South African township teachers' views on the integration of indigenous knowledge in natural sciences teaching

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the views of natural sciences (NS) senior-phase teachers on the nature of indigenous knowledge and their practices when integrating it into their teaching. An attempt to identify a relationship between NS teachers’ views and their teaching practices is a long-standing focus and point of interest for science education research because it is believed that what the teachers know influences their teaching practices. The study assumed that teachers’ views about the nature of indigenous knowledge (NOIK) determine how they integrate indigenous knowledge (IK) in their NS classrooms. The overarching research question was: how do natural sciences senior-phase teachers’ views about the nature of indigenous knowledge influence their teaching practices? The study employed social constructivism as a theoretical framework. Using an explanatory sequential mixed method research design, a sample of 80 teachers was randomly selected from 78 township primary schools. From the 80 teachers, six were selected for interviews using a purposive sampling method. Data collection included administration of the Views of the Nature of Indigenous Knowledge (VNOIK) questionnaire to 80 NS teachers and interviewing six selected teachers using a semi-structured interview schedule...M.A. (Science and Technology Education

Perceptions of rural households about the role and effect of biogas production on rural household income in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality

Rural development efforts to reduce poverty and enhance food security and generally improve livelihoods in developing countries continue to be constrained by high energy cost. For that reason, renewable energy has been identified as a possible panacea to fill this gap. Renewable energy is cheaper, more accessible and environmentally sustainable and promotes inclusivity. Biogas is a renewable energy that is readily available and easy to use by poor rural households. The use of biogas digesters among households in rural areas of developing countries is a well-known technology. The potential for biogas in these areas has been demonstrated and a strong economic case has been made. However, its adoption and use have been lower than expectations possibly as result of non-economic considerations, including social issues about which rural people hold different perceptions. Perceptions of rural households are important because they influence the behaviour to a large extent. Since limited access to affordable energy in rural areas has encouraged government and private organisations to initiate biogas projects to overcome the challenge, it is important to ascertain the factors that affect attitudes towards the technology. The present study sought to explore perceptions of rural households about biogas production towards rural household income in the Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality. Specifically, this research investigated the state of biogas project being implemented by the University of Fort Hare’s Institute of Technology (FHIT), the perceptions of respondents towards biogas production and determine the contribution of biogas consumption to rural income. The study also aimed to identify the factors affecting the adoption of biogas production in the study area. The study was carried out in Melani village in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and employed survey data obtained from 48 households who were enumerated to identify their perceptions on biogas production, with special emphasis on the role and effect contributed to rural income of Melani village. The study employed a cross-sectional research design and purposive sampling technique was used in data collection. Data were collected and captured in Excel and then analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) Version 24 Descriptive statistics was used to examine socio-economic characteristics of households and state of biogas production in the area, Bivariate correlation analysis was used to determine the relationships among the key elements of perceptions of household towards biogas adoption, binary logistic model was used to estimate factors influencing adoption of biogas technology by households. The results show that women were dominant for both adopters and non-adopters of biogas. The majority of households were young with mean age of 40 years while for non-adopters were 65 years old on average. The results showed high levels of literacy amongst household adopters. Majority of the households for both adopters and non-adopters of biogas technology were married and unemployed and household size ranged from one to five persons, with social grants being dominant source of income. The bivariate correlation analysis suggests a positive effect of green pepper production and livestock ownership on biogas technology adoption. Age and level of education were negatively correlated with adoption of biogas. The cross tabulation analysis suggests that water scarcity, lack of knowledge about biogas technology, cattle ownership, lack of maintenance and repairing, flooded biogas digesters during rainy season are negatively associated with the uptake of biogas technology. The empirical results from binary logistic model suggest that land size was the key determinant of adoption behaviour towards biogas technology while age of the household head, source of income and level of education may have a negative influence on adoption of biogas technology. Based on the findings highlighted above, the study recommends strategies to encourage households to adopt biogas technology

Students’ Perceptions on the use of Technology in Language Teaching

Research on the use of technology in educational settings has tended to focus on the impact of technology on the educational outcomes. The other area that that has long been ignored in this research field, when it should form an integral part of research in educational technology, is historical background and views of the students on the technology’s role in achieving educational goals. The research theory that is relevant in this regard is cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) to additional language learning in education that is drawn from the cultural-historical psychology theory. One-hundred and five participants completed a survey questionnaire. The findings reveal that 66% of the respondents come from families where there are no computers at home and 57% have no good knowledge of computer use even though 53% claim to have been introduced to the use of computers at their last schools. Despite this, the respondents show overwhelming support for the use of technology in higher education. The results are important in that they give hope on the acceptance and possible independent use of technology by students to improve their English proficiency once they have been introduced to technology in language learning

The dynamics of education and stokvels in South Africa

The study investigated the dynamics of education and Stokvels in South Africa using a quantitative research methodology (descriptive statistics and correlation analysis) with data collected from the Gauteng province using questionnaires. Few authors have written on the subject matter and the author wanted to add her voice on the dynamics of education and Stokvels especially in the case of South Africa. The few related literature focuses on the role that stokvels plays on alleviating poverty and providing small credit to people who are excluded by formal financial institutions. The available literature on the relationship between stokvels, poverty and financial inclusion is still scattered, scant, inconclusive and signalling mixed results. To the best of the author’s knowledge, no study exist that has exclusively investigated the dynamics of education and stokvels in South Africa. The study found out that stokvels in the Gauteng province of South Africa were instrumental in the provision of not only education related small credit but also credit for groceries, transport, bridging loans, paying debts and guarantees. In line with literature, the correlation matrix shows a significant positive correlation between (1) education credit and groceries credit, (2) education credit and school uniform credit and (3) education credit and transport credit. The study therefore urges South African authorities to put in place policies that promotes the growth and safeguards the interests of stokvels as they are an important stimulant in the economy. Stokvels achieve this through their ability to improve financial inclusion by promoting savings and provision of small credit to people shunned by formal financial institutions

Translanguaging in summarizing skills: the need to develop biliterate students

Summary writing is an important skill for university students to possess as they have to use it in their studies and future employment. Yet, many students struggle in mastering this skill, especially when it is taught solely through a second language (L2). This article reports on a study that sought to develop this skill among first-year African students through the use of both their first language (L1) and L2 as informed by translanguaging theory. Working in groups, students were guided on how to summarise texts in L1 and L2 by moving from one language to another. Their produced work was then analysed using a marking rubric as a tool developed to assess the quality of their summaries in both languages. The research tool was a summary writing rubric. The findings indicated that the majority of participants have satisfactory levels of competency in L2 as opposed to the summaries produced in their L1. It is recommended that biliteracy skills should be developed as part of students’ training in South African higher education.Keywords: African languages; biliteracy; translanguaging; summary writing; scaffolding; multilingualis

The Mbokodofication of Black Women: An Autoethnographic Study of Post Dramatic Stress and the ‘Strong Black Woman' Trope

This study introduces into performance discourse the mbokodofication of Black women – that is, the production of the ‘Strong Black Woman' trope, specifically in the South African context. To this end, the study traces the genealogy of the tropes of Black womanhood that have emerged throughout the history of the South African literary canon, analyzing them critically for their varied contributions to the (mis)representations of Black women, both on stage and in the world. Employing the joint methodologies of Practice as Research and African Feminist Autoethnography (which I propose as a variant of Black Feminist Autoethnography specifically contextualized to Black African women), the study unpacks the psychological effects of mbokodofication on Black women performers who, through this phenomenon, become locked into the Sisyphean task of portraying trauma and having this trauma re-inscribed to them through the mimetic style of performance imposed by the dramatic paradigm. The ways in which the dramatic paradigm reproduces coloniality are explored and code-switching is proposed as a potential aesthetic liberator for performers who wish to obfuscate and make visible certain elements of Black womanhood from the violent colonial gaze and thus protect themselves from post-dramatic stress. The study follows the trajectory of my research enquiry and performance practice to explicate the dramaturgical process which brought into being my thesis production, Malibongwe, and, in the end, proposes the work as a post-mbokodoist manifesto

Towards leadership for school cultures associated with good academic performance in South African township secondary schools: the ‘power’ of organic emergence, diversity and service

The South African government has over the past fourteen years been introducing numerous efforts aimed at improving the academic performance of schools who have been struggling in this regard for some time now. However, these efforts are not having the desired effect. Indications are that this may be due to their power-coercive and rational-empirical underpinnings. Such leanings ignore findings that have been been pointing to normative reeducative underpinnings as being more foundational for bringing about ,and/ or maintaining, change than is the case with the other two frameworks (see, McLaughlin, 1993, for example). Thus, the purpose of this article is to contribute towards a better understanding of school leadership that is related to school cultures that are associated with good academic performance in the stated context. This is informed by findings in an ethnographic study in which I explored the relationship between academic performance, school culture and leadership in two ‘African’ township secondary schools of varying academic performance. One of the major findings in this study was that school cultures that, in this context, have the potential of enabling participation in activities that are associated with good academic performance are those that are communal in nature but embrace ‘societal’ negotiations for their common understandings. In turn, the type of leadership that was concluded as being linked to such school cultures was that which emerges organically from within the African township secondary schools. The power of such emergence was found to be in the related diversity and service