Employing cultural and indigenous sources of knowledge in the context of semiruralschools

Abstract

The study was conducted to gain insight into the pegagogical approaches and practices of physical science teachers who used cultural and indigenous knowledge in some way in semirural schools. All the schools were situated in environments with a low socioeconomic index and none of the schools had a science laboratory or equipment available for teaching physical science. The theoretical frame emanates from constructs as described in cultural border-crossing and culturally relevant pedagogy. Four cases were identified and the narrative data analysed, using the Banks Topology which describes four levels of indigenous knowledge integration. The implication of the four categorised cases is that they may be critically unpacked during the professional development and preservice preparation of teachers who have to teach physical science to multicultural learners.