launch of learner support material for natural and life sciences curricula,
University of the Western Cape, Bellville
2 March 2006
MAKING SENSE OF THE NEW LIFE SCIENCES CURRICULUM
Ambassador Frans Engering
Guests
Thank you for inviting me.
I want to take this opportunity to say a few words about âlife sciencesâ in
the new curriculum.
The new curriculum has redefined the purpose of education. What is taught in
our schools fundamentally shapes our culture and our democracy. As such the
curriculum is a critical element in building our future.
The old curriculum was purposely ignorant of South Africa and Africa.
The new curriculum has changed all that. The new curriculum invites our
children to participate actively in and contribute to a democratic South
African society. All subjects in the new curriculum require extensive reading
and extended writing. They require learners to think carefully about what they
learn and to apply this knowledge in a variety of situations; they require
critical and curious learners who are aware of the social and ethical issues
that face South Africans and citizens around the world.
The old curriculum was also narrow and out of date. Universities complained
that first year students studying science were under and unqualified. They
blamed it on the school curriculum, which was dull and boring.
The new curriculum is modern and up to date. It starts our children on the
road to understanding new scientific knowledge and in particular the stunning
and exciting new developments in biology. They will be confronted by the
challenge of coming to terms with swirling strands of DNA, vast neural nets and
the biochemical dance of hormones, neurotransmitters and receptors.
Biology will be as big in the 21st century as physics was in the 20th
century. Already the amount of money invested in biotechnology research and
development is staggering. It is likely that the improvement in human welfare
from all this investment will be equally staggering. Biology is likely to be
the biggest part of science into the immediate future.
In order to understand this vast new domain of knowledge and its place
within the new curriculum both teachers and pupils will need assistance from
experts. This is where these two workbooks that are launched today will be so
useful.
From this year the subject âLife Sciencesâ has replaced the subject known as
âBiologyâ in Grades 10-12. In addition, the assessment standards for learning
outcome 3, require learners to engage in investigations action research and
debates regarding the origin of life. This will require learners to visit
archaeological sites or consult resource material on fossil remains. Learners
will also be required to understand the theory of evolution.
It is important to study evolution because the theory is the unifying force
in modern biology; it ties together fields as disparate as genetics,
microbiology and palaeontology. It is the leading explanation for the
staggering diversity of earthâs five million or more living species.
If we are committed to increasing the number of maths and sciences pupils
who are equipped to going on to further study and we are with a number of
successful interventions like our Dinaledi focus schools, then we need to
ensure that our pupils are provided with the building blocks that they can use
to climb higher in the sciences.
Even so the inclusion of evolution in the âLife Sciencesâ curriculum was
controversial. There was a barrage of opposition from Christian and other
organisations. There are many who believe that there is a fundamental clash
between evolution and creationism.
One of the leading authorities in the study of life sciences, Stephen Jay
Gould has argued that there is no reason for a conflict between science and
religion over evolution. He argued that science deals in evidence based facts
and that religion operates in the equally important realm of human purposes,
meanings and values. While scientists must operate with ethical principles some
specific to practice the validity of these principles can never be inferred
from the factual discoveries of science.â [1]
While I have my reservations about this, posing the distinction in this way
reminds us of the importance of teaching moral philosophy in our schools. In
the teaching of science it is necessary to refer to its potentially useful and
malign uses. Matters such as cloning, atom bombs, gas chambers and so on
provide key lessons for educators and policy makers. [2]
What we can say with conviction is that both âscienceâ and âreligionâ are
positive components in the building of our new democracy. You cannot have the
one without the other. In the Department of Education we are committed to
teaching in our schools the best of science and the best of religious diversity
that is the teaching of religion in education and not religious education.
That said contemporary life science is exciting. It can capture the minds of
our schoolchildren in ways that were not open to members of my school
generation.
For example, we now know that our DNA and our genes determine most traits
such as skin colour, eye colour and blood group. But this is no longer the
arcane knowledge of scientists alone.
We know that DNA evidence has saved a number of men sentenced to death
before DNA tests were available, from execution in the United States (US). That
has captured the imagination of many.
Some of us will know that DNA can establish paternity and so assist women
claim maintenance.
Others will have become fascinated by the various CSI series that can be
seen on television or the other series focusing on âcold casesâ that can now be
solved by matching DNA to victim and perpetrator. There is little doubt that
these programmes have awakened a keen interest in modern science.
DNA has also been able to channel another fascination, the fascination we
all have with origins.
New developments in archaeology suggest an âout of Africaâ hypothesis for
the origins of mankind. DNA has also played a role in supporting this
hypothesis. Scholars have shown that the mitochondrial DNA (motherâs DNA) found
in living humans can be traced back to a common living ancestor who lived in
Africa millions of years ago.
Our task as teachers and educators is to make sense of it all for our school
children.
Innovative learning support material is essential to effective teaching.
Learning support material is an integral part of curriculum development. It
promotes both good teaching and good learning.
Learning support material cannot replace the teacher in the classroom.
Successful learning will always depend to a greater extent on the teacherâs
ability to select the relevant resources, then design, adapt or use them to
produce effective learning support material.
As the curriculum is process based so the development of learning support
material is a process. In the same way as education practice needs to be a
process of trial, evaluation, and reviewing so too must the development of
support material follow the same route.
The development of learning support material is not the exclusive preserve
of publishing houses. Indeed the design and production of supportive material
are as varied in origin as there are stakeholders in education and training.
Teachers will develop their own materials from a variety of sources.
I would like to thank the Africa Genome Education Institute and The Human
Sciences Research Council as well as the authors for making available new
learning and teaching support materials on the specific topic of evolution.
I challenge others to follow suit.
I thank you.
1. S.J. Gould, Rocks of Ages. Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life
(first published 1999, Vintage, 2002), p. 4.
2. Naledi Pandor, âScience, evolution, religion and education â creating
opportunities for learning in South Africaâs schools, in W. James and L Wilson
(ed), The Architect and the Scaffold: Evolution and Education in South Africa
(HSRC, 2002), p. 62.
Issued by: Department of Education
2 March 2006
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