- Title
- Mobilising indigenous technologies of making oshikundu and uumboloto to motivate and enable sense making of the topic carbon dioxide by grade 8 rural school learners
- Creator
- Nandjedi, Fredinard Nghinaounditala
- ThesisAdvisor
- Ngcoza, Ken
- Subject
- Science Study and teaching (Secondary) Social aspects Namibia
- Subject
- Culturally relevant pedagogy Namibia
- Subject
- Ethnoscience Namibia
- Subject
- Carbon dioxide
- Date
- 2022-10-14
- Type
- Academic theses
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/405357
- Identifier
- vital:70164
- Description
- Poor performance in Science has been noted in most rural schools and this has become a concern to education planners and implementers. Part of the failure is said to be caused by inadequate school resources, under-preparedness of teachers to teach Science, poor command of the Language of Learning and Teaching, negative attitudes that are accompanied by lack of insights into the value of Science, low self-efficacy, and poor-quality environments for learning Science. In this regard, literature has revealed that many Science teachers in Namibia do not consider learners’ local indigenous knowledge (IK) also known as indigenous technology to mediate learning. Yet, it is a requirement of the Namibian Science curriculum. I assume that this could be due in part to the fact that the Science curriculum is not explicit on how IK should be integrated into Science teaching. It is against this backdrop that this study sought to explore the opportunities IK integration into Science may offer in mediating learning and sense-making on the topic of carbon dioxide (CO2). Learners’ indigenous technological practices of making oshikundu and uumboloto were used as vehicles of learning. This qualitative case study is underpinned by the interpretive and indigenous research paradigms. Within the indigenous research paradigm, I focused on the Ubuntu perspective. This study was conducted at a rural under-resourced school in the Ohangwena region in Namibia. Thirty Grade 8 learners, one science teacher and two expert community members were involved as participants. Data were gathered using focus group interviews (sharing circles), group activities, participatory observations, and journal reflections. Data interpretation and analysis were done using Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and Ogunniyi’s contiguity argumentative theory. A thematic approach to data analysis was adopted. That is, an inductive approach was employed whereby sub-themes were identified, and thereafter common sub-themes were combined into themes. The findings of this study revealed that the process of making oshikundu and uumboloto can be used to enable learners to make sense of the topic of CO2 and other related concepts. Furthermore, the study revealed that hands-on practical activities done with easily accessible resources which are related to learners’ indigenous technologies help learners learn Science easily. The study thus recommends that educators should use oshikundu and/or uumboloto to mediate learning of topics such as CO2. Science teachers should always try to tap into learners’ socio-cultural backgrounds in their lessons to enhance better understanding of Science concepts.
- Description
- Thesis (MEd) -- Faculty of Education, Education, 2022
- Format
- computer, online resource, application/pdf, 1 online resource (169 pages), pdf
- Publisher
- Rhodes University, Faculty of Education, Education
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nandjedi, Fredinard Nghinaounditala
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)
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RU Department of Education
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details | SOURCE1 | NANDJEDI-MED-TR22-234.pdf | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details |