Exploring the relationship between science and indigenous knowledge: Possibilities for integration in South African Life Sciences classrooms

Abstract

The article is a theoretical exploration of the relationship between science and indigenous knowledge, as well as the implications for integrating the two in Life Sciences classrooms in schools. The theoretical discussion draws on insights from the sociology of scientific knowledge and argues that science should not only be viewed as representation but also as performance. Such a view, it is argued, serves as the basis for integrating indigenous knowledge into the Life Sciences. Practical suggestions are made as to how indigenous knowledge could be infused into Life Sciences classrooms and how teachers can scaffold learners through different types or stages of what Jegede calls, ‘collateral learning’.