An Evaluation of a Science and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Project at a Western Cape University
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Date
2021
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
This study was an evaluative case study of a Science and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Project
on the Project (SIKSP) at a Western Cape University, South Africa. It was an internal evaluation from
the perspectives of the project participants, with the aim of assessing (1) the opportunities and
challenges faced by the participants (in-service teachers), (2) the effectiveness of an argumentationbased
strategy (DAIM) used by some of the in-service teachers to integrate science and IKS, (3) the
manner in which the trained teachers actually taught using the DAIM, and (4) the impact of SIKSP on
the participants’ professional development and research capacities. I used a hybridised version of
Stufflebeam’s (2003) context, input, process, product (CIPP) as well as Guba and Lincoln’s (1989)
Constructivist evaluation models to guide the study, within a constructivist-pragmatist paradigm. I
used a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, reflective diaries, and document analyses to collate
the data from 22 in-service participants, as well as from the project director. The analyses were done
using mixed methods, though largely dominated by qualitative approaches.
The results suggest that: through the use of multiple sources of engagement in conceptual,
practical, and discursive activities, SIKSP enabled the participants to change their views about science
and IKS – from a largely positivist to a more dualistic worldview that considered IKS as a source of
valid knowledge in science classrooms. SIKSP activities also enabled the participants to acquire the
largely student-centred, discursive, interactive DAIM approach of teaching and learning to effect an
inclusive science-IK curriculum. The teachers used DAIM to teach science, mathematics as well as
socio-scientific topics, each teacher applying it differently. SIKSP had many positive impacts on the
participants – psychological, social, intellectual, pedagogical and professional. Through SIKSP, many
participants obtained higher degrees, advanced professionally, and some have become researchers in
science and IKS; with two of the postdoctoral fellows now carrying on similar research at other
universities in South Africa and beyond. An unanticipated outcome of SIKSP was the creation of the
African Association for the Study of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AASIKS) which is now
pursuing an inclusive science-IKS vision at a much larger scale. Overall, in the view of the participants,
SIKSP was very successful project, and its DAIM approach, though difficult to master, has many
advantages that could be explored in-and-out of science classrooms.
Description
Philosophiae Doctor - PhD
Keywords
Western Cape University, South Africa, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Classrooms, Science