An inquiry into the integration of indigenous knowledges and skills in the Kenyan secondary science curriculum: A case of human health knowledge1
Titel:
An inquiry into the integration of indigenous knowledges and skills in the Kenyan secondary science curriculum: A case of human health knowledge1
Auteur:
Gitari, Wanja
Verschenen in:
Canadian journal of science, mathematics and technology education
Paginering:
Jaargang 3 (2003) nr. 2 pagina's 195-212
Jaar:
2003-04
Inhoud:
In this paper I compare and contrast portions of the Kenyan biology syllabus (Kenya National Examinations Council [KNEC], 1990) with knowledge and skills in the area of health and healing in a rural part of Kenya—Kirumi. The purpose of the interpretive study on which the paper is based was to ascertain the status of indigenous knowledges and skills in the Kenyan high school science curriculum. This purpose results from a long-standing plan by the Kenyan government to indigente2 the entire curriculum. In particular, I focused on the topic called Human Health in a Form 4 (Grade 12 equivalence) biology text (Kenya Institute of Education, 1989). The textbook was at the time one of the set books endorsed by the Ministry of Education as a syllabus guide. Then, through grounded theory method, I identified the principles and processes that underlay knowledges and skills in the area of health and healing in Kirumi. Following that, I used these principles and processes as the basis for a critique of the Human Health topic. My findings showed that the Kenyan biology syllabus, despite the plan to indigenize, does not take cognizance of indigenous principles of health and healing. Consequently, the socio-cultural, environmental, and emotional dimensions of health are omitted; health is portrayed as the responsibility of experts and not the self; and herbs and diet are omitted as measures for creating a healthy body. The findings showed an overall disparity between the biology text and rural knowledges and skills in the area of health and healing. The findings have alarming implications, because when many of the students end their schooling, they will require indigenous knowledges and the associated skills in order to make positive epistemological contributions to the rural community. My study builds upon published research that shows the importance for effective knowledge transfer of integrating everyday knowledges and skills into curricula. However, there is lacking in this literature a systematic investigation of the status of such knowledges and skills in existing curricula. My argument is that it is important to highlight systematically the disparities between school offerings and everyday offerings in order to provide substantive materials for integration. In the absence of such materials, educators work with artefacts. For instance, in the Kenyan high school biology syllabus there is a casual mention, in the name of integration, of the benefits that cultural foods confer on health. Whereas artefacts may help to illustrate indigenous experiences, they do not systematically and openly challenge the underlying belief systems that have over time marginalized the epistemological value of indigenous knowledges and skills.
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