Speaker
Deepak Kar
(University of Witwatersrand)
Description
Due to historical reasons, the interest in science education and research in South Africa is lower compared to other developing countries. However, in a recent discussion meeting it appeared that this problem is exacerbated by lack of understanding of what science means. To many, science is too western, and incompatible with every day experiences. That in turns leads to a feeling that science is an imposed set of rules to be memorised, rather than something that is application based. That means we lack the person power to drive science research and innovation in the country, which is an aim of NRF/DST. In fact South Africa now is collaborating with big international science projects such as CERN and SKA, so this is more critical than ever. We will discuss our approach to investigate how this problem can be addressed in classroom situations, especially tying science with indigenous knowledge systems to make science more accessible and interesting.
Apply to be<br> considered for a student <br> award (Yes / No)?
No
Level for award<br> (Hons, MSc, <br> PhD, N/A)?
N/A
Primary author
Deepak Kar
(University of Witwatersrand)
Co-authors
Dr
Debashree Dattaray
(Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India)
Dr
Emmanuel Mushayikwa
(University of Witwatersrand)
