Exploring the possibility of integrating traditional music and dance into the design and delivery of lessons on the concepts of echo and waves in the grade 10 Physical Science sound topic

Abstract

Before Namibian independence in 1990, teaching was mostly characterized by teacher-centred pedagogies in which teachers were perceived as the main sources of knowledge. This resulted in learners being passive recipients of such unquestioned knowledge. After independence and to address this, a new educational system was introduced which promoted learner-centred education (LCE) pedagogy. Despite these grand ideals, educational changes in sub-Saharan Africa form a complex issue involving tensions between policy formulation and implementation. This presents Namibian teachers with some challenges in enacting LCE pedagogies. One of these challenges is to find ways to motivate learners and to assist their learning by finding relevant and interesting connections between subject topics and their own experiences and everyday culture outside the classroom. An inability to enact the new curriculum results in learners performing poorly in subjects such as Physical Science. Against this backdrop, this study sought to explore whether or not the integration of traditional music and dance into the design and delivery of lessons on the concepts of echo and waves could influence grade 10 Physical Science learners' sense making and dispositions towards science. This study was underpinned by an interpretive paradigm. It was informed and guided by the socio-cultural theory as my theoretical framework. The study was carried out with a grade 10 Physical Science class consisting of 30 learners at Lyambombla Combined School (pseudonym) in the Kavango West Region in the northern part of Namibia. Data were generated through diagnostic and summative tests, interviews and lesson observations incorporating traditional music and dance. The findings of the study showed that learners' sense making and dispositions toward science were positively influenced through traditional music and dance. The study thus recommends the incorporation of indigenous ways of knowing in order to enhance meaning making in science classrooms.