LEARNING OUTCOMES

The learners will be able to act confidently on curiosity about natural

phenomena and to investigate relationship and solve problems in scientific,
technological and environmental contexts.

GRADE 7 GRADE 8 GRADE 9

Plans Investigation Plans Investigation Plans Investigation

Plans simple tests and Identifies factors to be Plans a procedure to test

comparisons, and considered in predictions or
considers how to make investigations and plans Hypotheses, with control
them fair ways to collect data on of an interfering variable.
them, across a range of
values.

Conduct investigation Conduct investigation Organises and uses

and Collect data and Collect data equipment or sources to
gather and record
Organises and uses information
equipment or sources to
gather and record
information

Science, Society and the Environment

The learner will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the
interrelationships between science and technology, society and
the environment.
Meaning
This is a challenging Learning Outcome, with potential to
broaden the curriculum and make it distinctively South
African. Its meaning is examined under four headings:
• Education should help people to become problem solvers:
Whereas Learning Outcome 1 calls for problem solving of
closely-defined problems, Learning Outcome 3 calls for
the learner to become a scientific problem solver in the
context of South African society. The learner will be an
adult in a society which faces many problems; the society
needs creative thinking to find new solutions, as well as
steady application of old solutions that are still
effective. Whereas traditional education places a high
value on the learner knowing answers to standard
questions, this Revised National Curriculum Statement
also places value on the learner being able to solve
problems and think of ethical alternatives. Alternatives
can come from completely new ideas, from adaptations of
 current ideas and practices in other societies, or by
revisiting traditional practices and technologies.
• Traditional technologies may reflect people’s wisdom and
experience: Indigenous or traditional technologies and
practices in South Africa were not just ways of working;
they were ways of knowing and thinking. Traditional
technologies and practices often reflect the wisdom of
people who have lived a long time in one place and have a
great deal of knowledge about their environment. Wisdom
means that they can predict the long-tem results of
decisions, and that they can recognise ideas which offer
only short-term benefits. Much valuable wisdom has been
lost in South Africa in the past 300 years, and effort is
needed now to rediscover it and to examine its value for
the present day.

Knowledge and wisdom can be lost as new technologies

become popular, or as people move away from their well-
known environments. In the past, in South Africa and in
Africa as a whole, people were moved off their land or
pressed to take up other kinds of work or to farm
unfamiliar crops for export. Established practices were
changed, stable societies were broken up, and knowledge
was no longer taught in the context where it applied. In
this way, much knowledge was lost.

The movement of people nowadays and the impact of new

technologies still results in knowledge being fragmented
and lost. Sometimes it is passed on but it is abstract,
without the context for understanding and applying it.
(For example, detailed traditional knowledge about the
soil is hard to teach to people who no longer depend on
the soil.) Perhaps people who have that knowledge are no
longer respected because their knowledge does not seem to
be relevant to the modern world.

Given this history, it is fitting that traditional and

indigenous knowledge systems should be included among the
ideas the learner examines when building Learning Outcome
3.

• The scientific and technological choices people make

reflect their values: The values of people are seen in
the ways they choose to deal with problems, and even in
the choice of issues which they define as problems. For
example, in our society not long ago, disabled people
were not recognised as having a full right to participate
in society - their difficulties were simply not seen as
problems which needed solutions. Learning Outcome 3
requires that the learner acquires increased
 understanding of the way values influence people’s
choices of technological and scientific solutions.
• Different world-views are usually present in the science
classroom: One of the underlying differences between
modern science and technology on the one hand, and
traditional and indigenous knowledge systems on the other
hand, is the existence of different world-views. The
prevailing world-view of science is based on empiricism.
Very briefly, empiricism believes that a scientist can
observe things objectively, without influencing the event
being observed or being influenced by it. Empiricism
believes that if something can be observed and measured
in some way, it is real and can be used to explain why
events happen in nature. On the other hand, empiricism
believes that those things which cannot be observed and
measured are of no value in explaining why events happen.

Empiricism fuelled the growth of modern science over the

past 400 years and has been remarkably effective in
generating accurate and reliable knowledge about the
natural world. As an approach to understanding nature, it
is used in research and science education in all
countries of the world. It is challenged by those who
argue that pure empirical science does not concern itself
with questions of meaning and value, and is therefore too
limited a way of understanding the world.

There are other world-views. For example, in South Africa

many people hold a strong world-view which says that
people are not separate from the earth and its living
things; they believe that all things have come from God
or a creative spirit and therefore have spiritual
meaning; events happen for spiritual as well as physical
reasons. Traditional and indigenous knowledge systems and
technologies developed within this system of thought.
They were closely connected to the physical and social
environment in which people lived and were thus sensitive
to impacts on that environment. Nowadays, many
commentators see this as a strength of indigenous
knowledge systems and argue that there is much to learn
from these ways of knowing.

This description of the two world-views is more clear-cut

than it is in reality. People tend to use different ways
of thinking for different situations, and even scientists
in their private lives may have religious frameworks or
other ways of giving values to life and making choices.

However, the existence of different world-views is

important for the Natural Sciences curriculum. One can
 assume that learners in the Natural Sciences Learning
Area think in terms of more than one world-view. Several
times a week they cross from the culture of home, over
the border into the culture of science, and then back
again. How does this fact influence their understanding
of science and their progress in the Learning Area? Is it
a hindrance to teaching or is it an opportunity for more
meaningful learning and a curriculum which tries to
understand both the culture of science and the cultures
of home?

These South African issues create interesting challenges for

curriculum policy, design, materials and assessment. Science
curriculum development which takes account of world-views and
indigenous knowledge systems is in its early stages and will
be addressed with enthusiasm by many educators. This Revised
National Curriculum Statement creates an invitation for such
research and development, and in this way it is an enabling
document rather than a prescriptive one.
The Assessment Standards for Learning Outcome 3 can be used to
assess progress in a variety of issues such as human rights,
environmental justice, traditional and indigenous knowledge,
and also knowledge about careers which involve science,
technology, environmental management and engineering. The
Assessment Standards could be used as starting points from
which to broaden the curriculum under the general heading of
this Learning Outcome.
Relationship to Assessment Standards
Note that this Learning Outcome is not assessed in the
Foundation Phase.
In the Intermediate Phase, progression lies in understanding
that all societies have some basic needs in common, and they
choose varying ways of meeting those needs. It is possible to
learn from the ways that societies in the past dealt with
their needs. There is also progression in understanding that
people make choices when accepting solutions to a problem, and
that their choices reflect their wisdom (or lack of it) and
their values (good or bad). Their choices result in good or
bad effects on the environment, and in sensitive or
insensitive application of technology which affects people’s
lives.
In the Senior Phase, progression lies in increasing
understanding that science seeks the most reliable and
authoritative ways of explaining events in nature, and that
people choose to accept explanations coming from the source of
authority they prefer in each situation. Also in the Senior
Phase, progression lies in the increasing ability and
willingness to act on knowledge about environmental issues.