Can a Phenomenological Approach Enhance Learning in Science in South Africa?
This study reports on an investigation into the question of whether a phenomenological approach can enhance the quality of learning in science. The study therefore critically compared the rationale, approaches and outcomes of the various other didactic ap
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Can a Phenomenological Approach Enhance Learning in Science in South Africa?
INTRODUCTION A perennial problem in science education over the past few decades has been the perception that science is out of reach for many learners and out of touch with their daily lives (Ogunniyi 1987; Price and McNeill 2013). Consequently, many learners regard the prospect of pursuing a career in science as being for someone else, somewhere else (Price and McNeill 2013). Research into their views about school science reveals that many of them regard the field as being “socially sterile, impersonal, frustrating, intellectually boring, and dismissive of life worlds and career goals” (Aikenhead 2006, 26). This is demonstrated by the steady decline in the enrolment figures for the subject. For example, in South Africa, the Umalusi Reports (2008, 2014) indicate that a total of 217,300 secondaryschool learners wrote physical science in 2008 compared with 184,056 in 2011 and 171,549 in 2014. The total number of learners enrolled for the subject in 2008 was 37.8 %, 35.3 % in 2011 and 32.7 % in 2014. That this disturbing trend is not unique to South Africa is borne out by the fact that Osborne et al. (2010) observed the same trends in England and Wales. At the core of such concerns is the realisation that a nation’s standard of achievement and competitiveness depends on a highly educated and well-trained scientific community. The current low intake of science learners therefore poses a serious threat to the economic prosperity of many countries. To meet this challenge, Hurd (2002) argues, it is
© The Author(s) 2017 O. Koopman, Science Education and Curriculum in South Africa, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-40766-1_8
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necessary to design a curriculum that values lived experience as opposed to the mechanistic and instrumental way science is taught in most schools globally. Researchers such as Ogunniyi (1987) and Price and McNeill (2013) echo the growing concern over the instrumental nature of science teaching, the effects of learners being viewed as mere spectators in the science classroom and learners’ belief that science is out of touch with their daily lives. Meanwhile, attempts at reforming the nature of science teaching are constrained by the enervating demands of having to prepare learners for content-based examinations testing rote-learning and memorisation skills. Investigating the conflict between school science and the learners’ personal and cultural identities, Ogunniyi (1988) and Jegede (1999) conclude that unless learners’ lifeworlds can be incorporated into the teaching of school science, learners will always experience science as being dogmatic, distant, sterile and untrustworthy. The researchers stress that school science must give learners an opportunity to experience science authentically, free of the legends, misconceptions and idealisations about the nature of the scientific enterprise. Aikenhead (2006) argues that such a reconceptualising of science teaching is imperative because many science teachers remain
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