerian College of
Education students and educators, they noted the importance of moral education,
its specificity to local contexts and the ensuing relationship with civic education:
[Student] Morals are correct attitude of individuals of society. I agree
with him but moral is subject to interpretation. In some societies what is not
accepted, in their own society, in another society may be accepted in some
ways of behaving. So morals is subject to interpretation with regards to the
society.
[Student] Must learn. That is number one. Number two, [learn something] on
moral education. When we were growing up there was this moral, they call it
civic education. In that, with civic education they also teach you about
morals. With civic education you are taught to be nationalistic in nature and
your responsibilities as citizens of the country those ones are there. About the
curriculum, they are saying, I know the curriculum is there, maybe the
implementation or maybe they can like as she is trying to say if they can
infuse it, the moral aspect into all courses that will be a good thing. Or they
can infuse it in the general state of education. They can do that so that
everybody will be able to learn about morals and their responsibilities as
citizens of the country.
These students understand the significance of civic education. The relationship
with moral and civic education is significant as it highlights some of the teachings
of proverbs that stress social responsibility and the importance of education and
socialization in bringing out learners community to civic responsibility. To these
Nigerian educators morals address the accepted norms of society. It is through
education that one begins to learn about the accepted morality and the expectation
to govern ones life and experiences accordingly. It is important to highlight the
key themes of what young teacher education candidates at a University of
Education in Ghana also embraced concerning the question of moral education and
values. In these extracts of focus group discussions, the themes of values, humanity
and socialization are often repeated:
Values are morals that are cherished in the society or where the person finds
himself.
Values are the laid down rules within a society that society that expects an
individual to have.
We can equally say that the values; for example in Ghana, some of the values
we cherish are hardwork and respect.
Values are also like a guide for the human.
Values are long-held rules, expectations and codes of conduct of a
community. Some values are highly regarded are cherished by all members
of the community. Any disrespect for such values in frowned upon and may
elicit heavy community sanctions. Children are socialized and educated into
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withstand many challenges. Indigeneity and identity are linked in ways that
represent power, the power of knowing, personal and social strength, courage
and resilience, In revisiting African schooling and education, we need to go back
to African culture to critically examine and tap some of the pedagogic and
instructional relevance of local cultural knowledge systems such as Indigenous
proverbs. We must examine culture for its sites of possibilities and sites of
disempowerment. A critical appreciation of African cultures will allow us to
engage the question of power, tradition, knowledge and modernity such that we
reclaim knowledge systems that are useful and relevant for contemporary times.
Every culture is dynamic and the knowledge systems associated with a given
culture similarly undergo transformation to address emerging challenges. Rather
than a wholesale abandonment and denigration of local and Indigenous cultures
we must examine the sites and sources of positive (as in solution-oriented)
knowings.
There is a connection between science, culture and pedagogy. By science I
mean a knowledge system that permeates the subject disciplines of physical and
biological sciences, arts, social studies, literature and the humanities. These areas
of academic inquiry all have their Indigenous knowledges component. Such
knowledge that has been with people for centuries as they sought to understand
the nexus of society, culture and nature, and thereby fashion their social
existence. They are science knowledge given that they all have and follow
establish systems of thought. Science and culture becomes inseparable. Culture
as part of everyday interactions and a way of knowing is something schooling
and education has to critically engage irrespective of the discipline.
Consequently, it is important that the role of African culture in the pedagogy and
instruction of learners be established. Culture then is science and science is
culture. Increasingly we are seeing a generation of learners willing to shed their
own culture and cultural knowings in search of other practices and ways. The
issue is not to create cultural insularity but to argue for bridging of knowledge
systems as well as a critical interrogation of all cultures to understanding their
relevance and utility in local situations, contest and conditions. This is where the
idea of contextualized teaching becomes critical in the education of young
learners.
Contextualization of knowledge grounds science [as broadly defined] in local
practice and experience. In effect, then practice and experience is seen as the
contextual basis of knowledge. Learners are able to grasp knowledge [and school
science teachings] when it is related with/grounded in everyday experience.
Usually the teaching of science, for example, has been a difficult subject for many
students because of the inability to relate discussions to their own lived experience
or everyday social practice. Science becomes alien to the learners. By grounding
teachings in local contexts, environments learners can easily identity with
education and the production of knowledge. In the area of local/Indigenous
knowledge, for example, young learners affirm how proverbs and story forms have
impacted knowledge to them from Elders and adults. Educators who lace their
teachings with such local knowledges make an impact of their students as these
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students are assisted to think through the import of the message being delivered
and to relate it to everyday experience, including local culture and the surrounding
environments. The nexus of local culture, society and nature constitute a body of
knowledge that educators can utilize in school teachings to deliver important
educational message. What is implied here is the self and community generation of
knowledge that starts with local contexts. It becomes a starting base to educate the
learner from where they are at and what they know. It makes the proverbial saying
that if one does not know what to say at least they can start by saying what they
know. The globalization of knowledge and knowledge production however means
youth education is effective when their learner is able to connect issues beyond
their own concerns, situations and environments to a broader context. Learners
cannot be insular and simply self-referential in their thinking and action and the
strength of the educated learner lies in the ability to move knowledge beyond
where they are at.
The evocation of local culture, traditions and Indigenous knowledge in school
teachings come with some risks and necessary precautions. As noted no culture is
static and neither is tradition immune to criticisms. As with all knowledges there
are power issues to be confronted and dealt with. For example, when culture is
evoked, we need to critically examine whose culture and traditions are being
heralded for discussion. How are gender questions beings examined in the
production of such knowledge? In particular, how are the voices of women, ethnic,
religious and linguistic minorities in local communities being engaged? Who are
said to be the cultural custodians? What the embedded gender, ethnic, linguistic
and religious biases are in such knowledges as local proverbs, folktales, story
forms, etc? In fact, an awareness of such questions affords us the opportunity to
engage in critical teaching of local knowledge, culture and traditions. Rather than
being dismissive of such knowledge, we must recognize their relevance and engage
in a critical interrogation of traditional forms of knowing as part of the exercise of
multiple and collective dimensions of the production of school and off-school
knowledge.
Nonetheless, there is practical relevance in terms of the applications of such
teachings about discipline, respect, identity, etc. These teachings help mould the
character of the learner to be socially responsible and to recognize the value of
education beyond the self. Such teachings allow the learner to bring a mindset to
schooling and education that sees as an obligation to improve upon their
collective current circumstances and conditions of existence. Such teachings help
recognize the importance of creating a community of learners able to learn from
and assist each other in fulfilling mutual responsibilities. Such teachings help
build a learner aware of themselves, who they are, their responsibilities in life
and what the purpose of education is about. Such teachings help bring a joy of
learning to students who develop a sense of belonging and identification with tier
schools, communities and their collective destinies. Such teachings help build
global subjects/citizens in the service of humankind. Such teachings help develop
a sense of responsibility to support cultures, groups, communities, nations and
their respective social and natural environments. Its a learner well-equipped to
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deal and respond to these social challenges who can best apply whatever has
been learnt in science, technology, arts, humanities and social studies. I see the
creation of such a learner as the biggest responsibility for African schooling and
education.
CONCLUSION
In this final section of the paper, I address the broader issue of integrating local
cultural knowledge in formal school teachings. African Indigenous education has
historically employed diverse methods of instruction whereby as part of everyday
socialization processes youth learn through exposure, observation, imitation and
oral traditions (see also Abrokwaa, 1999 in the case of the teaching of African
Indigenous music). As noted in Dei (2011c), there are obvious challenges in
contemporary education working with such knowledges. For example, long ago
Semali (1999) discussed the dilemmas in integrating Indigenous literacy (e.g.,
poetry, songs, dreams, life stories, drama and theaters, as well as proverbs) in
school curriculum in Tanzania as part of the Tanzania, Education for SelfReliance (ESR) national efforts to localize the curriculum. Among the obstacles
encountered were the lack of political will, over-dependence on international
assistance in fiscal planning and policy directives, the use of inappropriate
research methods, the absence of an Indigenous African teaching methodology
and the alienation of African intellectuals from their own culture (p.112) [see
also Semali, 1993, 1994]. These challenges need to be addressed in the long
standing calls for integrating cultural knowledges into school curriculum are to
be met. Mwadimes (1999) work called for the deconstruction in African social
research, education and educational policy to include Indigenous cultural
knowledges teaching about in agriculture, health science and the environment.
The author called for the development of new teaching methods, research
methodology and the documentation and presentation of the Indigenous cultural
knowledge in ways to serve the development needs of African peoples. Similarly,
Parrishs (1999) study on the Indigenous post-harvest strategies of local farmers
in the Egyptian Western Desert suggests that the existence of safe and welldeveloped pest management cultural resource knowledge of local peoples that
could be integrated with Western-influenced Agriculture Extension education
programme.
Teaching local language is critical in order for local cultural knowledge to
thrive and succeed in schools. There is research to support this. Writing in the
Kenyan context, Mulu (1999) has pointed to the contradictions of
Africanization stance by local state officials and governments. These
contradictions are found in the educational policy which devalues Indigenous
languages and encouraged to use English as a medium of instruction in local
schools. Conventional arguments advanced to explain the reluctance to adopt
Indigenous languages are untenable. This includes the view that such approach
undermines unity in a case of many local languages, [that is too] expensive to
implement or it is unfit in an international scientific and technological world
144
(Mulu, 1999 p.240). Recently, Miti and Monaka (2009) have discussed the
nature, extent and challenges of teaching African languages in primary school
teachers colleges in Botswana and Zambia. They found that in both countries
training of teachers of African languages is not taken seriously and moreover,
there is weak educational language policy and lack of will to promote the
learning and teaching of Indigenous African languages (p.220). The authors
suggest the need for language policies that favour the development and
promotion of Indigenous African languages in schools. In fact, Qorro (2009)
study show how parents and policy makers insistence on foreign languages as
media of instruction has severely restricted access to quality education in
Tanzania. Prah (2009) has also argued that African learners must be empowered
through the education of their Indigenous languages in local schools. In his
research on upper primary education (UPE, grades 7 and 8), Yohannes (2009)
shows how the use of mother tongues has resulted in better achievement in
sciences and math in Ethiopia. Emerging research points to the fact that a
students knowledge of Indigenous language and educators using such language
as a medium of instruction influences the effective teaching of science in
schools. In her study on English proficiency of students and teachers in Tanzania
and the way they deal with English/Kiswahili dilemma during science lessons,
Mwinsheikhe (2009) asked teachers to give lessons in Kiswahili in order to make
a comparison of the way teachers and students interacted in the lessons for the
purpose of a research project. The study found that the use of Kiswahili as
medium of instruction [in contrast to Tanzanian secondary school policy of using
English as medium of instruction], promoted high performance and minimized
the differences among students and between schools. The study concluded that
English as a medium of instruction in local schools can be a barrier to effective
learning and teaching of science in Tanzanian secondary schools.
In conclusion it may be observed that post-colonial African schooling and
education has tended to focus heavily on the formal instruction mode, with learners
simply acquiring basic knowledge, which is not necessarily relevant or applicable
to solving the local problems and challenges of everyday living. Presenting
education broadly, beyond formal schooling, allows us to rethink ways knowledge
can be utilized to address contemporary problems. Such knowledge exists in
African texts, songs, histories as well as local customary practices and traditions
that have helped sustain communities for centuries. Ensuring that local knowledges
become part of school educational agenda will require that we challenge prevailing
mindset where education in Africa is defined by congested curricula and strict
adherence to the curricula content to ensure success in examinations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Fieldwork material for this paper came from a study funded by the Literacy and
Numeracy Secretariat of the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). George Dei (as Principal
Research Investigator) will like to thank the Ghanaian [and Nigerian] educators for
145
ii
iii
This initial study was funded through a contract grant from the Ontario Literacy and Numeracy
Secretariat (LNS) for a study on Moral and Character Education. The study has since been extended
with Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funding for a longitudinal and
more comprehensive study involving Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya focusing not only on proverbs but
on African Indigenous knowledge systems in general highlighting, Indigenous stories, story forms,
songs, folktales and riddles. The on-going study is highlighting the perspectives of youth, teachers,
school administrators, parents and communities to identify the specific and practical instructional,
pedagogic and communicative guidelines for using Indigenous African philosophies (conveyed in
the documented proverbs, fables, folktales, myths, songs and story forms etc.) and how these can
enhance learning for African and North American youth.
With this study the hope was that the African study will draw important lessons for addressing
similar and shared concerns about youth discipline and violence in Canadian and North American
schools. Local cultural resource knowledge, when used critically, can be an important source of
information and/or tool for educational delivery.
All local names used are pseudonyms.
REFERENCES
Abrokwaa, C. K. (1999). Indigenous Music Education in Africa. In L.M. Semali & J.L. Kincheloe
(Eds.), What is Indigenous Knowledge? : Voices from the Academy (pp. 191208). New York &
London: Falmer Press.
Appiah, K.A. 1992. In My Fathers House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Appiah, K.A. 2005. The Ethics of Identity. <http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/titles/7806.html>
Princeton University Press<http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Princeton_University_Press>
Appiah, K.A. 2006. Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers. New York: W.W.
Norton<http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/W._W._Norton_%26_Company>
Brock-Utne, B., & Skattum, I. (2009). (Eds.). Language and Education in Africa: a comparative and
transdisciplinary analysis. Oxford: Cambridge University Press.
Dei, G. J. S. (2010). Reclaiming Indigenous knowledge through character education: Implications for
addressing and preventing youth violence. A Final Report submitted to the Literacy and Numeracy
Secretariat (LNS), Ministry of Education, Ontario. February 1, 2010. [with the assistance of Jagjeet
Gill, Camille Logan, Dr. Meredith Lordan, Marlon Simmons and Lindsay Kerr]. pp. 207.
Dei, G. J. S. (2011a). Post-Colonial Education in West Africa: The Relevance of Local Cultural
Teachings for Understanding School, Community and Society Interface. Creative Education.
[under review]
Dei, G. J. S. (2011b). Reclaiming Our Africanness in the Diasporized Context: The Challenge of
Asserting a Critical African Personality. Journal of Pan-African Studies. [In Press].
Dei, G. J. S. (2011c). Integrating Local Cultural Knowledge as Formal and Informal Education for
Young African Learners: A Ghanaian Case Study. Canadian and International Education.
[forthcoming].
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ETHIOPIA SURVIVES
REINTEGRATING OUR SPIRITUALITY AND CULTURE INTO OUR
OWN SCIENCE
INTRODUCTION: DEPARTURE
SOLOMON BELAY
Every emperor of Ethiopia since 1908 has invested in formal education with the
hope of a better future for the country. Sadly, the result has been the production
of an elite class that has been a threat to the emperors power and ineffective in
fulfilling the aspirations for and of the people (Asgedom, 2009; Hailu, 2007;
Negash, 1996). The main purpose of expanding formal education in Ethiopia, at the
demise of a well-established traditional education, was to lay the foundation for
modernism and development. Such formal education, modeled after the Western
nations, was embraced with the highest hope that it would deliver the people the
much-desired economic growth. However, despite the high investment and interest,
community supports and efforts in formal education, it did not succeed in
achieving its desired objectives. As a result, it may not be strange to find a peasant
dying of starvation beside an agricultural college where its students study the
highest science of farming or a community that has difficulty crossing a river while
a university funded by their tax offer a course on how to build a bridge. Such a
tragic picture remains true to Ethiopia and most other African countries (Asgedom,
2009; Negash, 1996; Okrah, 2008; Spring, 1998).
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REDEFINING EDUCATION
Anyone who has been working in the development field, at least in Sub-Saharan
Africa, realizes that the pumping of US$1 trillion in development assistance over
the last five decades and the intensification of formal education has not contributed
to the development of the region (Bolton, 2007; Klees, 2009; Moyo, 2009). Moyo
(2009), for example, describes this grim condition as follows, with an average per
capita income roughly US$1 a day, sub-Saharan Africa remains the poorest region
in the world. Africas real per capita income today is lower than in the 1970s,
leaving many African countries at least as poor as they were forty years ago (p. 5).
While Africa is clearly endowed with abundant natural and human resources, it is
ironic that wide spread famine, disease and corruption continue to affect the
continent. In the meantime, millions who could not thwart these problems,
continued to graduate from Africas secondary schools, colleges and universities.
Such dark economic, social and political situations in Africa call for a
redefinition of the concepts and methods of both education and development.
Bolton (2007), for example, considers capacity as one of Africas most lasting
development problems (p. 40). It is in light of this relation that one has to think of
capacity building as a major achievement of development and education as a sole
means of building capacity. Therefore, I believe that a re-examination of the
concept and method of development necessarily calls for the re-examination of
education. When these two dynamically interlinked concepts education and
development understood and practiced in proper perspective, are able to merge
into one whole empowerment enterprise. Development becomes the empowerment
of people through building their capacity by the means of proper education.
In its proper context, education is the process by which we reveal the potentials
in human beings. Bahaullah (1990) says, regard man as a mine rich in gems of
inestimable value. Education can alone reveal its treasures and enable mankind to
benefit therefrom (p. 260). Consequently, education as an enterprise requires first,
the understanding of what potentials/treasures human beings possess and then, the
revealing of these treasures for the purpose of the common good. In this sense,
education by and of its own becomes the means and the end of development.
Moreover, since human beings do not exist in a vacuum, understanding their
context is inseparable from understanding them. From the opposing perspective,
the failure of education in Ethiopia and generally in Africa can be ascribed to its
inability to understand the nature of human beings within their own environmental
and cultural context. Okrah (2008) summarizes the importance of culturally
contexted empowerment:
When schools help the learner to develop morally and intellectually by
expanding their knowledge understanding of their cultural heritage, the future
generation (students) would be empowered to develop culturally and manage
their environment and generate greater wealth for their societies. However,
schools have actually failed in Africa and other parts of the world in as much
as the economic and cultural agendas often come into conflict as the
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curriculums continue to reflect and transmit the cultures of other people (The
West). (p. 28)
For this reason, we need to redefine what education means and what it should do
in Ethiopia. By discovering our humanness and then our Ethiopianess, we might
create a starting point to reposition education in Ethiopia.
REDEFINING DEVELOPMENT
Building upon the definition and purpose of education given above, development is
an organic process in which our true nature (as located within our own
environment) is expressed and carried out in the material world (Abdul-Baha,
1995; Kamalu, 1995; Mbiti, 1969). For reasons I will discuss later, spirituality and
culture are so enmeshed with the nature of Ethiopian people and this is the true
nature that must be expressed and carried in our education and development
endeavours. In my discussion here, the term spirituality refers to the true nature of
Ethiopians, as closely as we can see, that embrace the vast array of their spiritual
and cultural wealth. The term science refers to our effort through which we try to
express our spirituality and culture in the visible world. In a document entitled,
Valuing Spirituality in Development (NSABI, 2003)i, we read that:
Embracing spirituality needs to be a guiding principle for a new type of
development where a sustained and intensive dialogue between the two
systems of knowledge, science and religion, takes place. Acceptance of this
principle will both necessitate and make possible major restructuring of the
worlds educational, social, agricultural, economicsystems. (p. 2)
According to this document, future societies prosper because the spiritual
dimension of human existence is taken to the center of every economic, social and
educational effort.
The idea of integrating spiritual values and local culture in education has been a
relatively recent phenomenon in both the fields of education and development
(Dei, 2004; Miller, 2007; NSABI, 2003; Okrah, 2008; Tedla, 1995). Foundations
are being laid, in part, by a growing number of efforts in universities and some
development agencies to have spiritual and cultural values and principles seriously
considered in the academics and development projects. At the heart of the
conceptualization of these efforts is the understanding that human nature is
fundamentally spiritual and that spiritual principles are the basis for culture. Such
understanding resonates with the Ethiopian soul which in the last centuries
provided us enormous motivational power in defeating colonialism and persevering
in the face of sever trials.
In support of the call of African scholars like Dei, Kanu, Mazrui, Mbiti, Okrah,
Tedla and many others for a type of education rooted in the understanding of
spiritual nature and cultural heritage and as a means for moral and intellectual
empowerment of the people, I argue that two major knowledge systems are worth
investigation in the Ethiopian context. I believe that the core concepts of
religion/spirituality and culture should constitute the first category of this
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knowledge system. Given the many historical and social backgrounds of the
country, any education and development effort in Ethiopia cannot ignore the
religious and cultural forces at work to which the citizens have strongly committed
(Bishaw, 2004; Michael, 2000; Wolde-Yesus, 2001) ii . I presume that after
spirituality science (and its education) has to be the second most important
knowledge system to be considered based on an appropriate assessment of national
and international scenarios and the role science plays in nation building.
In summary, in order to initiate and sustain the new type of development which
is greatly needed in Ethiopia, the creation of a naturally sound and culturally
competent model of science education is of paramount importance. In order to
create such a model of science education, first what is needed is an overall
assessment of the countrys spiritual and cultural context and second, a
development of science education (curriculum and instruction) that matches this
context.
In what follows I will briefly provide the background theories, the methodology
used and some of the findings and discussions in my exploration of the most
cherished spiritual and cultural values of the Ethiopian people and the challenges
and prospects of integrating these values into the science education.
ONTOLOGY AND EPISTEMOLOGY OF THIS RESEARCH
I agree with the premise that without a proper understanding of the nature of reality
we cannot lay the foundation for a better education (Lample, 2009). In this
particular research, it is also imperative to define and situate spirituality in relation
to the nature of the universe, the nature of human beings and the nature of
knowledge.
All definitions of spiritualityiii, in their essence, stem from the belief that there is
a transcendental or a metaphysical nature or power, generally referred as spirit, in
human beings. In his book Education and the Soul, Miller (2000) states that to
deny spirit is to deny an essential element of our being and thus diminish ourselves
and our approach to education (p. 9). Miller (2000) defines spirituality as a sense
of the awe and reverence for life that arises from our relatedness to something both
wonderful and mysterious (p. 4). Such consideration leads me to believe that the
general scheme of this research falls under the theory of metaphysics, where I refer
to spirit as anything beyond the physical dimension of human beings. However,
within the territory of metaphysics, I prefer Medinas (2006) distinction between
understanding and practicing spirituality. These distinctions can broadly be
referred to as secular and religious spirituality.
The first one, secular spirituality, is a position that acknowledges the spiritual
dimension of human existence but mainly divorced from the concept and practice
of religion. Taceys (2004) argument captures the rationale of this position:
We can no longer situate ourselves comfortably in the containment of the
traditional religions. We need spiritual guidance, but for a variety of
historical and social reasons we cannot return to organised religion or
dogmatic theology in their old, premodern forms. Western society cannot
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LEVEL 3
LEVEL 4
Reality
(Ontologically objective reality; reality as it is; the mind of God)
Revelation (R2)
The Universe (S2)
(Revelation that can be known; the
(physical & human reality; facts,
revealed Word of God; the book &
patterns & laws of creation that
its authoritative interpretation)
can be known by the human mind)
Knowledge system of religion
Knowledge system of science
(R3)
(S3)
(the body of religious knowledge,
(the body of scientific knowledge,
including methods & standards of
including methods & standards of
inquiry and justification)
inquiry and justification)
Practical knowledge associated
Technology & practical
with spiritual life & moral social
knowledge associated with
practice (R4)
material progress (S4)
What people can know about this reality could be put into either spiritual or
physical reality,
The traditional Ethiopian knowledge and practice of spiritual and physical
reality complement each other and need to be viewed in relation to each other,
Culture is a collective description of spiritual and moral life and technological
and material progress.
Science education is a process through which we understand, transmit and
transform our inseparable spiritual and physical culture. The division at Level 4
is just for analytical purpose; otherwise in the Ethiopian traditional way of life
both categories are like refractions on a single prism.
The only problem I see with Lamples representation is that it does not show the
centrality or the primacy of spiritual life over material progress. It puts the two on
par and hides the fact of interconnectedness in the whole schema of spiritual and
material lives. This may be generally considered as one of the shortcomings of
critical analysis of subjects.
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ETHIOPIA SURVIVES
become blurred. In such a situation, people are no longer conscious of the original
source of the spiritual values, instead they live them as cultural values that are
taken for granted. These cultural values ultimately affect the way people learn.
When discussed separately from religion and spirituality, the term culture has
often been a source of controversy among scholars or happened to embrace a
diverse set of concepts and practices. In the context of this paper I share Parks
(2005) conception of culture as an objectifiable body of knowledge constituting the
legitimate foundation for the building of interventions. As I will continue argue, in
the context of countries like Ethiopia, religion and spirituality constitute this
legitimate foundation upon which to build meaningful educational interventions.
Therefore, identifying the specific spiritual and cultural values and recapturing
them into science education in the context of Ethiopia could be argued from a
number of standpoints:
Students are human beings and their learning should consider their spiritual
nature and endeavours (Dalai Lama, 2004; Vradenburg, 2007).
The material world is the reflection of the spiritual world (Abdul-Baha, 1987;
Guild and Garger, 2001).
Spirituality is an independent worldview with an impact on learning (Dei, 2008;
Griffiths, 2002; Halliday, 1978; Mansour, 2008; Matthews, 2002; Patchen &
Cox-Petersen, 2008; Shahjahan, 2005).
ALTERNATIVE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS
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ETHIOPIA SURVIVES
there is a call to reassess the aims and interpretations of the results of science. A
time has now come where scholars converge in showing the shortcomings of the
current practice of Western science and in doing so, the need to suggest a new
alternative and/or complementary knowledge system. Questions concerning its
epistemology and its subjective understanding and applications are now being dealt
within the discourse of History and Philosophy of Science or Science,
Technology, Society and Environment (STSE) (Cajete, 1994, 1999; Hodson,
2003; Hodson, 1998; Kipnis, 1996; McComas, 2004; Pedretti, 1997; Savan, 1988;
Wellington, 2001).
The subjectivity of science is transferred across socio-cultural realities as within
individuals realities. Human realities such as history, religion, culture and social
priorities, what Schwartz and Lederman (2008) call sociocultural embeddedness,
are closely linked with what and whether research is to be performed. As long as
the priorities in these human forces are selfish (i.e.: they stand only for a particular
interest group), science continues to be exploited for their promotion. History has
shown that science has been exploited for anti-social, commercial and military
purpose because of selfish motives. It has helped aggravate racial prejudice (in the
US and Germany), fanned ideological fanaticism (Russia and China) and served as
colonizing tool (in many African and Latin American countries). Studies of
eugenics, phrenology or Nazi Archaeology illustrate how science may be exploited
for personal ends (Friere, 1970; Hodson & Prophet, 1986; Savan, 1988; Selden,
2000).
Cajete (2000) also mentions how science is culturally biased. Counter arguing
the notion that science must be objective to qualify as science, that it is culturally
neutral and somehow exists outside of culture and is thus not affected by culture
Cajete (2000) states that nothing people do is divorced from culture, including
systems of knowledge, technology and education (p. 3). According to Cajete,
everything is contexted in culture (p. 3).
From the perspective of Sankofa
An Ethiopian-American scholar Tedla (1995) summarizes the concept and
objective of Sankofa as follows:
An important aspect of the effort to voice the need for incorporating African
values is summed by the Akan word SANKOFA. It is roughly translated as
Return to the source and fetch Africa needs a new type of education that
is rooted in traditional African philosophy and Indigenous education The
source is our culture, heritage and identity. SANKOFA means as we move
forward into the future, we need to reach back into our past and take with us
all that works and is positive. to focus on what is positive so Africans can
build on it as a foundation for future education (p. 1).
Many other African scholars have also voiced out their concern about education
in Africa through this alternative framework termed as Sankofa. While scholars
like Haile Gerima tried to capture the essence of Sankofa in a movie, others, such
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as Elleni Tedla (1995), Kwadwo Asafo-Agyei Okrah (2008) and Yatta Kanu
(2007), researched and wrote about the subject. The concern is, as Okrah (2008)
put it, despite comments that African cultures and traditions are outdated in our
modern era, these traditions have actually helped mould the attitudes and
characters of children to become productive and useful citizens. Okrah, in fact,
suggests the concept of Sankofa as the theoretical framework to identify the
valuable aspects of African culture, keeping the goal of national development in
mind. Tedla used this framework while travelling to North Ethiopia with the
intention of finding out local values to be brought into the national curriculum. She
then wrote a book entitled SANKOFA: African thought and education discussing
her findings. Tedla goes on listing the values and concepts she found through
interviewing an elder and then suggests that these values need to be incorporated
into the Ethiopian schools curriculum.
Besides some attempt made by Hailu (2007), Tedlas (1995) work is the only
real effort in identifying Ethiopian cultural and spiritual values with the goal of
bringing them into the curriculum. However, both studies have their own
limitations, which this research tried to overcome. Some of the limitations
identified in the research literature include:
the studies focused only on one source of data, as a result, it lacks the richness
of information that would have been extracted from different stakeholders in
curriculum;
the studies did not have a particular focus on science education;
they did not show how we go about including those identified values.
Residing in the USA, Tedla (1995) was not able to follow up her work through
dissemination and implementation. It is sad to see how her great ideas were
ignored or less understood by the Ethiopian curriculum experts.
From the perspective of Native Science
In the foreword section of Cajetes Native Science, Leroy L. Bear (Cajete, 2000)
discusses the importance of looking for localized knowledge. Bear argues that if
science is a search for reality and if science is a search for knowledge at the
leading edge of the humanly knowable, then there are sciences other than the
Western science of measurement (Cajete, 2000, p. x). Bear then adds that One of
these other sciences is Native American science. Accordingly, in order to
appreciate and come to know in a Native American science way, one has to
understand the culture/worldview/paradigm of Native American people (Cajete,
2000, p. x).
Like the African Sankofa, Native science is a metaphor for a wide range of
tribal processes of perceiving, thinking, acting and coming to know that have
evolved through human experience with the natural world (Cajete, 2000, p. 3).
Based on Cajetes (2000) argument that the perception of science as a way of
understanding the world, a story of how things happen, a way that human beings
have evolved to try and explain and understand existence in time and space and
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Out of a pile of data that came out of my engagement with the research participants
and field observations, I present here two stories that demonstrate my point of
discussion:
Story I
A stranger is travelling from one village to another. As the day got darker and
darker he has to spend the night under a roof, so he knocks at a close by house.
Owner: Who is this?
Stranger: Yemeshibet yeegizabher engida (I am a guest from God who got
himself in the dark.
Owner: Yegeziabher engida - Ayikum kemeda. Bet yeegizabher new.
(A guest from God, let him not stand outside, come in. The house belongs to
God.)
The complete stranger enters the house. No one asks the guest anything until he
is fed and the elaborate coffee ceremony is over. A child of the family comes over
with a bowl of water to wash the foot of the guest (symbolic of the story of Christ
washing the feet of His disciples) and a blessing is given to the child who did the
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washing. Tella, the local beer, is offered to the guest, which is made from the
materials reserved for unexpected guests. A delicious meal is also prepared and
served, which particularly pleases the children as it tends to be better than usual.
The guest is so well-treated that the owner of the home traditionally offers his bed,
or in case he has to sleep on the floor, the family members will sleep around him to
protect him from biting insects and to keep him warm.
As the dawn breaks the traveller guest bids farewell to the owners, thanks them for
their hospitality and proceeds on his journey.
Story II
A reluctant student raises his hand in the class. It seems he is not sure if he is
allowed to ask the question or the teacher can answer the question.
One can still read the specific objectives of the physics lesson written on the
blackboard:
1. Describe the dependence of the force of mutual gravitational attraction on
the masses and the distance of separation.
Write Newtons Law of Universal Gravitation.viii
Student: If the force exerted between two objects (mass) is measurable, though
invisible to the naked eye, why do we deny the existence and measurability of
such a force in human beings, or consider as magic or sorcery the force
debterasix exert on particular objects to make it move or stand without physical
contact?
The teacher pauses for some time and scratches his head as if he did not know
what to say or how to say it. The class atmosphere is tense. All of the students
await the inevitable response of the teacher.
Teacher: In Ethiopia, spiritual traditions and values were not explained in such a
way that it is understandable to the people. Otherwise, historically, the
word tewahido (as in Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido x Church) was
meant to show blending, the art of connecting the visible and the
invisible. It was, of course, a concept of physics embedded in the
Ethiopian culture that shows how visible and invisible forces exist and
work together. This is nature at its simplest form but later institutionalized
as in religion and compartmentalized as in science.
When we see some aspects of mesewer (bilocalization) and other
seemingly magical events, Ethiopians are very familiar with it. Anderbixi
(a skill of make believe and other psychic powers) mesewer, divining, etc
are forms of great art. It is a form of knowledge. Or in modern physics it
is called time travel. Even mathematics has a place for these events. Such
exerted forces are so great that if I move my head to a certain direction, I
make the universe move in the same direction with me. The universe
moves according to my will. The knowledge of this power is discovered
in Ethiopia which later generation will acknowledge. Next you have the
verse in the Holy Bible which states that Ethiopia shall soon stretch out
her hands unto Godxii.
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Physics, for example, explains that the observer and the observed are
interconnected. Viewed from this light, we can be more than what we
appear to be. We could be beyond what can be observed from the outside.
These must have been the sorts of forces the debtera understand and use.
In an instant another student raises her hand, with a perplexed facial expression
from the teachers answer.
At this point the school bell sounded for the afternoon break. But few students
decided to stay in the classroom to continue the discussion. The rest of the students
gathered around the teacher and the interaction became more informal. They
invited me to join the circle.
The same student who was so eager to ask a question raised her voice and said:
When and where did we know this thing as Ethiopians? Where did we lose it?
Teacher: There was a time when the Egyptians flourished. But when this
civilization got into the hands of businessmen -- when it was traded for
money -- the knowledge within our civilization began to break down.
They started to abuse it and turn it into a farce. They usurped the good
culture and exploited it as a means of getting money. This knowledge
becomes a magic show just to get money.
This is a measure of emptiness. This happens when you feel you have
nothing to contribute and then seek enlightenment from somebody else. In
this situation, you cease to be creative and start to live on the toil of
others. The things of the spirit leave space to the things of the body. Then
development is opposed by materialistic assumptions and needs. ... People
exchange their values with immediate things. When this happens you see
lots of glittering things. But, in essence, it is only a matter of time before
our huge, so-called civilization collapses and then the time comes for the
meek to grow.
This is the difference between the holist and reductionist. As opposed to
the reductionist the holist have the universe as their standard (even
though it may not be clear to them from the outset), they are integrative.
When the reductionist thinks about salt on the table she focuses only on
the salt; the holist, by contrast, sees everything around the salt. So the
reductionist focuses only on what is visible. It is a sign of a decadent
culture and a beginning of down fall. It should have been 10% to the
reductionist and 90% to holism that sees the spirit too. That 10% helps us
to survive physically. In fact it is also approved in tewahido. So if people
focus on the invisible 90% they can control their environment, they can
even disappear and reappear physically. It is possible in the law of physics
too.
I jumped in and asked: So is it the invisible force (spirit) that helps us to
understand and control the environment?
Teacher: We are now talking about influence; which means something that is
invisible but has an impact like magnet or radiation. When you move a magnet
over the iron filings, the filings are attracted to the magnet. We see that happen and
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ETHIOPIA SURVIVES
SOLOMON BELAY
they consider the Supreme Being is special to Ethiopia; they call Him Yeethiopia
amlak (the Ethiopian God). This faith in God and the fear and respect that come
out of their love to Him is their standard of living. What is good or bad should be
differentiated based on the belief in God. When we examine the concept denoted
by the Amharic word newer it is an indicative term for thoughts and actions that go
against the will of God. The word God is engraved in almost every interaction and
conversation that takes place between individuals. When a teacher comes to the
class and say good morning or good afternoon students the usual response from
the students is egziehar yhimesgen (Praise be God!). When the boys tease the girls,
the girls try to avoid them by saying begzheir tewogn (I beg you in the name of
God to leave me alone). So it is not surprising, whether in travelling or hosting a
traveller, people invoke the name of God and associate their existence and actions
with His existence and will.
The Ethiopians also understand that the Supreme Being is invisible, but He
dwells in everything and sees every human thought and action. A good deed or an
evil action done to other human beings is equated with doing good or bad to God
respectively. That is where also respecting others, family, elders, guests, country,
religious figures, authorities, friends, etc come from. There is this saying Esu
bayayegn amlaku yayegnal (though the person can not see me His God will see
me).
b) Social institutions
The traditional social institutions are established based on the assumption that one
cannot exist without the other. The Supreme God is a creator for everyone and God
made all the people to be responsible for each other. Debo (a kind of teamwork),
still a major part of the traditions of Ethiopian rural community, is a good case in
point. In debo a group of farmers take turn to do the farming work for each other.
They sing and dance while doing the hard work of tilling and harvesting. They look
happy and energetic. A large amount of work is done in a very short time. There is
a lot of food and drink served by the host.
Other social institutions, like ekub (a sort of community banking) and edir
(a support network for events like marriage and death), are all expressions of
strong sense of community. It is through these institutions that the aged, the sick
and the impoverished are taken care of.
Moreover, the concept of yilugnta (a serious concern for public opinion) keeps
individuals in a community together and makes them abide by the unwritten rules
of community life and traditional institutions. Due to a deep understanding of the
interconnection among individuals, the concept of individual life is alien to the
Ethiopian people. Because of yilugnta it is common to see Ethiopians sharing
work, meal and drink among themselves, taking care of others bill, etc. It is a
belief that forces to sacrifice individual needs for the common good. It is because
of this that hospitality became an enjoyable tradition in Ethiopia. There is an
element of sacrifice in entertaining guests, but a traveller is a guest from God and
God sees everything and rewards good deeds. Additionally, if someone turns away
from entertaining a guest, she/he is afraid of being labelled as wicked by the
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ETHIOPIA SURVIVES
neighbours. Because guests have been always welcomed by everyone, paying for
food is used to be a newer (taboo). Hotels are recent phenomena in Ethiopian
history. The first hotel in Addis Ababa is a century old and still serves as a hotel.
c) Physics as culture: the merging of science and religion
Ethiopia is one of the few countries where Judaism, Christianity and Islam blended
easily with the traditional religions and with each other. Evidence of this reality
can be seen everywhere in Ethiopia: from church ceremonies to social life; from
individual to community life. An in-depth understanding of the flow of energy
between matter (the visible) and spirit (the invisible) was an integral form of the
belief systems. Therefore, mesewer anderbi, spiritual healing, incarnation and
hypnotism were common knowledge for those who gave their attention and time to
its study and training. The treatise written by ancient Ethiopian scholars are full of
people who disappeared and reappeared, who came with some kinds of discoveries
one being St. Yared who composed the undying songs of Orthodox church.
d) The rise and fall of civilization
Based on the discussion in the physics classroom one may conclude that the rise of
civilization depends on the perfect marriage between fresh revelation from God
and the local/Indigenous spiritual and cultural knowledge. When the Jewish Faith
brought some new insights to the Ethiopian spirituality, the people were able to
build one of the worlds great civilization known as Axumite civilization.
Currently, the admirable obelisks of Axum stand witness to this view. At the peak
of the merging of local knowledge and Christianity, the Ethiopians were able to
build the great rock-hewn churches of Lalibela (the rest of the world has to
discover yet). Or it must be at the peak of the fusion of Indigenous knowledge and
Islam that Ethiopians were able to build the walled-city of Harrar.
Phillipson (2009, 2005), for example, discusses how Lalibela rock-hewn
churches are very interesting to study. He also admits that one of the obelisks of
Aksum is one of the largest single block of stone that people anywhere, at any
time, have attempted to stand on end (Phillipson, 2009, p. 13). Writing on the
Lalibela churches, Phillipson (2009) says that they even should not be called stonechurches and he categorizes them as hypogean (from the earth, subtranean)
churches to explain that they are not built rather excavated (p. 88). Phillipson
provides evidence of past and present to explain that those marvellous structures
are the product of Indigenous knowledge. The way these structures are carved out
of a single rock and the reasons they existed centuries and centuries without falling
apart are indications of the Ethiopians spiritual-science genius before such
blending, somehow, starts to disappear. It must have happened at the peak of the
amalgamation among spirituality, science and culture that Ethiopians made
supported by a sophisticated math. xiii Besides, the Ethiopians observed and
documented the heaven and developed great knowledge on astronomy (Awede
Negest, 1953ECxiv). They developed and used their own unique alphabets, numbers
and calendar. All these are impossible to do without having a deep understanding
of the concepts of physics and biology. After all, Ethiopians would not have
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SOLOMON BELAY
sustained farming and herding for the last many millenniums without a proper and
holistic understanding of how nature works.
Looking at the economic and political situation in the country and based on my
engagement with the research participants, one can conclude that Ethiopia is in a
state of emergency; it is feeling empty and seeking enlightenment from somebody
else, it is living on the toil of others, the things of the spirit have left place for the
things of the body, its holistic and integrative view of life is lost for reductionist
view resulting in the aggravation of selfish motives and power mongering, the
mind of its people is invaded by unhealthy thoughts and has lost its synchronicity
with the Supreme Being and the positive energy. All the political instability, the
civil wars, the famine, the immigration, etc are results of the absence of and/or
distraction from the science-religion-culture way of life.
e) Science education in Ethiopia
Based on this conclusion, one can offer few suggestions for the future direction of
education in general, science education in particular in Ethiopia. Such future
direction calls for the rediscovery and the reintegration of spiritual enlightenment
with the study of the physical world. The subject to be taught and learned should
not be the type of science or religion as we know them now. It has to be a type of
subject/praxis that tries to understand and transform both the physical and spiritual
nature of human beings, the energy that flows between these two natures, the
process of developing this energy and the objective of doing all of these. The role
of this subject should be examining, conserving and/or transforming the traditional
Ethiopian psyche. Apparently, such recreation of a subject of engagement or praxis
needs to be followed by a new approach to teacher education, classroom
arrangement and programme evaluation. Moreover, in this type of a holistic
educational approach there is no marked border line between critical analysis and
whole-hearted acceptance and submission, between intuition and observation,
between real action and experimentation and between silent reflection and
engaging in dialogue, etc. In one word, the wall that stand between science and
spirituality collapses. Science becomes a scaffold to spirituality while spirituality
becomes a standard for science.
Based on these lessons, we can say that the current curriculum and instruction in
Ethiopia is far from taking them into account. All the research participants agreed
that problems like the ineffective training of teachers, the presence of plasma TV
that supplanted the human teacher, large class size, imported curriculum, excessive
rote-memorization and the English language, etc. plagued the teaching learning
process. The lack of participation of the local people in the curriculum
development, the lack of mechanism to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and the
failure to learn from past mistakes persisted in the Ethiopian education system.
Thus, a shift from such state of crisis to the new holistic education is not an easy
task. Tensions are expected from all sides. The plurality of views within Ethiopia
itself, lack of trained human resource, the hegemonic power, thought structures and
selfish motives of people who are benefiting out of the existing system are some
of the found at the center of the tensions.
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ETHIOPIA SURVIVES
In the article, I stated the reasons why I set out from Ethiopia to Canada, namely,
the search of values behind development. I then explained why I went back to
Ethiopia to find the answers within the country. I stated the major questions I
wanted to engage with the Ethiopian people, the methods I engaged with, some of
the findings that came out and my own understanding of what the findings are. It is
my hope that throughout the paper I drew attention to what is contextual; I
articulated my belief that the idea of contextualizing science education in Ethiopia
fits the vision of individuals with capacities to understand, critique and either to
conserve or transform their social and cultural conditions. It is only when people
are given the opportunities and take responsibility to understand themselves within
their own environment that they gain capacities to be creative and transformative
subjects and not just objects of domination and manipulation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
iii
iv
A document prepared by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of India (NSABI)
Ethiopian scholars who so forcefully wrote in Amharic the great spiritual heritage of the Ethiopian
people.
In this paper the term spirituality is used as an alternative term to the phrase spiritual value.
In this paper, I am using the term religion in its broad meaning as a system of knowledge that is
free from the blind imitations and fanaticism associated with some sectarian movements. it is
possible, indeed indispensable, to consider religions as expressions of one historical process
resulting from the interventions of the Divine in the affairs of humanity. In this sense it is legitimate
to explore religion and not religions as a system of knowledge and practice and identify its
169
SOLOMON BELAY
v
vi
vii
viii
ix
x
xi
xii
xiii
xiv
contributions to the civilization building process along with those of science. (Institute for Studies
in Global Prosperity, 2009, p. 70)
90% of the population believe in God, either as Christian, Muslim or other minority faiths.
Reproduced from Lamples Transforming Divine Reality into Action, 2009, p. 121
Pseudonym
The medium of instruction is English. Where there were few words and sentences of Amharic for
better communication between teacher and students, I provided the translation in English.
Ethiopian diviners
Unlike the Ethiopian Orthodox church, other Orthodox churches, like Greek and Russia, dont use
the word tewahido.
Ethiopian diviners with this skill make you feel you are invaded by invisible external forces or make
you feel someone is throwing stones on your roof. They use their psyche/concentration power and
burn ones home and make someone sick without obvious reason.
King James Version, Psalms 68:31
Watch BBC FOUR at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc4yrFXw20Q for Ethiopians knowledge
on math
EC refers the Ethiopian Calendar which is eight years behind the European calendar.
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WANGUI MBURU
INTRODUCTION
Addressing issues related to direct and structural violence in the world has been a
daunting challenge for decades. In the world today, many theorists and governments
view civic education as a tool that can promote social cohesion and sound
democratic practices, thereby promoting peace. In Indigenous cultures, civic
education was and still is, conceptualized as that which promotes harmony among
people and harmony with nature. Whether Indigenous or otherwise, civic
educations main objective is ideally to promote that which is good for all
humanity. This being the case, is it possible, then, to synthesize conventional
Western knowledge and Indigenous ways of knowing to address injustices in
todays society? This question is addressed later in this chapter.
I write this paper from the social location of a Kenyan woman educator who has
been educated both in Kenya and in the West. Although I now live in Canada, after
carrying out research in Kenya, I believe more than ever before in the need to
revitalize Indigenous knowledges as a way of dealing with structural violence in
society. Having lived in Canada for a decade, I have become a cultural bordercrosser. This accorded me an insider-outsider status which has been instrumental
in shifting my conceptualization of Indigenous ways of knowing in relation to the
teaching of civic education.
Some of the Indigenous ways of knowing have been time-tested and the world
can no longer dismiss these ways as non-scientific. Hobson (1992) argues that
Western science has been defined as a systematic and methodological approach to
answering questions; consequently, science is equated with knowledge that
provides solutions to problems. He further notes that in the West, science is based
upon principles of repeatability and predictability, principles that are in line with
Indigenous knowledges. He therefore argues that this being the case, Indigenous
knowledge is indeed science. Following Hobsons line of argument, I will
illuminate how African Indigenous knowledges and Western knowledge can be
complementary tools, rather than competing tools, for promoting peace and
democracy.
In this chapter, I give an account of my doctoral research findings that made me
rethink the place of Indigenous civic education in Kenyan schools in particular and
in African schools in general. My dissertation journey started with the quest to
uncover what schools do or do not do to create spaces where controversial issues
that would promote peace, social justice and democracy are addressed. In
Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw et al.,(eds.), Contemporary Issues in African Sciences
and Science Education, 175193. 2012 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.
WANGUI MBURU
176
This study has also been informed by critical pedagogy whose educational
vision is to work towards justice and equality and whose principles are consistent
with a critical constructivist approach to education. Thus, while critical
constructivism focuses on students knowledge construction, critical pedagogy
focuses more on deconstructing social processes and challenging educators to
make education liberatory. Both frameworks attempt to understand issues of and
ask questions about how knowledge is constructed, how it is transmitted and why
the given knowledge is transmitted (Kincheloe, 2003, 2005, 2008). These
complementary frameworks provide an important lens through which one may
examine if students are provided the opportunity to construct knowledge. Using the
same lens, it is also possible for one to investigate if civic education knowledge
conveyed through the Kenyan official and enacted curricula explicitly addresses
issues related to peace and democracy. Given that the notions of peace and
democracy may have different interpretations in different contexts, it is important
to explain how the two notions are conceptualized in this study.
CONCEPTUALIZATION OF PEACE AND DEMOCRACY
Galtungs (1964) introduction of the terms positive peace and negative peace
into the field of peace research led to a shift in the way the notion of peace is
conceptualized. Galtung argues that peace is two dimensional: negative peace
(italics in the original) which is the absence of violence, absence of warand
positive peace (italics in the original) which is the integration of human society (p.
2). Thus, the term peace does not strictly refer to the absence of war (Brock-Utne,
2000; Galtung, 1964, 1969, 1985; Hoivik, 1977). According to Galtung (1969,
1985), peace is not just the absence of direct violence (negative peace), but it is
also the absence of indirect violence (positive peace). While direct violence is
usually explicit and therefore easy to recognize, indirect violence, which is also
known as structural violence, (Galtung, 1969) is sometimes too subtle to recognize.
Galtung (1985), who coined the term structural violence, explains that this
violence is built into the structure and shows up as unequal power and
consequently as unequal life chances ( p. 171). Thus, structural violence prevents
individuals, groups and societies from reaching their full potential. This kind of
violence is structural because it is embedded in the very political and economic
organization of peoples social worlds. To Galtung (1985) and Hoivik (1977),
structural violence is as harmful as direct violence because it maims and kills as
surely as the bullet and the knife (Hoivik, 1977, p. 59). Structural violence
manifests itself in forms such as discrimination, exploitation and injustice.
Therefore, eliminating or minimizing such structural violence would be a step
towards peace and social justice, the egalitarian distribution of power and
resources (Galtung1969, p. 183).
The notion of democracy, which has been mainly and erroneously identified
with majority rule, include voting and respect for election results, but it also
requires the protection of liberties and freedoms, respect for legal entitlements and
the guaranteeing of free discussion and uncensored distribution of news and fair
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There is voluminous literature that emphasizes the need to push for peace in a
world that is tainted with so much violence (Bickmore, 2006; Brock-Utne, 2000;
Goldstein, 2005; Harber, 1996, 2004; Harber&Sakade, 2009; Harris, 2004;
Jackson, 2001; Klopp, 2001; Waghid, 2004, 2007). Waghid (2004), for example,
suggests it is imperative students learn being compassionate as part of citizenship
education because compassion would eliminate some of the violence that is
experienced both in schools and in the wider society. In a similar vein, Bickmore
(2006) points out that it is important to have students from diverse cultural
backgrounds voice their views on how to resolve conflicts and have them delve
into the real world of social and political conflicts and injustices.
Speaking on global peace, Brock-Utne (2000) asserts that equality of rights and
equal power sharing for every member of society would make the world a more
peaceful place, at both local and global levels. She notes that globalized market
economy is changing social structures, causing structural violence where some
people become poorer while others grow richer which in turn leads to less peaceful
societies. She therefore proposes schools promote an education that would include
the study of the growth of inequalities between the developed and the developing
nations, inequalities between nations and within nations. Such education, she
argues, would not only develop critical and analytical minds, but would also
promote cooperative ways of working together to solve socio-political problems.
In developing countries where direct violence abounds, most conflicts involve
political violence between factions in a single state (Jackson, 2001). Jackson
further notes that since the 1980s, the continent of Africa has been the most
conflict-prone region in the world. The root cause of most of this violence stems
from marginalization of some ethnic groups. This is supported by Ukiwo (2007)
and Osaghae (2005) who explain how ethno-regional domination of the public
sector breeds violent conflicts in Nigeria. No other case is more telling than the
genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1990s where, even today, people have to
continually uproot seeds of discord that are deeply entrenched in the region.
According to a UNICEF report, the Belgian government that colonized Rwanda
taught the Tutsi to regard themselves as a ruling class while the Hutus were trained
for manual jobs (Bush & Saltarelli, 2000). Bush and Saltarelli (2000) further
contend that such unequal distribution of education excludes groups from full
participation in the socio-economic life of a country. Thus, it was the marginalization
of the Hutus by the Tutsis that led to ethnic hatred and when the Hutus came into
power, they oppressed the Tutsis so much so that many sought refuge in the
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Lango High School was a woman in her late 40s or early 50s. She had a teaching
experience of about 25 years. Prior to becoming the principal of Lango High
School, she had been a deputy principal of a big school for many years. At the time
of the interview, she had worked as a principal for one year.
Out of the 48 students who participated in the group interviews, 24 were girls.
The students came from 7 ethnic groups which represented all the ethnic groups in
the 4 classes of both schools. Their ages ranged between 14 and 17. The age gap
results from several factors: one, students might not have started school at the
recommended age. Two, poor performance at lower levels might have forced them
to repeat classes at the elementary level and three, before the introduction of free
education students often dropped out of school due to lack of school fees only to go
back much later when fees were available. What follows next is a summary of the
findings and the discussion.
CONCEPTUALIZATION OF PEACE IN THE KENYAN CONTEXT
Findings suggest that the history and government official curriculum explicitly
articulate the importance of promoting democracy and social justice, aspects that
are viewed as critical to the promotion of peace and national unity. However, the
notion of peace is conceptualized as the absence of direct violence by the teachers
and in the official curriculum. To this end, both the official and the enacted
curricula emphasize the importance of developing patriotic, loyal and responsible
citizens who would not be involved in direct violence. This is illustrated by
Teacher Aminata:
why are people fighting along tribal lines? It is because they have not been
educated a lot about what it means to be united and what it means to work as
a nation. So they dont know, so they can be educated... So you instil in the
students what it means to be patriotic. A patriotic citizen will not fight. A
patriotic person will not view other people as if they dont belong to his
communityyou have to live in peace with other people. You can sell your
produce to other people and also they can buy from you.
All the educators, including the curriculum developer defined a good citizen as
one who is patriotic, responsible, loyal, law-abiding and peace-loving. This
definition is echoed by students albeit in different words:
Damaris: History teaches law, it is supposed to be taught well so that we as
young people when we grow up we grow knowing the government wants us
to do this and does not want us to do this and we know the laws that govern
our country.
Linda: In history and government I like the topic about national integration
because it teaches us about how we can solve the conflicts in our country as
in the post elections, the laws we can take to court those who led the postelection violence. No one is above the law.
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Maria: I get to know the meaning of conflict and how to resolve conflict so
that we can know what to do when we find people quarrelling. You can know
what steps to take during negotiation.
This prompted me to ask the students what role they played (bearing in mind
what happened during the post-election violence) as good citizens who had the
duty to ensure there was peace and national cohesion. One student, Isaac,
responded by saying, we help those people who were displaced by donating food;
clothes that you feel you dont need, yeah. This view was shared by the majority
of the participants.
The kind of citizen portrayed here is the personally responsible citizen that
Westheimer and Kahne (2004) describe; the kind of citizen who contributes to
causes such as feeding the hungry. According to Westheimer and Kahne (2004),
such citizens do not critically assess socio-political issues; consequently, instead of
trying to address the root cause of problems, they deal with the results of the
problems. Acts such as feeding the hungry, although noble, may not lead to social
transformation. In fact, the danger of such blind patriotism is reflected in the
comment made by Beth, one of the student participants:
Beth: We learn patriotism is one way of showing love to your country. That
is why most citizens we love our countryI mean showing love to our
country is by following the rules. We follow the rules in our constitution and
respecting our leaders. We should not insult our leaders for example when we
see our president talking on the screen we shouldnt say look at that person
he has made people really suffer [laughter].
Beth raises an interesting point here. To her, one of the important lessons history
teaches is to be a patriot, one who does not critique the government. From her last
statement, one can infer that whether the government acts responsibly or
irresponsibly, a patriotic person should not critique the government, but portray
steadfast love for his or her country.
In short, to all the above stakeholders, history is supposed to produce good
citizens who abide by the law and promote peace by remaining uncritical of and
loyal to the government or leaders. But as already explained peace cannot only be
defined as the absence of war or physical violence because it also means the
absence of structural violence (Galtung, 1964, 1969). While it is important to
discuss issues that may keep direct violence at bay, failing to discuss the more
subtle acts of violence makes it difficult to move towards justice and peace.
SUPPRESSION OF CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES: PROMOTION OF
NATIONAL UNITY DISCOURSE
You see ethnicity initially was not an issue at all, especially during our time
in school, it wasnt. That is why I am telling you the trend of things today is
what is bringing all this. Initially it was silent. We learned not to be conscious
of ethnicity, so in fact today we are teaching them that if we belong to one
nation we dont bring in ethnicity at all. So you dont tell them although you
belong to this and that ethnic group. You tell them you are all Kenyans. Just
tell them, to show them we are together, these are some of the things the
government is doing; we have things like hospitals, things like schools, we
have one constitution, so we belong to one another. So we try our level best
not to mention ethnicity, though we know it is there. Yes, we try our best.
Just tell them that Kenya has diverse communities. We are about 42So
what we tell them is that Kenya is a country with so many ethnic
communities, but that one is not an issue. We belong to Kenya, and the
government is trying its best to give us A, B, C, D to show us we belong to
one nation. The idea of going into details about communities, I would try to
avoid it because if you bring it up it is like telling them you, you are Kalenjin
and you, and you are a kikuyu, a Luo, no. We try to avoid that and tell them
we are Kenyans and this is what we are supposed to do.
It is clear from this discussion that controversial issues in relation to ethnicity
were avoided by introducing the discourse of samenesswe are all Kenyans.
This discourse parallels the discourse of colour blindness usually found in contexts
where race is a controversial issue. Like the discourse of sameness, colour
blindness ignores identities or differences, thereby making it difficult to challenge
inequality and injustice in the society (Apple, 2003; Applebaum, 2005; GrinLajoie, 2008; Knight, 2008). Dei (2004) reminds us that for people to deal with the
asymmetrical power relations within schools, they need to appreciate and
acknowledge social difference. For Teacher Katungwa of Lango High School, the
best strategy of dealing with difference was to tell students the government treated
them equally. A similar approach was adopted by Teachers Hekima and Syombua
of Kapana High School and Teacher Aminata of Lango High School. Scholars such
as Avery (2007), Bickmore (2008), Fine (1993) and Hahn (1998) argue that if
democracy and social justice are to be promoted, controversial issues should be
explicitly discussed in schools. In a later conversation, Teacher Katungwa
explained it was important to discuss controversial issues but avoided doing so
because she wanted to adhere to the syllabus. The fact that teacher Katungwa felt
compelled by the official curriculum to tell students that they were all Kenyans is a
clear indication that the government uses the discourse of national unity to create
and maintain a sense of shared national identity and cohesion among citizens
(Bickmore, 2008), sometimes at the expense of the very citizens. It seems that the
history and government curricular content is controlled to serve that purpose; it
promotes national identity by advancing the myth of sameness, as is referred to by
hooks (1992; as cited in Knight, 2008).
This myth of sameness was embraced by the students who expressed that both
boys and girls were the same because they all wore uniform and received the
same education. When students view themselves as equal because they receive the
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same education, this demonstrates how the official discourses of we are all
equal and we are all the same mask gender-related injustices. In each of the four
classes, only 1/3 of the students were girls. One might wonder if both boys and
girls had a right to education, where were all the girls? Dei (2004) points out that
discussion on gender differences and schooling in Africa has not critically
interrogated the ways in which gender puts girls at a disadvantage. In Kenya, for
instance, girls are assigned house chores most of which are done after school, while
boys hardly do such chores (Kubow, 2007) and to say that boys and girls have
equal opportunity with respect to education is rather misleading. This makes
gender, in this respect, a social difference that is accorded differential treatment
differential treatment that has been rendered normal and natural. In brief, the
promotion of the myth of sameness collapses social differences and only helps to
veil causes of violence, both structural and direct.
AUTHORITARIANISM
Findings from the observations revealed that the four Kapana and Lango teachers
deeply cared about their students and they did their work to the best of their ability
and knowledge. However, their teaching practices were authoritarian in the sense
that teacher talk dominated the lessons and students only talked when called upon
to answer questions, most of which required factual answers. Such teaching
practices failed to create dialogic spaces where students could voice their opinions.
As expressed by student participants, such a space and other activities that do not
involve teacher talk and note-taking would help them in several ways:
Frank: So far I dont think we have done any activities. We just write notes
and the teacher comes and explains it, so there are some people who cannot
understand it we should involve a democrat or a politician so that we can
know what we are being taughtWriting notes is an activity but it is more
frustrating to write notes, read them and you will never understand. It is just
like you have wasted your energy
Robert: I like debates because they help me to express what I feel in my
heart.
Saha: Debates are good. We can choose the topic and then discuss with other
students and get more details on it, for example advantages and
disadvantages.
Lydia: and also when we debate for example looking for solutions about for
example which theory is correct evolution of man or creation theory we
develop our critical thinking. I mean you think, just think. You think for
example if this was to be done, what would be the consequences or the
results?
Lydias statement clearly points to the fact that debating can promote future
democratic citizens who have the ability to examine different points of view to
solve problems or make decisions. Lydias understanding of debate does not
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involve competition but what Freire (1993) refers to as dialogue, where no person
imposes his or her idea over another. Freire explains that
This dialogue cannot be reduced to the act of one persons depositing ideas
into another, nor can it become the simple exchange of ideas to be
consumed by discussants. Nor is it a polemical argument between those
who are committed neither to the naming of the world, not to the search for
the truth, but rather to the imposition of their own truth (p. 89).
Constructivists contend that if students are to be prepared to become active
citizens, they should be provided with opportunities where they can test what they
have learned by comparing it with what they already knew in order to construct
new meanings or understanding. Thus, if classrooms are to be places for
democratic communication, it is necessary for communication to reach what Freire
(1993) describes as the point of encounter. This is where there are neither utter
ignoramuses nor perfect sages; there are only people who are attempting together
to learn more than they know (p. 90). It points to what Saha expresses when she
says debates are discussions where students learn from other students and in more
detail, about a topic. Though the above students conceptualized debates as
discussing issues and looking for solutions, it is clear that such debates would
encourage learners to learn how to think. This would also create a climate where
students feel encouraged to express their opinions (Soto, 1999).
Classrooms are arenas where the goals of civic education can be realized. But
for this to happen, teachers are required to actively engage students in discussions
of public issues, in making connections between complex democratic concepts and
their communities, in simulations of democratic processes and in linking service
learning experiences with civic outcomes (Avery, 2007, p. 32). This would mean
incorporating learning activities that are relevant and practical. If this is
overlooked, those arenas could easily become dormitories where students take naps
before they rush to their next lesson.
Franks views represented the views of many students who felt that learning
should include authentic activities, not just copying notes. For Frank, inviting guest
speakers such as a democrat or a politician so that we can know what we are
being taught would certainly enhance their political knowledge. Another student,
Okello, felt that it is by being immersed into the real world that he would grasp
what he learned in the history and government class; real life experiences were
central to his learning. He explained:
There in parliament there are activities that are going on like debating of how
to develop our constituencies and by going there, you are going to get a view
of what the parliament looks like and you are going to learn as you listen to
how business is carried out in parliament. We can also get people who will
tell us how the constitution is made in Kenya.
The need for authentic activities was also expressed by Keith who felt by using
simulation, students could create their own social world with real life experiences
in their classroom:
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I dont know how I can describe it. The activity of a judge many people
sitting there and a lawyer sitting there with his or her client. Yes, acting. I
would enjoy that so much.
Many studies done in Africa reveal that students sit and listen to whatever the
teacher says and speak only when they are called upon to answer questions,
individually or chorally (Arthur, 1994; Chilsholm & Leyendecker, 2008; Fuller &
Snyder, 1991; Prophet, 1995; Rowell & Prophet, 1990; Tabulawa, 1997). Teaching
practices have been reported as so authoritarian that they have rendered students
voiceless and powerless. Lectures where teachers give facts to students without
allowing students an opportunity to connect what they learn with their lived
experiences are considered irrelevant by students. Dewey and Dewey (1914)
rightfully argue that a child learns more effectively when s/he enters into the social
world.
Further findings reveal that authoritarianism is not only confined to the
classroom, but it is also present in most places within the school. Authoritarianism
aspects of the hidden curriculum were expressed through the use of prefects. For
example, the principal of Kapana High School explained that prefects act as the
students voice; however, they are also used by the school administration to quell
any dissatisfaction or grievances that students may have. Thus, on the one hand,
the prefects represent the student body and on the other hand, they act as the
administrations eye or police. In fact, the prefects act as agents of oppression
because they were used by the administration to intimidate and control the rest of
the students. They have the power to punish and to silence those who does not toe
the line. The existence of prefects is part of the unofficial or the hidden
curriculum that teaches students to remain in total obedience because there are
consequences if the reverse happens; it creates an atmosphere of fear among
students because they are aware they are being watched. This oppressive prefecture
system is a remnant of the British colonial system which is still practiced in some
parts of Europe. Writing about student voice in Europe, Davies (2002) points out
that student councils and committees are a surveillance mechanism that does not
allow students to move or see outside the traditional regulatory frameworks. Given
that some of these prefects are in charge of classes, one wonders how silenced
students feel, even in their classrooms.
In summary, all the findings point to the fact that there is no platform in history
and government classes where important controversial issues can be addressed.
The conceptualization of peace as the absence of direct violence and the discourse
of national unity are powerful weapons which are intentionally or unintentionally
employed to stifle debate that would speak directly to social injustices.
INDIGENOUS CIVIC EDUCATION CONCEPTS: PEDAGOGICAL POSSIBILITIES
As already mentioned, findings reveal that the teachers are committed to their
work; however, they work in a context that hampers the use of democratic teaching
practices while it sustains the use of traditional methods. In fact, the curriculum
developer acknowledged that it was difficult for the goals of civic education to be
186
realized because of the challenges that civic education teachers face, most of which
he attributed to curriculum development. The fact that the curriculum and
examinations are centralized, teachers are pressurized to teach to the test, which
means drilling students to memorize factual information for the sake of passing the
examinations. Thus, the findings are an indication that the history and government
course does not help develop learners critical thinking skills, but rather makes
them passive consumers of historical facts. To Samoff (2003), given that national
examinations shape curriculum, curriculum revolves around information to be
transmitted rather than developing skills and tools that would help students acquire
that information, generate ideas and craft critiques. Such learning based on this
curriculum undermines students participation as active members of their societies
because it does not promote values, attitudes and behaviours related to
participation in a democracy (Dejaeghere & Tudball, 2007).
Teachers also have to navigate through other challenges such as lack of
adequate training, lack of English proficiency skills on the part of the students and
lack of instructional resources. Asimeng-Boahene (2003) provides a stark description
of everyday realities of social studies teachers by pointing out that African social
studies teachers currently serve in positions that could be classified as splendid
misery or dignified slavery (p. 61). Can one, then, envision democratic pedagogical
and curricular possibilities in such a murky and complex situation?
In this study, critical constructivism is perceived as an approach that promotes
democracy and as an alternative to traditional methods of teaching. Constructivists
believe that when students receive information, they construct new knowledge as
they actively process the information received. To constructivists and critical
pedagogues, learning is not passive and its goals are emancipatory (Freire, 1993;
Kincheloe, 1993; McLaren & Lankshear; 1994; Watts & Jofili, 1998). This implies
that learning enables learners to express their views, present their problems for
inquiry and relate them to their lives (Watts & Jofili, 1998). This kind of pedagogy
is a way of thinking about, negotiating and transforming the relationships among
classroom teaching, the production of knowledge, the institutional structures of the
school and the social and material relations of the wider community, society and
nation-state (McLaren, 2000, p. 28). These theories have the potential for
transforming societiesKenyan society includedinto more egalitarian societies
and into less violent ones.
However, this raises several questions. In the face of all the challenges, is it
possible to translate these principles into practice in the Kenyan context? Would
policy makers, administrators, teachers, students, parents and other possible
stakeholders embrace the principles embedded in these foreign theories? Would
teachers embrace this way of thinking that seems to be in opposition with African
cultural beliefs and their own beliefs which are influenced by class, ethnicity,
gender and religion? How can teachers integrate some of the principles of these
theories and at the same time maintain culturally responsive civic education?
The possibility of infusing learner-centred approaches in African classrooms to
create spaces for dialogue is viewed only as a distant dream by many scholars
(Altinyelken, 2010; Coombe, 1997; Dembele & Lefoka, 2002; Fuller, 1987;
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Guthrie, 1990; Hardman et al., 2008; Moon, 2007; OSullivan, 2004; Rowell,
1995; Vavrus. 2009). While these scholars base their claim on the scarcity of
resources and the demands examinations place on teachers and students, there are
others who view principles derived from critical constructivism or critical
pedagogy as hegemonic and therefore should not be introduced to other cultures at
all. One of those critics is Bowers (2005) who argues that constructivists and
critical pedagogues impose their worldviews on other cultures and overlook how
different cultures contribute to forms of the intercultural renewal essential to
ecological sustainability , as well as to community and environmentally destructive
patterns (p. 35). To him, the philosophies of Piaget, Dewey and Freire, among
others, are more destructive than constructive. Following this line of thought is
Tabulawa (2003) who contends that the introduction of learner-centred approaches
are embedded in Western culture which encourages individualistic tendencies
necessary for individuals to survive in a liberal democratic capitalist society. To
him, these approaches only succeed in promoting the reproduction of capitalism in
periphery states, which contradicts African Indigenous knowledges. But Dei
(2010), who is an ardent supporter of Indigenous knowledges, argues that
education in the global era should provide learners with tools to enable them to
function in a global market. Dei (2000) further argues that Indigenous knowledges
are compatible with Western scientific knowledge and as such through daily
practices, societies import and adapt freely whatever from outside will enrich
their accumulated knowledge (p.73). To Dei(2000, 2010), African educational
philosophy does not devalue other ways of knowing but rather embraces the
coexistence of multiple knowledges.
Following this line of thought, I argue that it is therefore not impossible to adopt
critical constructivism pedagogical practices in developing countries as is believed
by many scholars. It is possible for educators to reinvent Western theories by
choosing what is culturally appropriate for African contexts. This is ably
articulated by Paulo Freire who argues that the progressive educator must always
be moving out on his or her own, continually reinventing me and reinventing what
it means to be democratic in his own or her own specific cultural and historical
context (Freire, 1997a, p. 308, as cited in McLaren, 2000, p. 31). In fact,
Bickmore (2008), for example, argues that there is no reason to assume that
dialogic elicitive pedagogies are unworkable, foreign or culturally inappropriate in
resource-poor or so-called third-world contexts (p. 448). Culturally appropriate
dialogues that relate to peace and democracy can easily be generated from African
Indigenous ways of knowing.
Indeed, Indigenous ways of knowing hold promise to promoting peace (Sharra,
2009). Infusing African collectivist humanism into the curriculum would directly
speak to some of the social injustices that breed structural violence, violence that is
masked both in the official and the enacted curricula. In most African
communities, the notion of being human (Ubuntu) is emphasized. Speaking of
Ubuntu as an African philosophy of being, Swanson (2009) notes that Ubuntu is
borne out of the philosophy that community strength comes of community support,
(emphasis in the original) and that dignity and identity are achieved through
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190
NOTE
To keep the anonymity of the participants, their names as well as the names of the
schools have been changed. The curriculum developer is identified by title, so are
the two principals. However, to make the distinction between the two principals
clear, they are identified by their schools; thus, the principal of School is identified
as Kapana principal and the principal of Lango High School is identified as
Lango principal. Students and teachers are identified by pseudonyms. Kapana
High School teachers are identified as Syombua and Hekima and Lango High
School teachers are identified as Aminata and Katungwa
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193
INTRODUCTION
The twentieth century was a very violent period in the history of mankind, with
more human casualties than all the preceding centuries combined, mostly because
of the two world wars and a number of intra- and interstate conflicts. The total
number of casualties, both military and civilian, in World War I was about 37
million; between 50 and 70 million people died in World War II, while Operation
Desert Storm the Mother of All Battles (19901991) cost between 20,000 and
35,000 fatalities. It is also estimated that 75,000 Iraqi soldiers were wounded while
183,000 U.S. veterans of the Gulf War have been declared permanently disabled
(Keaney & Cohen, 1993; Fisk, 2005).
Casualty figures from conflicts in Africa in the twentieth century show that the
war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) claimed 3.8 million lives. The
Ethiopian civil war claimed about one million lives, while the Eritrean war with
Ethiopia claimed 75,000. The Angolan civil war claimed 500,000; the Burundian
conflict claimed 300,000; while the Rwandan genocide accounts for 900,000 deaths
and an additional 1,000 people died due to prison overcrowding. In Algeria, the civil
war cost 150,000 lives and by 1989 the Ugandan civil war accounted for 30,000.
There were 1,000 deaths from the Ivorian civil war plus an additional 1,500 deaths
and a million displaced civilians from the four-month stand-off between the two
presidential rivals, Gbagbo and Ouattara, in the November 2010 presidential election
of which the international community recognized Ouattara the winner and the
incumbent, Gbagbo, declaring himself the winner and refusing to hand over power to
Ouattara. Two hundred thousand or more deaths resulted from the conflict in Sierra
Leone and 220,000 were recorded for the Liberian civil war. Somalia, a failed state
since the 1990s, recorded 550,000 deaths between 2000 and 2004. In Sudan, about
2,000,000 deaths were recorded for the main civil war between 1983 and 2002. This
excludes figures from the conflict between the Sudanese Peoples Liberation
Movement (SPLM) and Eritrea. The conflict between the Sudanese government and
the Justice and Equality Movement in Darfur accounted for 300,000 lives between
2003 and 2009. Just a few months into the second decade of the twentyfirst century,
political upheavals have claimed thousands of human lives in the North African
states of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Apart from wars, religious and ethnic conflicts
have cost thousands of lives in Africa. Africa has earned a dishonourable label The
Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw et al.,(eds.), Contemporary Issues in African Sciences
and Science Education, 195207. 2012 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.
minds of men, it is in the minds of men [and women] that the defences of peace
must be constructed. Peace culture is a social invention (Boulding, 1998). This
invention was probably necessitated by the fact that, the 20th century was
characterized by a spate of ethnic, religious, communal and inter-state violence
which have disturbed the peace of various nations. The UN created a Culture of
Peace Programme (CPP) in 1994 for the promotion of standards which would
encourage and enhance peaceful co-existence. The programme acknowledged that
peace is more than the absence of war. Peace demands an enduring commitment to
sharing assets, while transcending particular and localized interest. At the eve of a
new millennium, a proliferation of regional, local, ethnic, religious and civil
conflicts and terrorism around the world demand the need for a global transition
from a culture of war to a culture of peace. In order to draw attention to the
challenges and issues of the culture of peace and to encourage international action,
the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1997 first proclaimed the year
2000 to be the International Year for the Culture of Peace and subsequently on
November 10, 1998, proclaimed the period 20012010 as the International Decade
for Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World.
The fundamental principles of the International Year for a Culture of Peace
continue and have been enhanced with the launch of the International Decade for
Culture of Peace and Non-violence among the Children of the World. The UN
General Assembly adopted the Declaration on Culture of Peace in 1999. The
declaration acknowledges that the responsibility to promote a culture of peace rests
with all members of the community. This includes parents, teachers, politicians,
journalists, religious bodies, intellectuals, institutions of civil society and those
engaged in scientific, philosophical, creative and artistic activities. Health workers,
social workers, managers at various levels and non-governmental organisations are
also included in the society in question. This acknowledgement cuts out a role for
higher educational institutions in promoting peace culture. A Manifesto for Peace
was also published in 2000 (see UNESCO, 2000). Creative management of
differences is at the core of peace culture (Boulding, 1998) i.e. it is not a culture
without conflict. It is a way of living together so that all members of society can
accomplish their human rights.
For the past decades, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and higher
institutions for learning have attempted to contribute to the institutionalisation of
peace culture. They have created programmes that deal in one way or the other
with peace education or peace culture. There are study programmes such as:
Human Rights, Multicultural, Intercultural, Immigrants, Peace and Conflict
Resolution and Peace Education that are taken as minor subjects.
The United Nations General Assembly declaration on peace culture notes that
awareness of issues concerning non-violence must become imperative for the
successful advancement of a culture of peace during the first decade of the new
millennium. The basic values and attitudes for life, as enunciated in the General
Assembly Resolution establishing 20012010 as the International Decade for a
Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World, are considered
by the UN to be elements essential for capturing the essence of non-violence. Chief
197
198
education across the world. However, few African higher institutions are enlisted
as members.
The Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (1995) encourages revision of
educational curricula, including textbooks, bearing in mind the 1995 Declaration
and Integrated Framework of Action on Education for Peace, Human Rights and
Democracy for which technical cooperation is provided by UNESCO upon request.
The Programme also encourages and strengthens efforts by actors (with the support
of UNESCO) aimed at developing values and skills conducive to a culture of
peace, including education and training in promoting dialogue and consensus
building. Higher educational institutions should take up the opportunity to play
leadership roles in revising and developing curricula to integrate peace education
into the mainstream of studies including education and training in promoting
dialogue and consensus building that are vital for human social development. In
achieving this, there is need to consider a number of themes and strategic actions.
Peace education curriculum of education in higher institutions should consider
growing migration, the effects of globalisation and the advancement of information
and communication technologies which have made people today increasingly
mobile. In Africa, as a continent, features a great cultural diversity. This diversity
is a rich asset for our societies but it also introduces new social and political
challenges. Identity questions are becoming more critical. We recently witnessed
reports of xenophobic attacks in South Africa. There are also challenges related to
stereotyping, racism, tribalism, intolerance, discrimination and violence which
threaten peace in various countries in Africa. Recently there were violent religious
disturbances in Nigeria that claimed hundreds of lives. Even in Ghana, which is
taken to be a relatively peaceful country, there are occasional violent clashes that
result in loss of lives. In many cases, the violence is a result of the inability of
people to solve simple issues. The negative consequences of such phenomena are
that development slows down and people continue to violate human rights and thus
create societies of injustice. Even many of our higher institutions are rattled with
violent crises. We often hear nowadays that students and lecturers are killed on the
campuses of some African universities. All these warrant a properly planned peace
education programmes for higher institutions that could deal with many of these
problems by intellectual and practical approaches to the programmes.
Suppression of micro cultures and inequality among people in society has
resulted in conflicts across the world and there is need to include global perspective
in which cultural pluralism is recognized as an ideal in a healthy state.
Multicultural education is one proposal and is becoming an organised field of
study. The historical roots of multicultural education lie in the civil rights
movements of various historically oppressed groups (Gorski, 1999). Multicultural
education is an approach to teaching and learning that is based on democratic
values that affirm cultural pluralism within culturally diverse societies in an
interdependent world (Ameny-Dixon, 2003). It uses equity-based pedagogy to
address the needs of students from different groups and cultures. As an option to
assimilation the scope of multicultural education needs to be broadened to include
democratic values, cultural pluralism within culturally diverse societies, national
199
local forms of citizenry and the civic will of local African peoples. We ask then the
question: what does it mean for peace education to be installed within
institutionalised schooling and education and be devoid of the lived experiences of
the local African learner? We raise this seemingly simple question to invite a
reflective approach that cogitates the geo-political limitations and possibilities for
schooling and education in the African context. In the African schooling
experience, we cannot discount the experience of alienation, where African
learners come to know themselves as less than, as inferior, as abject, constituting in
a sense, a disciplinary form of violence of knowing the self and community. Peace
education as a means for social justice must embody Indigenous philosophies.
Peace education must speak about the colonial violence embedded within the
history of the text, rather than being psychologized onto different bodies, ethnic
groups or specific cultures.
Concerning the globalization of capitalist schooling and education, we must also
ask peace for whom and at what cost? In particular, we must note the perils when
we articulate certain curricula for peace education that ultimately come to be
constituted through imperial educational philosophies that have been entrenched in
capitalism. Such knowledging imbues a banking concept of learning, in which the
African learner goes through a series of repetitive exercises to then have to
reproduce as a ritual these dominant forms of knowledge (Freire, 1970). Such
learning/education presents itself as apolitical, neutral, objective, bias free and deraced. Presently, the underdevelopment and impoverishment of Africa have
been ongoing through particular discourses about peace and development. The
International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and the World Trade
Organization (WTO) deploy specific forms of governance guaranteeing the
continuity of the historical underdevelopment of Africa, which historically and
presently have resulted in violence. Admittedly, our disquiet with implementing
Peace Education within higher institutions of education concerns how Peace
Education comes to be articulated in the classroom, that is, the particular
theoretical frameworks which are accorded with discursive authority, power and
privilege. So, what are the consequences for African educators/African learners
when an Indigenous discursive framework articulates peace education through the
interest, through the terms of the African? The challenge for peace education is to
participate in social science research without compromise, to engage holistically,
communally in local cultural resources of knowledging. This would allow for a
coming to know the human experience of Africans beyond the standardized,
measurable, positivistic capillaries of educational research. Importantly, we must
caution that our goal is to coexist, not to co-opt, neither are we shouting that we
need a wholesale dismantling of our educational system. Instead, what we are
attempting to do is to bring voice to local pedagogical ways of knowing. Peace
education then is about the integration of different voices, the integration of
different knowledge systems while at the same time being cognizant of which body
has the material power to distribute educational resources.
201
The principle behind a culture of peace is that the more a society promotes,
protects and fulfils the human rights of its people, the greater its chances for
curbing violence and resolving conflicts peacefully. The cardinal principles of
human rights include respect for human dignity, tolerance, non-discrimination and
peaceful co-existence through the rule of law which are vital to promoting a culture
of peace. The development of human rights culture can promote the development
of peace culture. Human rights education should be more deeply integrated into all
forms of conflict analysis and response. Human rights education is needed to
integrate the actions required into teaching subjects and modelled through the
values and practices that operate within institutions.
According to the Plan of Action, human rights education is about imparting
knowledge, skills and attitudes directed to:
The strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms;
The full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity;
202
A culture of peace will be achieved when citizens of the world understand global
problems, have the skills to resolve conflicts and struggle for justice non-violently,
live by international standards of human rights and equity, appreciate cultural
diversity and respect the Earth and each other (Merryfield & White, 1996). Such
learning can only be achieved with systematic education for peace. This requires
education in global citizenship and citizenship diplomacy in conflict prevention,
management and resolution. A global citizen as one who is aware of the wider
world and has a sense of his/her own role as a world citizen; respects and values
diversity; has an understanding of how the world works economically, politically,
socially, culturally, technologically and environmentally. The global citizen is
outraged by social injustice; participates in and contributes from the local to the
global society. Besides this, the individual must be personally willing to act to
make the world a more sustainable place; and takes responsibility for actions.
There is the need for institutions of higher education to initiate dialogue and
establish centres to encourage cross-national discussions aimed at conflict
prevention, management, resolution and peace building. Initiatives should include
seminars and workshops for civil society groups and politicians, dialogue with
political leaders and academic conferences.
EDUCATION FOR NON-VIOLENCE
Many Universities around the world have female students outnumbering men, for
example, in the United States, from 1998 to 2008, the annual average increase in
enrolments was greater for women than men. In Canada, female enrolments
increased steadily over a ten year period; and in Ireland females the ratio of
females to males was 59% to 41%. In real terms of graduation, women outnumber
men in 75 of 98 countries (Bell, 2010). In most places in Africa, however, the
situation is entirely different, probably because of economic reasons. On top of the
economic consideration, illiterate African parents are genuinely concerned that
educating daughters could be harmful. For some parents in traditional societies,
educating a daughter is synonymous with favouring over indulgence in sin education may upset arranged marriages between families. Educated ladies might
refuse their parents choice of husband or discuss matters on an equal basis with a
man and this may go contrary to established customs. In such societies, parents see
their daughters only as future mothers and wives and schools considered as unable
to prepare them for their anticipated roles. To most of such parents, what the
school provides is irrelevant to girls specific and perceived needs. A genuine
concern also exists that educated girls will have more difficulty getting husband. In
communities where brides carry price, delay in marrying of the girls because of
long schooling, might pose a threat to their prospective mates. African Universities
therefore have to research and understand how to integrate traditional values into
broad international theoretical discourse for promoting female education and
empowerment. The establishment of Gender Units or Directorates in our universities
should be viewed as an architectural design to research and breakdown structures
that facilitate discrimination against females for education, job opportunities and
personal development. Equally, Universities must help in the breakdown of
structures that facilitate domestic violence practices which can develop violent
behaviour among children in adult life.
Gender Units or Directorates should be empowered to enable them regularly
organise seminars, conferences and community sensitisation programmes that will
complete ongoing peace education programmes being initiated by NGOs and other
international organisations on the African continent. It is essential that conscious
204
efforts are made to mentor females at workplaces for them to realize their full
potentials. This will enable them to complement the efforts of their male
counterparts in all spheres of life. Furthermore, females being less violent than
men, the more we have females accessing higher education and taking high
positions in the societies, the more their non-violent nature come to bear on
society.
CONCLUSION
The tragedies of the twentieth century which gave it the dishonourable label as the
century of war have crossed into the twentyfirst century. The second decade of the
century started with more violence in several places probably more than any single
year in recorded history. The year has already recorded deadly violence in Egypt,
Israel, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Jordan and the Ivory Coast and recently, a reported
mutiny in Burkina Faso. The year 2011 seems to be extremely violent. Since the
launch of the Culture of Peace Programme (CPP) in 1994 for the promotion of
standards which would encourage and enhance peaceful co-existence, a number of
initiatives have been taken to prevent a repeat of the devastations caused by
conflicts in the twentieth century. The idea of peace culture became a social
invention or a social engineering tool to mobilise worldwide support for peace. The
decision to proclaim the period 20012010 as the International Decade for a
Culture of Peace was to help reduce the incidence of conflict. Despite these,
conflicts still plague Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the world.
Education has been identified as an instrument par excellence for promoting peace
culture. This is because evidence suggests that education can be both an instrument
of peace and of promoting violence. Higher educational institutions in Africa need
to be more proactive in integrating both formal and informal peace education
programmes into the curriculum. Peace education initiatives are needed to develop
the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to prevent violence and to promote the
non-violent resolution of conflicts. Programmes need to centre on multicultural
education, human rights education, equity in student admission and faculty
recruitment and promotion processes. Programmes should also address secret cult
activities which threaten peace and security on campuses. The establishment of
gender units or directorates should help address the roots of violence emerging
from gender role stratifications and domestic violence. Programmes are needed to
ensure that our education promotes socio-economic responsibility by developing in
both student and faculty the characteristics of global and democratic citizenship
and a culture of non-violence and peace culture so as to ultimately create the
conditions conducive to peace, whether at an interpersonal, inter-group, national or
international level.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The discussions so far make three core proposals imperative. We put up these
proposals for consideration and possible adoption as part of the contribution of
205
The culture of peace rests firmly in our hands. African higher institutions must
work to contextualise peace education curriculum that will serve the purpose
creating and sustaining peace culture in Africa.
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institutions now than ever: A global perspective. Access on June 6 2010.Retrived from http://
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Global Youth Solidarity Fund and Programme. (2006). Youth for alliance of civilizations: Promoting
dialogue, building a culture of peace. Global Youth Solidarity Fund and Programme. Access on July
12 2008 at http://decade-culture-of-peace.org/report/YouthReport.pdf
Gorski, P. C. (1999). A brief history of multicultural education. Accessed on Oct 13 2007 from
http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/edchange_history.html
Humphreys, M. & Weinstein, J. M. (2004). What the fighters say: A survey of ex-Combatants in Sierra
Leone JuneAugust 2003. Retrieved March 14, 2008, from http://www.columbia.edu/~mh2245/
Report1_BW.pdf.
Keaney, T. & Cohen, E. A. (1993). Gulf war air power survey. Washington, DC: US Department of the
Air Force.
Obura, A. (2003). Never again: Educational reconstruction in Rwanda. Paris: UNESCO IIEP.
OKane, M. (1992). Peace: The overwhelming task. Veterans for Peace, 19(3).
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206
207
INTRODUCTION
bonded to geographical features of the earth, such as rivers, mountains, valleys, etc.
These features are to be respected and never defied. Similarly, in the African
context, each feature in the environment is considered as a living being. Thus, the
rivers, mountains, trees etc. were all considered as living creatures with human
qualities and hence when defiled, brought untold hardships upon the culprits and
society.
Other authors (e.g. Snively & Corsiglia, 2001) have written on Indigenous
technological knowledge, which questions the rationale of creating mass destruction
warheads and equipment. They noted that such weapons devastate environment
and intimated that such manoeuvres were purported to dominate and control the
environment. It is, however, not clear what moral and social values underlie such
activities.
STUDENTS INVOLVEMENT IN ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD COMMUNICATION
opinions expressed by the local community pointed the high expectations they had
of the University of Education to lead the educational crusade on environmental
sanitation.
The trainees also identified sanitation-related diseases such as typhoid fever and
worm infestation as due to poor hygienic habits exhibited by those who cook and
sell. They also attributed the high malaria cases in Winneba to the many stagnant
waters in choked gutters, which serve as breeding places for mosquitoes. In
exploring the views of community members on how to solve the environmental
sanitation problems, the suggestions that came out were that the town should be
zoned and sanitary inspectors assigned to each zone for effective supervision of
sanitation issues. Further, they suggested sanctions against non-compliant
community members. Also suggested were proper town planning with provision of
well arranged infrastructure (e. g. gutters, rubbish dumps and collection procedures).
INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES
Most of the participants interviewed were adults who had stayed in Winneba for over
20 years. The interviewees admitted that there has been severe degradation of the
environment since they settled in the town. They attributed the degradation to
increased population and commercial activities. One person recalls that in the late
1970s most lands in Winneba were not inhabited and served as farm lands. Some of
such places served as garbage dumping sites, where garbage was allowed to
decompose and later become compost for farmers. It is reported that much of the
degradation is due to unchecked illegal development of settlement which have not
been approved by appropriate authorities. According to the respondents, houses were
crowded within vicinities due to disagreements and claims of lands between people.
This activity, according to them, really caused overcrowding with the consequence of
no space left for waste disposal. To worsen the situation, some people further opened
up small commercial retail shops which have resulted in the deposition of waste
around. As locations of buildings were not properly planned, there were no
provisions for drains and hence waste water was indiscriminately dumped around
buildings. Some of these waste waters came from bathrooms while others were
kitchen wastes. Some of the interviewees recounted their new experiences with
plastic waste from various commercial activities. The plastics are disposed of
indiscriminately and choke gutters, which are not swept regularly. Even when the
plastics and other wastes are removed from the gutters they are kept by the sides of
the drainage for another person to collect but these wastes finally end up in the
drainage again as they are not collected early enough. One of the interviewees said
that in their days, carrier bags were made of paper which was easily disposed of
either through burning or left on rubbish damps to decay. The people also mention
absence of sanitation facilities, such as household toilets. This they mentioned as one
of the reasons why black plastic bags are found in the drainages, as some people use
them to wrap faeces and dump them in the drains. According to an old man who was
interviewed, in their days there were not so many houses so always there was enough
space to site public pit toilets away from human habitation. Such places of
211
convenience were far away so as to minimise spread of the odour to the community
but close enough to be accessible to everyone.
Here, the main points intimated by the interviewees were that they used to
practise proper environmental sanitation until the upsurge of population and
increased commercial activities.
STUDENTS FIELD WORK, ASSESSMENT AND COMMUNICATION OF
ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION HAZARDS
212
The students in this study have implied that limited resources in the community
have led to a lack of comprehensive government outreach to supply basic material
resources to help reduce the sanitation problem. Further, the students have implied
by their approach to communicating their findings that there is a lack of
comprehensive government outreach strategies to communicate environmental
sanitation hazards. The students have therefore settled on a meaningful dialogue
approach through interviews with people who otherwise may be considered lay as
far as environmental education is concerned. In an approach using both verbal
presentation and written report in communicating environmental sanitation issues
to some local communities in Botswana, Thakadu, Irani, & Telg (2011) noted that
different communication approaches (visual and verbal) were equally effective in
affecting the cognitive and affective abilities of the participants. However, our
students used mainly conversational approach to soliciting information on subjects
environmental sanitation awareness as well as and impacting their sanitation
knowledge to subjects. A society like ours in Ghana, which is becoming more and
more complex due to the introduction of modern information and communication
media, an integrated approach, seems appropriate. The study demonstrated our
students value of sharing information, a value, which has been labeled acquired
knowledge sharing and has been cherished in traditional societies in Ghana.
THE ROLE OF TEACHER-TRAINEES IN COMMUNICATING
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
This study has shown that despite the complexity of modern Ghanaian society, our
students still cherish traditional values of sharing information through conversation
and interviews. In an attempt to satisfy modern trends, students have combined
traditional and modern approach as they used the traditional touch and documentation
through report writing. The usefulness of the approach adopted by the students is
that there is trust and credibility as subjects tried to give their views about
environmental sanitation practices as they also learn new ideas from the students.
Also, in the absence of formal education on environmental sanitation at governmental
level, it is expedient for the students to serve as agents of dissemination of the
message of environmental sanitation and risks of ignoring good environmental
practices through the Indigenous methods of collecting and sharing information.
214
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Snively, G. & Corsiglia, J. (2001). Discovering indigenous science: Implications for science education.
Science Education, 85(1), 734.
Stibbards, A., & Puk, T. (2011). The efficacy of ecological macro-models in pre-service teacher
education: Transforming states of mind. Applied Environmental Education and Communication,
10(1), 2030.
Thakadu, O. T., Irani, T., & Telg, R. (2011). Relative effects of visualised and verbal presentation
methods in communicating environmental information among stakeholders: Okavango Delta,
Botswana. Applied Environmental Education and Communication, 10(1), 6375.
UNESCO-UNEP. (1996). Global framework for environmental education. Connect (UNESCO-UNEP
Environmental Education Newsletter), 1(1), 13.
215
This chapter draws upon the broader philosophical and theoretical implications of
our understanding Indigenous science and science education in African schools.
Today, we are having to contend with the crisis of ideas and imagination as we
search for genuine educational options for young learners. African subjects
have always played a central role in the conception, generation, design and
implementation of knowledge. As already noted, it is through the mutual
interrogation of ideas, concepts, principles, symbols, cultural and social values that
the foundation of knowledge can be established. Tensions of the intellectual
identity and the clarification of what is science are not new. What perhaps is new
today is the bold and courageous attempts to claim and reclaim local/Indigenous
knowledges long downplayed, devalued or even dismissed in our academies
[schools, colleges and universities] as part of science education.
On-going debates about the Eurocentricity of Western scientific knowledge
and the positing of Westocentric/Eurocentric science as the only science is
worthy of note. Nonetheless, as already hinted, we must caution against constructing
a binary between Indigenous science and Western scientific knowledge. After all,
Western scientific knowledge is itself a form of local knowledge, born out of a
particular social and historical context. Engaging science in its globalised
dimensions help us to respond to the questions of how we create spaces for the
study of Indigenous knowledge as science education in schools. African educators
today have a responsibility to address the intellectual, ethical, moral and political
imperatives for [re]claiming the authenticity of our Indigeneity as valid and
legitimate sources of knowing.
We should reiterate that our objective in this book has not been to posit a strict
binary between Western science and Indigenous science. What we have sought
to trouble the hegemonic meaning of science to be inclusive of other bodies of
knowledge and for us as educators to see science as residing in social and cultural
bodies of knowledges, as well as the knowledge base of biological and physical
sciences. We have also complicated the pedagogy of science as carried out in the
conventional approach to science education. In effect, we see science in
mathematics and technology, social studies and the humanities, including literature
and the arts. We question the conventional methods of teaching science and discuss
science as a tool and a discursive approach to working with any body of
Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw et al.,(eds.), Contemporary Issues in African Sciences
and Science Education, 217222. 2012 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.
218
challenges and seek out genuine and home grown solutions to problems. Local
peoples must be supported to identify with the knowledge of science
As educators and learners, we have own tales, experiences and stories about
how students approach science education and even how we teach science in local
contexts. We know how science has been perceived and how learners have often
been made to feel science is something outside the purview of their local
knowledges and ways of knowing. But, if as this collection has pointed out, we
embark on a rethinking and re-conceptualization of what is science and science
education we bring our learners and students home to the subject material. There is
the likelihood of easy identification with the material and a recognition that after
all nothing is alien about science. Our approach has been to conceptualize science
broadly to include the social and natural and also to recognize the multiple
dimensions of science in terms of social contexts and knowledges. We have argued
repeatedly in this collection that science is about practice, experience and
experimenting with knowledge. It is also about knowledge gained from careful
observation of environments. Science speaks to the society-nature-culture nexus, as
well as the physical and metaphysical realms of human existence. Science is not
solely the products of Western intellectual traditions. We cannot deny the
intellectual agency of African peoples and their knowings in the construction of
science. Science also alludes to the role of intergenerational transmission of
knowledge for understanding our complex human condition. The culture of an
academic scholarship should be broad and critical enough to recognize the
convergences and divergences, as well as the tensions, contestations and
contradictions in science knowledge across multiple geographical spaces and
contexts.
Throughout this text, we have conceptualized and engaged Indigenous
knowledge as knowledge of the Indigenous peoples of a particular land used for
everyday living, survival and social existence. We note that local knowledge on
the other hand, can be possessed by any group (not necessarily Indigenous to the
land) who have lived in a particular place/location for a period of time (see Warren,
1991; Lebakeng, 2010, p. 25). What makes something Indigenous is the longterm, uninterrupted occupancy of a place. With such understanding then Indigenous
science is a knowledge system (including technologies and practices) employed by
Indigenous peoples of a particular place/land to deal with human social problems.
Such science knowledge will specifically include knowledge forms embedded in
arts and crafts, cultural forms and social practices, folkloric productions, technologies
and the understandings of the workings of environments (climate, vegetation and
soils) and the interface of culture and society.
Increasingly, it has become necessary for critical researchers to trouble Western
science hegemony. In this collection, our intellectualism has been driven in part by
a desire and politics to subvert and complicate the dominance of Western
intellectual tradition. We have noted that there are multiple knowledge forms each
with their respective ways of knowing. In fact, the Western/European scientific
tradition is just one aspect of science knowledge. In other words, as Okeke (2005)
long ago noted, the West is one of the many producers of science (cited in
219
Education must be taken to include all the options, strategies, ideas and practices
through which people come to understand their worlds and act within such worlds.
We need teachers to be properly trained in Indigenous knowledges. We need to
create spaces in our schools for parents, Elders, families and community cultural
custodians to come in as teachers. The curriculum for vocational and technical
subjects must be transformed to incorporate knowledge and teaching methods of
local artisans, craftsmen and women, cultural custodians of fables, folktales, songs,
proverbs and story forms, etc. as part of science education. Teaching Indigenous
science will also have to recognize the social-political and spiritual contexts of the
ways of knowledge production, interrogation, validation and dissemination. School
and community relations have to be restructured in such a way that places
schooling within communities and also allow communities to have easy access into
schools.
We have called for the pursuit of science and science education in the classroom
as everyday practice and activity. The method and methodology of science
education must be broad enough to engage communal and communities ancestral,
cultural, historic and experiential knowings. Africans have Indigenous conceptions
of mathematics, science and technology education, including understandings of the
laws of nature, geography, physics, biology and nature. We have systems of
mathematical thought, social processes of understanding the human body and its
place in nature, the spiritual and metaphysical realms of everyday existence.
Infusing such knowledges in science education offers a more comprehensive
knowledge base and grounding for the contemporary learmer.
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Lebakeng, T. G. (2010). Discourse on indigenous knowledge systems, sustainable socio-economic
development and the challenge of the academy in Africa. CODESRIA Bulletin, Nos. 1 & 2, pp.
2429.
Okeke, T. (2005). Is there one science, western science? Africa Development, XXX(3), 2034.
Warren, D. M. (1991). Using indigenous knowledge for agricultural development. World Bank
Discussion Paper 127, Washington, DC.
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CONTRIBUTORS
Francis Ahia did his Bachelor and Master degree in mathematics at Kwame
Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana and Ph.D. in
mathematics at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. At present Ahia is a
Senior Lecturer and Associate Director of the Transitional Year Programme at the
University of Toronto.
Vincent Adzahlie-Mensah is a lecturer at University of Education, Winneba in
Ghana. His research interest areas are Human rights and conflict resolution and
management. He is currently a Doctoral Student of University of Sussex in UK.
Richard K. Akpanglo-Nartey is a Science Educator. He has completed his B.Ed.
(Science) (Hons) and M.Phil. (Science Education), at University of Education,
Winneba, Ghana
Mawuadem Koku Amedeker is an Associate Professor in Science and Technology
Education at the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. He is currently the
Dean of the Faculty of Science Education. His teaching and research activities
focus on issues concerning science education, environmental issues and African
Indigenous science knowledge.
Akwasi Asabere-Ameyaw is Vice-Chancellor at University of Education, Winneba
in Ghana, West Africa. He is a Professor of Science Education. He publishes
extensively in Fishery Science, Environmental Education and Issues in African
Science Education. His research interests are Fish stock assessment, Environmental
Education, Contextualization of the teaching of science.
S. J. Ayelsoma is a Science Educator. He has completed his B.Ed. (Science, Hons.)
and M.Phil. (Science Education), at University of Education, Winneba, Ghana
Dorian A. Barrow, Ph.D., Florida State University, has been in science education
since the 1970s. He taught high school science in Belize for ten years and was in
teacher education there at the University of Belize for another twenty where he
served as lecturer, academic vice president and provost. He currently lectures in
science education at the School of Education, University of the West Indies, St.
Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago.
Solomon Belay was born and raised in Ethiopia. He did his undergraduate degree in
Biology and taught the subject for 10 years in secondary schools. He, then, worked
for Sabri Development Institute while doing an online specialization course on
Education and Social Development from FUNDAEC, Colombia. After doing his
MA in Curriculum and Instruction from Addis Ababa University, he was a lecturer
and the coordinator of the Community Based Education programme in Jimma
University, Ethiopia for three years. Currently, he is a doctoral student in Ontario
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CONTRIBUTORS
Institute for the Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. His research
focuses on science education and spirituality.
George J. Sefa Dei is Professor of Sociology and Equity Studies, Ontario Institute
for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT). He has published
extensively in the area of Indigenous Knowledges and anti-colonial thought. His
latest sole-authored/ [co]-edited books include: Teaching Africa: Towards
Transgressive Pedagogy, Springer Publishers, New York, 2010; b) Fanon and
Education: Pedagogical Challenges, (co-edited with Marlon Simmons) Peter Lang
Publishing, New York ,2010; c) Fanon and the Counterinsurgency of Education,
Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2010; d) Learning to Succeed:
Improving Educational Achievement for All, Teneo Press, New York, 2010 and
e) Indigenous Philosophies and Critical Education. Peter Lang Publishing, New
York, 2011. He is also the Adumakwaahene of Asokore, Koforidua and in the New
Juaben Traditional Area of Ghana. His stool name is Nana Sefa Atweneboah I.
John K. Eminah is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Science Education,
Winneba, Ghana. He worked recently as an Associate Professor in the Umaru
Musa YarAdua University, Nigeria. During his tenure there, he discovered a new
Redox reaction involving zinc and concentrated sulphuric acid. The discovery has
since been published in the September 2009 issue of the School Science Review.
His research interests encompass curricular, gender and cultural issues in science
education.
E. Fredua-Kwarteng did his undergraduate at education York University, Toronto,
Ontario; double majoring in social science and mathematics. Along with this, he
completed a three-year bachelor of education programme with a speciality in
mathematics, science and technology. After that he pursued masters degree in
mathematics education in the same university. He taught in Toronto for a short
period of time and then went to Nunavut, Canadas new territory, where he taught
and also administered a high school. E. Fredua-Kwarteng is current completing his
doctoral degree in education administration at the Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education (OSIE) of the University of Toronto.
Wangui Mburu is a teacher with the Toronto District School Board. Before
migrating to Canada in 2002, she had taught in high schools and post-secondary
institutions in Kenya. Wangui has a M.Ed. in Second Language Education (SLE)
from the University of Toronto and she has recently completed a Ph.D. in
Curriculum Studies and Teacher Development from the same university. Besides
her M.Ed. and Ph.D. programmes, she also completed a collaborative programme,
Comparative International Development Education (CIDE), because she has keen
interest in international development, particularly in the area of education. Her
research interests include peace education, diversity and equity in education, antioppressive education and Indigenous knowledges.
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CONTRIBUTORS
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