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ENGLISH LIFE SKILLS Foundation Phase Grades R- 3 Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement National Curriculum Statement (NCS)
Curri C ulum and a ssessment Poli C y s tatement Grades r - 3 li F e s K ills
LIFE SKILLS GRADES R- 3 CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT POLICY STATEMENT (CAPS) d epartment of Basic e ducation 222 Struben Street Private Bag X^895 Pretoria 0001 South Africa Tel: + 27 12 357 3000 Fax: + 27 12 323 0601 120 Plein Street Private Bag X^9023 Cape Town 8000 South Africa Tel: + 27 21 465 1701 Fax: + 27 21 461 8110 Website: http://www.education.gov.za © 2011 d epartment of Basic e ducation i s B n: 978 - 1 - 4315 - 0422 - 0 Design and Layout by: Ndabase Printing Solution Printed by: Government Printing Works
LIFE SKILLS GRADES R- 3 CAPS FOREWORD BY T h E MINISTER Our national curriculum is the culmination of our efforts over a period of seventeen years to transform the curriculum bequeathed to us by apartheid. From the start of democracy we have built our curriculum on the values that inspired our Constitution (Act 108 of 1996). The Preamble to the Constitution states that the aims of the Constitution are to: • heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights; • improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person; • lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law; and • build a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations. Education and the curriculum have an important role to play in realising these aims. In 1997 we introduced outcomes-based education to overcome the curricular divisions of the past, but the experience of implementation prompted a review in 2000. This led to the first curriculum revision: the Revised National Curriculum Statement Grades R- 9 and the National Curriculum Statement Grades 10 - 12 (2002). Ongoing implementation challenges resulted in another review in 2009 and we revised the Revised National Curriculum Statement (2002) to produce this document. From 2012 the two 2002 curricula, for Grades R- 9 and Grades 10 - 12 respectively, are combined in a single document and will simply be known as the National Curriculum Statement Grades R- 12. The National Curriculum Statement for Grades R- 12 builds on the previous curriculum but also updates it and aims to provide clearer specification of what is to be taught and learnt on a term-by-term basis. The National Curriculum Statement Grades R- 12 accordingly replaces the Subject Statements, Learning Programme Guidelines and Subject Assessment Guidelines with the (a) Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) for all approved subjects listed in this document; (b) National policy pertaining to the programme and promotion requirements of the National Curriculum Statement Grades R- 12 ; and (c) National Protocol for Assessment Grades R- 12. mrs an G ie mots H e KG a , m P minister o F B asi C edu C ation
LIFE SKILLS GRADES R- 3 CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT POLICY STATEMENT (CAPS)
LIFE SKILLS GRADES R- 3 1 CAPS CONTENTS s e C tion 1: introdu C tion to t H e C urri C ulum and assessment P oli C y statements ..3 1.1 Foundation Phase .......................................................................................................................................... 3 1.2 i ntermediate Phase ........................................................................................................................................ 3 1.3 s enior Phase................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Grades 10 - 12 ................................................................................................................................................... 6 se C tion 2: introdu C tion to li F e s K ills ......................................................................................8 2.1 What is l ife s kills?......................................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Specific Aims .................................................................................................................................................. 8 2.3 e xplaining the l ife s kills study areas .......................................................................................................... 8 2.4 t eaching in the Foundation Phase ............................................................................................................. 10 2.5 r esources .................................................................................................................................................... 12 2.6 t ime allocation ............................................................................................................................................. 13 2.7 t opics ............................................................................................................................................................ 14 2.8 Weighting of topics ...................................................................................................................................... 14 2.9 s equencing and progression ...................................................................................................................... 14 se C tion 3: o utline o F C ourse material ..................................................................................15 se C tion 4: assessment in li F e s K ills ........................................................................................66 4.1 i ntroduction .................................................................................................................................................. 66 4.2 Programme of assessment ......................................................................................................................... 66 4.3 i nclusion........................................................................................................................................................ 67 4.4 r ecording and reporting ............................................................................................................................. 67 4.5 General .......................................................................................................................................................... 67
LIFE SKILLS GRADES R- 3 2 CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT POLICY STATEMENT (CAPS)
LIFE SKILLS GRADES R- 3 3 CAPS S ECTION 1 introdu C tion to t H e Curri C ulum and a ssessment Poli C y s tatement s F or li F e s K ills G rade s r - 3 1.1 Background The National Curriculum Statement Grades R- 12 (NCS) stipulates policy on curriculum and assessment in the schooling sector. To improve implementation, the National Curriculum Statement was amended, with the amendments coming into effect in January 2012. A single comprehensive Curriculum and Assessment Policy document was developed for each subject to replace Subject Statements, Learning Programme Guidelines and Subject Assessment Guidelines in Grades R- 12. 1.2 o verview (a) The National Curriculum Statement Grades R- 12 (January 2012) represents a policy statement for learning and teaching in South African schools and comprises the following: (i) Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements for each approved school subject; (ii) The policy document, National policy pertaining to the programme and promotion requirements of the National Curriculum Statement Grades R- 12; and (iii) The policy document, National Protocol for Assessment Grades R- 12 (January 2012). (b) The National Curriculum Statement Grades R- 12 (January 2012) replaces the two current national curricula statements, namely the (i) Revised National Curriculum Statement Grades R- 9, Government Gazette No. 23406 of 31 May 2002, and (ii) National Curriculum Statement Grades 10 - 12 Government Gazettes, No. 25545 of 6 October 2003 and No. 27594 of 17 May 2005. (c) The national curriculum statements contemplated in subparagraphs b(
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2$) with special- isation in inclusive education (Unisa) and a MEd (Unisa). After being principal of several ECD centres for 15 years, she furthered her interest in the development of young learners and became a school teacher of Foundation Phase learners. During this time, she was also involved as LEAD teacher for the Department of Education in training educators for the CAPS curriculum. She is co-author of the book Teaching Foundation Phase mathematics and regularly presents workshops for early childhood and Foundation Phase teachers on the young learner’s discovery of science and tech- nology. She currently holds the position of lecturer to undergraduate student teachers (Foundation Phase) at AROS.
vi About the contributors Linda Bosman is a lecturer in the Department of Early Childhood Education at the University of Pretoria with experience in both contact and distance education in the Higher Education sector. She has developed a variety of course and tutorial materi- als for student teachers, as well as training material for the continuous professional development of practising teachers. Her research interests include brain-compatible learning and inquiry-based science education in Early Childhood Development and the Foundation Phase. She is committed to quality education for all young learners and teachers in South Africa. Stef Esterhuizen is a senior lecturer at the School of Educational Sciences at the North-West University (Vaal Triangle Faculty). Stef has lectured undergraduate stu- dents for the past 11 years and participated in several national and international con- ferences. She believes that all children can achieve their maximum potential through apposite instruction that enhances cognitive and critical thinking skills. Her research interests are the improvement of teaching and learning practices to promote cognitive development among Foundation Phase learners and prospective teachers. She is a board member of the International Association of Cognitive Education and Psychol- ogy (South Africa) and involved in a Schools as Thinking Communities project. Dr Reda Davin holds a DEd in early childhood didactics and a Master’s degree in play therapy. For the past 33 years she has been involded in the training of, early child- hood teachers. She was a senior lecturer in, and programme manager of, the BEd in Foundation Phase at Unisa for 28 years before becoming head of the Foundation Phase Department at AROS, an independent Christian teachers’ training institution in Waverley, Pretoria – a position she held for five years. She is currently an education- al consultant for ECD centres on issues concerning quality care for the young child. The focus of her research is the holistic development, particularly social and personal development, and assessment of the young child. Poomoney Govender holds a BEd specialising in psychology of education (UKZN) and a MEd in Foundation Phase mathematics (UJ). She has spent the bulk of her teaching career as a teacher and head of department at various primary schools in and around KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. After having served as a Foundation Phase teacher for approximately 20 years, she went on to further her interest in policy im- plementation, curriculum development and in-service teacher training as a subject education specialist at a district office in Gauteng. She has vast experience in both pri- mary and secondary schools, having served as a subject advisor for mathematics and life skills in the Foundation Phase, and assessment in both senior and FET phases. She currently holds the position of lecturer in the Department of Early Childhood Education at Unisa and is studying towards her doctorate, which focuses on assess- ment within the Foundation Phase and mathematics teaching.
vii Dr Christina Jordaan obtained her BA in social work at the end of 1979 at the Uni- versity of Port Elizabeth (currently NMMU). Her DEd degree in education psychol- ogy was awarded on 24 April 1999 at the same university. She is currently employed as a senior lecturer and head of programme for the intermediate phase at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth. In 2008 she won the Golden Key International Honour Society Lecturer of the Year award and the Emerging Faculty Teacher of the Year award, and in 2009 was named Faculty Teacher of the Year. She has contributed to several accredited journals and has published various articles in the South African Journal of Higher Education (SAJHE) and the Communitas Journal for Community and Information Impact . She contributed to the book Life orientation for South African teachers and co-authored a chapter in the textbook Navorsing vir die be- ginner navorser . She has also reviewed several publications for Van Schaik and Oxford publishers. She specialises in sexuality education, HIV and AIDS education, child development and social problems like bullying, career guidance and suicide. Professor Ina Joubert is an associate professor in the Department of Early Child- hood Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Pretoria where she acts as programme coordinator for the BEd Foundation Phase programme. She is a member of the World Education Research Association and specialises in democratic citizenship education and language education related to the young child. Her research is disseminated in several articles in these fields in accredited national and interna- tional journals. She has published scholarly books on children’s experiences of their citizenship in democratic South Africa and assessment practices at higher education institutions. In addition, she has published and contributed chapters to several sub- ject-related scientific books. She has mentored postgraduate students to completion in the fields of democratic citizenship education and language education in the Foun- dation Phase, some of whom have excelled in their careers. Dr Mariëtte Koen is a lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and Language Educa- tion at the University of the Free State. She teaches life skills in the Foundation, inter- mediate and FET phases. She began her career as a remedial and Foundation Phase teacher before she obtained a professional qualification as an educational psychologist. Her doctorate is in the area of reading and spelling development. She obtained a Mas- ter’s in philosophy in higher education at the University of Stellenbosch in 2011, and is currently researching teaching, learning and assessment in higher education. Dr Soezin Krog is a senior lecturer in early childhood education at the University of South Africa. She lectures undergraduate students in sports coaching, physical edu- cation and movement activities for preschool and primary school teachers. At post- graduate level, she has experience in lecturing BEd school guidance and counselling, and currently supervises Master’s and Doctoral students. She is the project leader for the certificate programme for early childhood practitioners, sports management and sport psychology. She is a registered educational psychologist with the Health
viii Professions Council of South Africa. She has conducted numerous presentations at schools, national and international conferences, and published numerous articles in accredited journals. Dr Mignon van Vreden holds a BMus, BMus Hons cum laude , MMus cum laude (University of Stellenbosch) and a PhD in music (NWU). She is currently a lecturer in music education at the School of Music at North-West University. Her special interest is early childhood music education, reflected by her PhD about music integra- tion in Grade R. She is co-author of the series Creative CAPS / Kreatiewe KABV con- sisting of four manuals for Grade R teachers based on the South African Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement. She regularly presents workshops for early child- hood educators with little or no musical training and composes children’s songs for various publications. She is also a director of Kiddi Beat Music Specialists, a unique South African music education programme for children from birth to pre-school. Dr Georina Westraadt holds a DEd (CPUT) and a MEd cum laude (CPUT). She has been involved in teacher training in art education for BEd programmes at pre- and postgraduate level for the past 18 years. Before taking up a lecturing career with CPUT, she taught art at primary, secondary and tertiary level. After completing her teacher’s diploma (Paarl Training College), she obtained a further diploma in art ed- ucation (Cape Town Training College, Mowbray), and then a BA (Unisa), Final in signing (Unisa), Grade 6 in Theory of Music and in 2006, an associate in singing at Trinity College of London. She has published a textbook for art education (2015) titled Die onderrig van visuele kuns in die laerskool, presented papers at several national and international conferences, published articles in educational journals and confer- ence proceedings, and written chapters in books. Margot Wood holds a BA in drama (UCT), a BA(Hons) in acting and directing (University of Natal), MDrama in children’s theatre (University of Stellenbosch), a Licentiate Teacher’s Diploma in speech and drama (Trinity College of London) and a FTCL in directing (Trinity College of London). She founded a private dance and drama studio during the 1980s and conducted classes privately and in schools as part of the arts and culture learning area at GET level and dramatic arts at FET level. She additionally trained private students and prepared them for their teacher’s qualifica- tions through Trinity College of London. She lectured at the Western Cape College of Education and is presently lecturer in drama in the Education Department of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. She is currently preparing for her doctoral studies in educational drama and theatre.
ix About this book Teaching life skills in the Foundation Phase provides crucial insights for teachers who are faced daily with the demanding task of teaching and managing learners from di- verse and challenging social contexts. The rapid changes in global and national social contexts over the past decades have resulted in a need for schools to evolve with the changing circumstances. Teachers are therefore required to create suitable learning environments that meet the needs of learners. To this end, guidelines on the teaching of life skills to learners remain more than ever, relevant and extremely important. The aim of this book is to provide teachers, school managers and parents with abil- ities through which they can develop a wide variety of competencies that will prepare learners with basic life skills to enable them to live, work and interact in a socially challenging society. This book has been created to elaborate specifically on the South African context within the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in the subject life skills in the Foundation Phase (Grade R–Grade 3). The content of the book gives detailed information about the four study areas in the subject life skills, namely: • beginning knowledge (natural science, technology, social science) • creative arts (performing arts, visual arts) • physical education • personal and social well-being (social and emotional well-being, sexuality educa- tion, health education). The book is organised into 13 chapters, each dealing with a specific theme that has to be understood if life skills teaching is to be implemented effectively. While these chap- ters do not seek to provide answers or solutions to all the challenges facing teachers, school managers, learners and parents, they do provide a basis for imparting the types of life skills a learner in the Foundation Phase needs to have. The activities at the end of each chapter are suited to small-group discussions and can be used to brainstorm concepts; generate discussions; explore ideas, opinions and attributes, and arrive at practical solutions and strategies. Preview of the chapters Chapter 1 This book begins with an explanation of what life skills are and how both the environ- ment and the biological development of the young learner in the 21st century dictate the necessity of teaching age-appropriate life skills in the Foundation Phase. Various techniques for teaching life skills are discussed to assist the teacher in selecting tech- niques to accommodate the multiple intelligences of the learners.
x Chapter 2 This chapter introduces the teaching and learning of social science in the Foundation Phase. The term ‘social science’ is defined and what it entails is discussed, and links between the various components of social science are explained. This chapter aims to inspire teachers to use diversity in their classrooms as an opportunity to guide learners towards citizenship and the understanding of social sciences. Chapter 3 This chapter focuses on science education , in particular, inquiry-based science educa- tion which is a powerful means of developing both the aims of modern society and citizens who are scientifically aware and socially responsible. Chapter 4 This chapter provides insight into the teaching and learning of technology in the Foun- dation Phase. It describes what is meant by technology and information communica- tion technology, and how teachers should plan the learning environment to support learners’ development of technological knowledge and skills. Chapter 5 This chapter deals with the use of dramatic arts within the Foundation Phase. Drama activities can aid development in all spheres of the personality if the focus remains on the quality of the process rather than some imagined performance outcome. Chapter 6 This chapter provides Foundation Phase teachers with several methods to teach music and motivates them to integrate music into teaching activities. It explains both why music is important and how to integrate it. Chapter 7 This chapter discusses the teaching and learning of dance in the Foundation Phase. It provides insight into what it means to teach dance, and how teachers should plan the learning environment to support dance as a performing art. Chapter 8 This chapter introduces the developmental stages of childhood and how these affect the drawings of Foundation Phase learners, both to enable an understanding and to assist in the meaningful teaching of art .
xi Chapter 9 This chapter provides an in-depth look at the physical development of young learners and endeavours to create a thorough understanding of the importance of movement as an indispensable life skill . Chapter 10 This chapter discusses how the teacher can enhance young learner’s social relationships with his family (nearest relations), classroom (usually the first social relationships outside the family) and peer group (friends). It deals with the learner’s social circles and development of healthy relationships. Chapter 11 This chapter provides the Foundation Phase teacher with a frame of reference for ef- fective sexuality education in schools. It focuses on the following aspects: the meaning of sexuality education; the aims of sexuality education; some common misconceptions of sexuality education, and the main themes of sexuality education for the Foundation Phase as provided by the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). Chapter 12 Chapter 12 discusses personal well-being by providing an overview of two distinct phi- losophies. The meaning of personal well-being is investigated, factors contributing to personal well-being are discussed, a framework for teaching personal well-being in the Foundation Phase classroom is identified and, lastly, examples of teaching themes in the life skills curriculum are presented. Chapter 13 This chapter highlights the important role of assessment as being indistinguishable from, and integral to, the process of teaching and learning. It also provides practical guidelines on how to implement the process of assessment effectively and efficiently. In compiling this book, care has been taken to present the information in an applied and practical way, reflecting both the field itself and its unique South African context. The editors are grateful to all the authors for their valuable contribution in making this book a reality. Mariana Naudé and Corinne Meier January 2016
xii Contents About the editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v About the contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi About this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix CHAPTER 1 Teaching life skills: a survival guide for the 21st century 1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.2 What are life skills? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.3 Life skills education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.4 Developmentally and culturally appropriate life skills education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.5 Life skills education and Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological systems theory . . . . . . . . 9 1.5.1 The microsystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.5.2 The mesosystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.5.3 The exosystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.5.4 The macrosystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.5.5 The chronosystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1.6 Life skills education in the Foundation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 1.6.1 Specific aims of life skills education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.6.2 Sequencing and progression in life skills education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.7 The relationship between learning and teaching styles in the life skills curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 1.7.1 Accommodating different learning styles in the life skills curriculum . . . . . 15 1.7.2 Accommodating learners’ multiple intelligences suggested by Howard Gardner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 1.8 Activities to use when teaching life skills in the Foundation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 1.8.1 Role play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 1.8.2 Working in pairs and groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 1.8.3 Brainstorming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 1.8.4 Whole-class discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 1.8.5 Questioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 1.8.6 Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 1.8.7 Storytelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 1.8.8 Riddles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 1.8.9 Poems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 1.9 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Student activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 CHAPTER 2 Teaching social science in the Foundation Phase 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 2.2 What is social science? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 2.2.1 Purposeful and powerful social science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 2.2.2 Milestones to reach during social science education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
xiii 2.2.3 The teaching of social science and the bio-ecological model of Bronfenbrenner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 2.2.4 Accommodating diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 2.3 Citizenship at the heart of social science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 2.3.1 Purpose-driven citizenship starts with each individual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 2.3.2 South Africa’s Constitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 2.3.3 Citizenship in a multicultural society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 2.3.4 Problems and possibilities when teaching citizenship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 2.4 Theoretical framework when teaching social science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 2.4.1 Social constructivism as an educational tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 2.4.2 The difference between traditional classrooms and social constructivist classrooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 2.5 How teachers can help learners to take part in social science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 2.5.1 Zone of proximal development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 2.5.2 The social science learning cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 2.6 Conceptual framework for history as part of social science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 2.6.1 Definition of history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 2.6.2 The young historian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 2.6.3 Aspect of time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 2.6.4 Sequencing and chronology in the Foundation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 2.6.5 The interdependent relationship between cause and effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 2.6.6 Rights and responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 2.7 Conceptual framework for geography as part of social science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 2.7.1 Definition of geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 2.7.2 The young geographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 2.7.3 Characteristics of geography in a South African context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 2.7.4 The five fundamental themes of geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 2.7.5 Skills, knowledge and values of geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 2.7.6 Geography in the South African school context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 2.7.7 Conservation activation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 2.7.8 Mapping as part of geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 2.7.9 Stages of mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 2.8 What does CAPS say about social science? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 2.9 Integration as key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 2.10 Investigating historical and geographical resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 2.10.1 Oral history resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 2.10.2 Visual history and geographical resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 2.10.3 Artefacts and museums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 2.10.4 The community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 2.10.5 Written materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 2.10.6 Technological resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 2.11 Technology as a useful resource during instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 2.12 Assessment of social science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 2.13 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Student activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
xiv CHAPTER 3 Teaching science through inquiry in the Foundation Phase 3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 3.2 Why teach science in the Foundation Phase? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 3.2.1 Scientific literacy for all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 3.2.2 Personal and societal benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 3.2.3 Solid foundations for life-long science learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 3.2.4 Awakening scientists-in-waiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 3.3 What is science? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 3.3.1 Defining science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 3.3.2 Nature of science (NoS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 3.3.3 Key concepts (“ big ideas”) in science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 3.3.4 The relationship between science and technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 3.3.5 Science education for young learners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 3.4 The inquiry-based approach to teaching science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 3.4.1 What is inquiry-based science education (IBSE)? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 3.4.2 The Foundation Phase teacher’s role in teaching inquiry-based science . . . 84 3.4.3 Creating a learning environment that promotes inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 3.5 Developing inquiry skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 3.5.1 Scientific observation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 3.5.2 Comparing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 3.5.3 Classifying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 3.5.4 Measuring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 3.5.5 Predicting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 3.5.6 Inferring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 3.5.7 Communicating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 3.6 Selecting suitable content and developing scientific knowledge through inquiry . 95 3.6.1 Criteria for selecting suitable content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 3.6.2 Science content knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 3.7 Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 3.7.1 Assessment in IBSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 3.7.2 Indicators of proficiency in the science domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 3.8 Designing IBSE units and investigations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 3.9 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Useful websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Student activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 CHAPTER 4 Technology education in the Foundation Phase 4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 4.2 Defining technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 4.2.1 Technology education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 4.2.2 Technological literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123 4.3 The bio-ecological systems theory of Bronfenbrenner and technology . . . . . . . . . 124 4.3.1 System 1: the microsystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 4.3.2 System 2: the mesosystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 4.3.3 System 3: the exosystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
xv 4.3.4 System 4: the macrosystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 4.4 The young technologist in the classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 4.5 The Foundation Phase curriculum and developmentally appropriate technology education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 4.6 The knowledge, skills and values in Foundation Phase technology education . . . 128 4.7 The design process in technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 4.7.1 The application of the technological design process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 4.8 The technology knowledge areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 4.8.1 Materials, tools and safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 4.8.2 Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 4.8.3 Systems and mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 4.8.4 Physical phenomena (forces, motion and energy) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 4.9 Integration of technology with the other programmes of the Foundation Phase curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 4.10 Technology and the digital world of information communication . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 4.10.1 Defining ICT in teaching and learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 4.10.2 Pros and cons of early exposure to ICT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 4.10.3 Understanding developmentally appropriate ICT teaching and learning in the Foundation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 4.10.4 The modern interactive classroom of the digital era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 4.11 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Student activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 CHAPTER 5 Teaching drama in the Foundation Phase 5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 5.2 Dramatic play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 5.2.1 Process versus performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 5.2.2 Storytelling and improvisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 5.3 Development of the whole child through drama activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 5.3.1 Development of all facets of the child’s personality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 5.4 Integration with other subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 5.5 Practical considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 5.5.1 Venue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 5.5.2 Properties (props), costume, make-up, masks, puppets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 5.5.3 Classroom control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 5.5.4 The structure of the drama lesson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 5.6 Classroom activities for learners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 5.6.1 Examples of activities for the classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 5.7 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Student activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 CHAPTER 6 Teaching Foundation Phase learners about music 6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 6.2 What is music? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 6.2.1 Music is movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
xvi 6.2.2 Music is fun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 6.2.3 Music is something you DO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 6.3 Why is music seen as part of life skills? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 6.3.1 The value of integrating music in the Foundation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 6.3.2 The benefits of music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 6.3.3 Specific aims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 6.4 A theoretical framework for music integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 6.4.1 Teaching and learning about music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .187 6.4.2 Teaching and learning from music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 6.4.3 Teaching and learning on music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 6.4.4 Teaching and learning with music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 6.4.5 Teaching and learning in music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 6.4.6 Teaching and learning through music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 6.5 Music activities in the Foundation Phase classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 6.5.1 Musical listening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 6.5.2 Music literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 6.5.3 Musical improvisation and creativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 6.5.4 Singing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 6.5.5 Music and dramatic arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 6.5.6 Music and movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 6.5.7 Playing instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 6.6 CAPS and the presentation of music as a creative art form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 6.6.1 CAPS course material in context: life skills grades R–3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 6.6.2 Practical resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 6.6.3 Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 6.7 Technology and music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 6.8 Accommodating diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 6.9 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Useful websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 Student activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 CHAPTER 7 Teaching dance in the Foundation Phase 7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 7.2 Development of the whole learner through dance activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 7.2.1 Physical development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222 7.2.2 Emotional development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 7.2.3 Social development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 7.2.4 Intellectual development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 7.2.5 Use of imagination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 7.3 Improvisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 7.4 Lesson structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 7.4.1 Warm-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 7.4.2 Movement skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 7.4.3 Group participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 7.4.4 Improvisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
xvii 7.4.5 Relaxation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 7.5 Elements of creative movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 7.5.1 Body awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 7.5.2 Effort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 7.5.3 Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 7.6 Practical considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 7.6.1 Venue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 7.6.2 Clothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 7.6.3 Management of the class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 7.7 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Student activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 CHAPTER 8 Teaching art in the Foundation Phase 8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 8.2 Young learners and their art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 8.2.1 Scribbling stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 8.2.2 Preschematic stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 8.2.3 Schematic stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 8.3 Teaching art to learners in the Foundation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .240 8.4 Quality art education in the Foundation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 8.5 Lesson planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 8.6 The art elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 8.6.1 The art elements in two-dimensional work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 8.6.2 The art elements in three-dimensional work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 8.7 Planning two-dimensional work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 8.7.1 Picture making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 8.7.2 Planning a picture-making project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 8.7.3 Presentation of a picture-making lesson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 8.7.4 Topics suited to two-dimensional work in the Foundation Phase . . . . . . 252 8.8 Three-dimensional work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 8.8.1 Media suitable for modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 8.8.2 Planning a three-dimensional project lesson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 8.8.3 Presentation of a three-dimensional project lesson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 8.8.4 Three-dimensional clay modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 8.8.5 Three-dimensional use of paper mâché . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 8.8.6 Found/upcycled media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 8.8.7 Topics suited to three-dimensional work in the Foundation Phase . . . . . 257 8.9 Crafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .259 8.10 Visual literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 8.10.1 Presentation of a visual literacy lesson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260 8.11 Lesson planning examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 8.11.1 Planning for two-dimensional work: Grade R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262 8.11.2 Planning for two-dimensional work: Grade 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264 8.11.3 Planning for two-dimensional work: Grade 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 8.11.4 Planning for two-dimensional work: Grade 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
xviii 8.11.5 Planning for three-dimensional work: Grade R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 8.11.6 Planning for three-dimensional work: Grade 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270 8.11.7 Planning for three-dimensional work: Grade 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 8.11.8 Planning for three-dimensional work: Grade 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 8.11.9 Planning for visual literacy: Grade R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 8.11.10 Planning for visual literacy: Grades 1–3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 8.12 Budgeting for media required for practical art-making lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278 8.13 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Student activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280 CHAPTER 9 Physical education in the Foundation Phase 9.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 9.2 Movement and the brain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 9.3 What is physical education in the Foundation Phase? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 9.3.1 Psychomotor development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 9.3.2 Cognitive development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 9.3.3 Affective development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 9.4 Motor development patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 9.4.1 Reflexive behaviour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 9.4.2 Rudimentary movement abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 9.4.3 Fundamental movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 9.4.4 General movement skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 9.4.5 Specific movement skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 9.4.6 Specialised skill development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 9.5 Developmental milestones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 9.6 Why is physical education seen as part of life skills? (Aims) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294 9.6.1 Acquisition of movement skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 9.7 Theoretical framework for the presentation of physical education in the Foundation Phase life skills programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296 9.7.1 Body awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 9.7.2 Dominance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 9.7.3 Midline crossing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298 9.7.4 Spatial awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 9.7.5 Laterality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 9.7.6 Eye–hand coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299 9.7.7 Foreground/background concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 9.8 Teaching physical education in the Foundation Phase classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 9.8.1 Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 9.8.2 Teaming up with colleagues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 9.8.3 Teaching style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 9.9 CAPS and physical education in the Foundation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 9.9.1 Facilitating movement for the Grade R learner (five to six years) . . . . . . . . 302 9.9.2 Lesson layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 9.9.3 Facilitating the use of equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 9.10 Physical activity assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
xix 9.11 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 Student activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 CHAPTER 10 Teaching Foundation Phase learners about social well-being 10.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 10.2 No learner is an island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 10.3 The Foundation Phase learner’s social development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 10.4 Social development well-being as part of the curriculum of the Foundation Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 10.4.1 Purpose of teaching social well-being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 10.4.2 Time allocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 10.4.3 The social well-being curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 10.5 My family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 10.5.1 Start with “my family” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 10.5.2 Modern families have many faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 10.5.3 Activity ideas to teach the concept “my family” in a non-judgemental way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 10.6 “My school” and “My class” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .331 10.6.1 The school as an environment for enhancing social development and social wellness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 10.6.2 Guidelines for planning a learning environment for social development 332 10.6.3 How to teach the young learner about “my school” and “my class” . . . . . .336 10.6.4 Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 10.7 The young learner is part of a wider society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 10.7.1 The importance of social justice as being part of social well-being . . . . . 340 10.7.2 Guidelines on how to teach an anti-biased and tolerant attitude . . . . . . . 341 10.8 Teaching values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 10.8.1 The learner’s moral development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 10.8.2 Guidelines when teaching values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343 10.9 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346 Student activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 CHAPTER 11 Sexuality education in the Foundation Phase 11.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 11.2 What is sexuality education? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 11.2.1 Sex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 11.2.2 Sexuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354 11.2.3 Sexuality education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355 11.3 The aims of sexuality education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357 11.4 Common myths about sexuality education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 11.4.1 Foundation Phase learners are too young for sexuality education . . . . . .358 11.4.2 Sexuality education teaches learners how to have sex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358 11.4.3 Teaching sexuality in school replaces sexuality education by parents . . . 359 11.4.4 Comprehensive sexuality education leads to inappropriate sexual games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
xx 11.4.5 Foundation Phase learners who masturbate are abnormal or homosexual and should be punished . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 11.4.6 Kids will pick up what they need to know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 11.4.7 If I do not feel completely comfortable talking to my learners about sex, it is better not to say anything at all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359 11.5 Sexual maturation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 11.5.1 Infancy – birth to one year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 11.5.2 From one to two years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 11.5.3 From two to four years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 11.5.4 From four to nine years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 11.5.5 Pre- and early adolescence – nine to 14 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363 11.5.6 Middle adolescence – 14 to 18 years . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 11.5.7 Late adolescence – 18 years and older . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 11.6 Theories of sexual development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 11.6.1 The psychosexual theory of Sigmund Freud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365 11.6.2 The ego psychological theory of Erik Erikson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367 11.6.3 Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 11.7 Qualities and skills of the teacher and classroom management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 11.7.1 Qualities and skills of the sexuality education teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 11.7.2 Classroom management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 11.8 Interactive teaching techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372 11.8.1 Teaching about feelings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 11.8.2 Practising saying “no” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374 11.8.3 Keeping my body safe and body ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 11.9 Additional teaching methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376 11.9.1 Stories and storytelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 11.9.2 Puppets and dolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 11.9.3 Journals and free writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 11.9.4 Artwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 11.9.5 Brainstorming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 11.9.6 Small groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 11.9.7 Question box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 11.9.8 “What if ” game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 11.10 Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 11.11 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 Student activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 Appendix A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 Appendix B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 CHAPTER 12 Teaching Foundation Phase learners about personal well-being 12.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 12.2 What is personal well-being? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 12.3 Theoretical perspectives on personal well-being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 12.3.1 Hedonic well-being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 12.3.2 Eudaimonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
xxi 12.3.3 Psychological well-being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393 12.4 Factors influencing well-being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397 12.4.1 Social and emotional environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397 12.4.2 Physical environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397 12.4.3 Psychological factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 12.5 Why is personal well-being seen as part of life skills? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 12.6 Theoretical framework for the presentation of personal well-being in the Foundation Phase life skills programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399 12.7 The teaching of personal well-being in the Foundation Phase classroom . . . . . . 401 12.7.1 Health and safety education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402 12.7.2 Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406 12.7.3 Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 12.7.4 Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 12.8 Assessment of personal well-being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423 12.9 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423 Useful websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423 Student activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424 CHAPTER 13 Assessment in life skills in the Foundation Phase 13.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429 13.2 What is assessment? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429 13.3 Life skills within the framework of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430 13.4 How does assessment support teaching and learning? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 13.5 Purpose of assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 13.5.1 Assessment for learning (AfL) (informal assessment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 13.5.2 Assessment of learning (AoL) (formal assessment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432 13.6 Planning for assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 13.6.1 Types of learning outcomes in life skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 13.7 Aligning learning outcomes with content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 13.8 Assessment methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438 13.8.1 Observation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438 13.8.2 Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 13.9 How to develop an assessment task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 13.9.1 Compiling an assessment plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 13.10 Designing appropriate assessment tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442 13.10.1 Rubrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442 13.10.2 Checklists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444 13.11 Recording and interpreting evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445 13.12 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445 Student activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
1 CHAPTER Teaching life skills: a survival guide for the 21st century Corinne Meier Pur P ose of the cha P ter The purpose of this chapter is to explain what life skills are and why it is necessary to teach life skills for survival in the 21st century. The reader will come to an understanding that the environment as well as biological development of the young learner dictates the necessity to teach developmentally and culturally appropriate life skills in the Foundation Phase. Various techniques for teaching life skills will also be discussed. This will assist the teacher to select techniques to accommodate the different learning styles and multiple intelligences of a diverse learner composition in the classroom. c ontents 1.1 Introduction 1.2 What are life skills? 1.3 Life skills education 1.4 Developmentally and culturally appropriate life skills education 1.5 Life skills education and Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological systems theory 1.5.1 The microsystem 1.5.2 The mesosystem 1.5.3 The exosystem 1.5.4 The macrosystem 1.5.5 The chronosystem 1.6 Life skills education in the Foundation Phase 1.6.1 Specific aims of life skills education 1.6.2 Sequencing and progression in life skills education 1.7 The relationship between learning and teaching styles in the life skills curriculum 1.7.1 Accommodating different learning styles in the life skills curriculum 1.7.2 Accommodating learners' multiple intelligences suggested by Howard Gardner 1.8 Activities to use when teaching life skills in the Foundation Phase 1.8.1 Role play 1.8.2 Working in pairs and groups 1.8.3 Brainstorming 1.8.4 Whole-class discussions 1.8.5 Questioning 1.8.6 Drawing 1.8.7 Storytelling 1.8.8 Riddles 1.8.9 Poems 1.9 Summary 1
Learning outcomes After you have studied this chapter, you will be able to • define the concept “life skills” • explain the necessity for life skills education • describe what developmentally and culturally appropriate life skills education is • discuss the bio-ecological systems theory of Bronfenbrenner • relate the bio-ecological systems theory to life skills education • discuss the aims of life skills education in the Foundation Phase • describe the structuring of life skills as a subject in the Foundation Phase • design life skills learner activities using Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences model • select appropriate techniques to teach life skills in the Foundation Phase. Key conce P ts and definitions • Bio-ecological systems theory: Bronfenbrenner’s theory identifies five environmental sys- tems with which an individual interacts, namely the micro-, meso-, exo-, macro- and chronosys- tem. • Life skills: the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. • s kill: the ability to do something well. • Values: a person’s principles or standards of behaviour; one’s judgement of what is important in life.
3 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S : A S U R V I V A L G U I D E F O R T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y 1 1.1 Introduct I on Social media report daily on the troubling dimensions of social ills that seem to be gathering pace and volume throughout the world, causing increasing disillusionment and discouragement. The apparently unavailing struggle continues against poor eco- nomic conditions, high unemployment, widespread poverty, poor health and safety standards, a seemingly unending stream of revelations of public figures abusing posi- tions of trust and the increasingly diversifying populations together create a trend that has a dissociative, alienating effect on society. Furthermore the dizzying, whirlwind progression of technological advancement takes a toll on people’s ability to cope and threatens to overwhelm and derail young people’s lives. In South Africa, especially, people have grown despondent as they stumble through the daily grind, struggling to maintain their psychological equilibrium and find mean- ing in their lives, often in their desperation turning to substance abuse, violence and even suicide. Socially dysfunctional behaviour is an increasingly significant factor, not only among adults, but also, alarmingly, among the younger generation. Worldwide, education is regarded as the panacea that will enable all to meet the ever-increasing economic, technological, social and personal challenges facing contem- porary society. Education is expected to prepare young people to live constructively in effectively functioning communities where key adaptive characteristics such as toler- ance prevail. Perhaps above all, education is expected to help young people to build lives that have meaning and purpose in the 21st century. In response to these daunting challenges, education systems throughout the world have been reorganised to provide not only high academic standards, with particular emphasis on literacy and numeracy, but also to inculcate skills classed under commu- nication, empathy, adaptability, creativity and social interaction. Skills grouped under these headings are increasingly foregrounded as prerequisites for employment. And besides these, a challenge that is clamouring for attention in the present climate of unprecedented information explosion is the urgent need to equip people to gain access to, and process information, in the 21st century. 1.2 What are l I fe sk I lls? In the 21st century, life skills are a set of abilities that learners need to develop, with particular emphasis on the need to succeed in the age of info-tech. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) these are abilities “for adaptive and positive be- havior that enable[s] individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life”. Furthermore, life skills are psychosocial skills that determine val- ued behaviour and include reflective skills such problem solving and critical think- ing, and personal skills such as self-awareness. Practising life skills leads to qualities such as self-esteem, sociability and tolerance, readiness and commensurate capacity to take action and generate constructive change, and the independence of a confident, well-balanced, adventurous spirit to decide what to do and what to be (Thoughtful Learning, n.d.).
4 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S I N T H E F O U N D A T I O N P H A S E There is no definitive list of life skills. Some skills may be more relevant than others to particular persons, depending on their circumstances, belief system, age, geographic location and gender. The pivotal, underlying skill that is definitive for all, is the ability to learn. The acquisition of new skills expands the individuals' capacity to understand the world around them and develop the tools required to live a productive and fulfill- ing life. Skills can be learned directly or indirectly. Indirect learning is accomplished by way of experience and practice regardless of location. This is because people’s intellectual faculties are always susceptible and receptive to new inputs, to which they are con- stantly exposed as they proceed through the changes of life. Learning is therefore an ever-present phenomenon in people’s existence. As such, as they learn new skills, their conduct, thoughts and feelings about themselves, other people and the world around them change more or less permanently. This is in direct relation to how significant they perceive these new insights and knowledge gained in the process of skills acqui- sition to be (What is learning, 2014). Since an inherent and acquired capacity for life-long learning is necessitated by how varied and changing life is, people need to develop a positive attitude to learning. Their focus should be on achieving their developmental goals on a personal and a professional level, or even for basic survival purposes. Personal and professional devel- opmental goals may overlap considerably and serve mutually beneficial purposes. For example, personal development can improve the person’s employment prospects and professional development can promote personal growth. Direct learning is achieved by exposure to formal schooling in preparation for a working life (What is learning, 2014). 1.3 lI fe sk I lls educat I on Education with a pertinent life skills focus has a history of supporting child develop- ment and health promotion in many parts of the world. In 1986 the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion recognised life skills education as a tool to enable learners to make better health choices. The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) endorsed this statement by asserting that education should develop the child’s fullest potential, implying the need to incorporate life skills in curricula. The 1990 Jomtien Declaration on Education for All took this vision further by asserting that life skills education was indispensable as a means to develop an individual’s chances of success- fully meeting the challenges that might threaten his very existence if he or she were ill-equipped to deal with them. The conclusion was drawn at the 2000 Dakar World Education Conference that it was an inalienable human right to benefit from “an ed- ucation that includes learning to know, to do, to live together and to be” (Wikipedia, 2014). Life skills education is now recognised as a distinct methodology that can be bene- ficially applied to address a variety of issues of child and youth development. Life skills education is recognised by the following:
5 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S : A S U R V I V A L G U I D E F O R T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y 1 • United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS (2001) • UNGASS on Children (2002) • World Youth Report (2003) • World Program for Human Rights Education (2004) • United Nations Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (2005) • United Nations Secretary General’s Study on Violence Against Children (2006) • 51st Commission on the Status of Women and Children (2007) • World Development Report (2007) (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti- tle=Life_skills-based_education&oldid= 602244957) The expected learning outcomes of life skills education include a combination of knowledge, values, attitudes and skills, especially those falling under the categories of critical thinking, problem solving, self-management, communication and interper- sonal skills. All of these require particular reference to adaptation for life in the 21st century. It is important, however, to teach developmentally and culturally appropriate skills to prepare learners for school extending from reception to beyond school leaving when a professional career needs to be considered (http://life.familyeducation.com/ slideshow/independence/ 71434.html). 1.4 d evelopmentally and culturally appropr I ate l I fe sk I lls educat I on Some two decades ago the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) published a position paper, which pronounced standards for high-quality care and education for young children. The guidelines, referred to as Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP), were a response to the need for a set of unified stand- ards for early learning. They also provided a solution to teacher-directed learning. As societies became more culturally diverse, it was realised that teaching should also be culturally appropriate. From this the term "developmentally and culturally appropri- ate practice" (DCAP) was adopted (Gordon & Brown, 2014: 40–43). DCAP education provides a learning environment, which is based on what we know about how children grow and learn and the ability to go beyond one’s own soci- ocultural background, to ensure equal and fair teaching and learning experiences for all (Gordon & Brown, 2014: 40–43). The collective knowledge of DCAP should be applied to each decision that is made when designing a life skills curriculum or lesson. DCAP focuses on a child being a blend of many parts that interrelate in different ways and change with growth over time. All children develop simultaneously in body, mind and spirit and this whole development can be summarised as follows (Gordon & Brown, 2014: 92): • The physical/biological process describes changes in the body. • The cognitive processes relate to intellectual and language changes.
6 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S I N T H E F O U N D A T I O N P H A S E • The socioemotional processes reflect changes in an individual’s relationships with other people, as well as in their emotions and personality. Within each of the above-mentioned processes certain milestones for the develop- ment of the child are set. For teachers teaching life skills in the Foundation Phase it is crucial to know what the developmental milestones of a child’s physical, cognitive and socioemotional developmental stage are when selecting DCAP content. Selected milestones for the child in the Foundation Phase are set out in Table 1.1. Table 1.1 Developmental milestones of the Foundation Phase learner (Childhood years, 2014) Physical development Cognitive development Socioemotional development • Growth is slower than in preschool years, but steady. Eating may fluctuate with activity level. Some children have growth spurts in the later stages of middle childhood. • Children recognise that there are differences between boys and girls. • Children find difficulty balancing high-energy activ- ities and quiet activities. • Intense activity may result in tiredness. • Children need around 10 hours of sleep each night. • Muscle coordination and control are uneven and incomplete in the early stages, but children become almost as coordinated as adults by the end of middle childhood. • Small muscles develop rap- idly, making playing musical instruments, hammering, or building things more enjoyable. • Baby teeth will come out and permanent ones will come in. • Permanent teeth may come in before the mouth has fully grown, causing dental crowding. • Eyes reach maturity in both size and function. • Children can begin to think about their own behaviour and see consequences for actions. • In the early stages of concrete thinking, they can group things that belong together (for in- stance babies, fathers, mothers, aunts are all family members). • Children begin to read and write early in middle childhood and should be skillful in reading and writing by the end of this stage. • They can think through their ac- tions and trace back events that happened to explain situations, such as why they arrived at school late. • Children learn best if they are active while they are learning. For example, children will learn more effectively about traffic safety by moving around cars, blocks, and toy figures rather than sitting and listening to an adult explain the rules. • Six- to eight-year old children can rarely sit for longer than 15–20 minutes for an activity. Attention span gets longer with age. • Toward the beginning of middle childhood, children may begin projects but finish few. Allow them to explore new materials. • Teachers set the conditions for social interactions to occur in schools. Understand that children need to experience var- ious friendships while building esteem. • There are signs of growing inde- pendence. • Children are becoming so “worldly” that they typically test their growing knowledge with back talk and rebellion. • Common fears include the unknown, failure, death, family problems and rejection. • Friends may live in the same neigh- bourhood and are most commonly the same sex. • Children average five best friends and at least one “enemy”, who often changes from day to day. • Children act nurturing and com- manding with younger children but follow and depend on older children. • Children are beginning to see the point of view of others more clearly. • Children define themselves in terms of their appearance, possessions and activities. • There are fewer angry outbursts and these children have more ability to endure frustration while accepting delays in getting things they “want". • Children often resolve conflict through peer judges who accept or reject their actions. • Children are self-conscious and feel as if everyone notices even small differences (new haircut, facial hair, a hug in public from a parent). • Tattling is a common way to attract adult attention in the early years of middle childhood. Œ
7 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S : A S U R V I V A L G U I D E F O R T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y 1 Physical development Cognitive development Socioemotional development • The added strain of schoolwork (smaller print, computers, intense writing) often creates eye-tension and leads some children to request eye examinations. • Children can talk through problems to solve them. This requires more adult time and more sustained attention by children. • Children can focus attention and take time to search for needed information. • They can develop a plan to meet a goal. • There is greater memory capa- bility because many routines (such as brushing teeth, tying shoes and bathing) are automat- ic now. • The child begins to build a self-image as a “worker". If en- couraged, this is positive in later development of career choices. • Many children want to find a way to earn money. • Inner control is being formed and practised each time decisions are made. • At around age six to eight, children may still be afraid of monsters and the dark. These fears are replaced later by fears of school or disaster and confusion over social relation- ships. • To win, lead, or to be first is valued. Children try to be the boss and are unhappy if they lose. • Children often are attached to adults (teacher, club leader, caregiver) other than their parents and will quote their new “hero” or try to please him or her to gain attention. • Early in middle childhood, “good” and “bad” days are defined as what is approved or disapproved by the family. • Children’s feelings get hurt easily. They experience mood swings, and often do not know how to deal with failure. Source: Adapted from DeBord, 2014 How children change has been researched by many people over an extensive period of time. Prior to the 20th century the study of child development was mostly confined to the study of trends and descriptions of age changes. As the 20th century advanced, the scope and definition of child development changed. Developmental psychologists fo- cused on how psychological processes begin, change and develop. Child development furthermore focused on language acquisition, various early effects on later intellectual development and the process of attachment to others. Recently, developmentalists be- gan to take a life-span approach to development. This meant taking into consideration the many directions and contexts of development, understanding the power of culture and the resilience and flexibility of individual growth, and using new tools of technol- ogy to unlock the secrets of the brain. No single set of principles or theories encompasses all developmental and learning theories because these theories were developed at different time periods and in vari- ous countries. Each theory describes children and their processes in different ways. It is up to the teacher to decide which ones best describe children and their growth. In Table 1.2 is a list of the “major” theories on child development. Teachers need to have a good understanding of each theory, then compare the theories to establish their own professional philosophy (Gordon & Brown, 2014: 94). Table 1.1 continued
8 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S I N T H E F O U N D A T I O N P H A S E Table 1.2 Major child development and learning theories Theory Mayor theorists Significant facts Behaviourist (Also referred to as Behaviourism) John Watson Edward Thorndike B.F . Skinner Albert Bandura Ivan Pavlov • Emphasis on environment • Stimulus-response (e.g. Ivan Pavlov’s dog experiment.) • Classic and Operant Conditioning (Training the brain to make a connection that wasn’t there before) • Positive and Negative Reinforcement (Change in behavior) • Modelling (Learn by imitation) Brain development Bruce Perry Daniel Siegel Stephen Rushton Ellen Galinsky Ross Thompson • Innovative insights into early development • “Use it or lose it” principle • DAP and brain-based research connections • Life skills and brain development • Parallels between all domains and brain growth Cognitive (Primarily known as a developmen- tal stage theory.) Jean Piaget • Maturational and environmental emphasis • Assimilation (Facing new information) and accommodation (altering new information with old information) • Stage theory of cognitive development Developmental topics Mary Ainsworth John Bowlby Nancy Einsberg Carol Gilligan Lawrence Kohlberg Eleanor Maccoby • Attachment theory • Expands moral development to practical pro-social behaviour • Questions categories of moral development • Moral, cognitive and sex-role development • Sex difference research Ecological/ Bio-ecological Urie Bronfenbrenner • Five systems that influence human develop- ment (Micro-, meso-, exso, macro-, chrono system) • Societal structure Humanist (Also referred to Maslow’s Hierar- chy of needs) Abraham Maslow • Emphasis on environmental influences • Mental health model • Hierarchy of human needs • Purpose to reach self-actualization Maturation Arnold Gesell • Emphasis placed on heredity and not enough on environmental Multiple intelligences Howard Gardner • Many categories of intelligence • Problem solving and product creating Psychosocial Erik Erikson • Maturational emphasis • Eight stage theory of social and emotional development • Crises at each level Psycho-analytic Sigmund Freud • Basic instinctual drives of sex, aggression and destructiveness • Stage of psycho-sexual development • Personality structures of id, ego and superego Socio-cultural Lev Vygotsky • Zone of proximal development • Private speech • Collaborative and assisted learning Sources: Adapted from Gordon & Brown (2014: 130); Click (2004)
9 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S : A S U R V I V A L G U I D E F O R T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y 1 According to the NAEYC the effectiveness of life skills education centres on three considerations (Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP), 2009): • Familiarity with the typical progression of child development and learning: it is crucial to know what is typical at each age and stage of maturation so that learning experiences can be tailored accordingly. • Knowing what is individually appropriate: observation of children’s interactions with each other and their environment serves as preparation that enables teachers to assist individual learners with due reference to each child’s specific interests, abil- ities and developmental progress. • Knowing what is socially and culturally important: familiarity with learners’ family lives, their personal values and expectations, and the factors that shape their lives at home and in their communities, is a useful aid to planning meaningful rele- vant, and respectful learning experiences for each child and family. It is important for teachers engaged in life skills education to know that there is con- tinuous interaction between the child’s overall development in the maturation process (see Table 1.1), on the one hand, and the environment and general circumstances in which the child functions (see Figure 1.1) on the other. The teacher always needs to develop life skills lesson plans by focusing on the whole child, thus including the child’s stage of development as well as the sociocultural context or environment. For the purpose of this chapter, the bio-ecological systems theory of Bronfenbrenner is selected from the major theories on child development and learning to serve as an ex- ample of how the child’s environment can have an influence on the child and how the teaching of life skills should be adapted to assist him or her to live in the ever-changing 21st century. 1.5 lI fe sk I lls educat I on and Bronfen B renner’s BI o-ecolog I cal systems theory As noted previously, this theory (published in 1979) centres on the interchange be- tween children’s development and the layered relationships or systems that define their environment and influence their development. The theory has recently been re- named bio-ecological systems theory. This is to emphasise how a child’s growth to maturity is influenced by his or her own biology in combination with environmental factors, which significantly include the influence of the immediate family, community and society at large. Changes or conflict in any one system (family, community and/ or society) will ripple through to others. According to this theory, therefore, child development has to be studied with due cognisance of children’s family lives as well as their broader societal realities (e.g. school and other similar societal institutions with which they are involved and/or to which they are regularly exposed) (Paquette & Rya, 2014).
10 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S I N T H E F O U N D A T I O N P H A S E Bronfenbrenner observes that children’s interaction with their immediate (familial) to broader (societal) environments becomes more complex as their physical and cog- nitive structures grow and mature. Moreover the complexity is compounded by en- vironmental change (e.g. changes in familial and societal structure) to which people are inevitably subjected throughout their lives. The stages or systems that mark an individual’s passage through a normal life span include the micro-, meso-, exo-, mac- ro- and chronosystems (Sincero, 2012). An overview of the mentioned systems can be seen in Figure 1.1. 1.5.1 The microsystem The child’s immediate circle of family, friends, classmates, teachers, neighbours and others of direct relevance are included here. Besides receiving inputs from this system the child interacts with it to produce a negotiated outcome that helps to build this environment and contribute to his or her development. 1.5.2 The mesosystem This system consists of the relationships between children’s microsystems. For exam- ple, familial dynamics may impinge on children’s school experiences if they suffer pa- rental neglect and consequently fail to build a positive relationship with their teachers, and are awkward and withdrawn in the presence of peers. 1.5.3 The exosystem Social circumstances beyond the children’s immediate circle may affect their lives by impinging on persons within their immediate circle. For example, one parent may receive a promotion that entails travel for his or her employer. This may cause conflict with the other parent, thereby changing patterns of the parent/child interaction. 1.5.4 The macrosystem This system is culturally determined. Cultural determinants or constituents are so- cioeconomic status in the immediate/familial sense; ethnicity or race; and the devel- opmental status of the community concerned (e.g. emergent or developing, i.e. “third world”). Poor families in poor communities have to struggle more than “comfortable” families in more affluent communities. Think about this Urie Bronfenbrenner (29 April 1917 – 25 September 2005), an American devel- opmental psychologist born in the former USSR (Soviet Union), was the origina- tor of the bio-ecological systems theory of child development. He provided the primary impetus and initiative for the United States government’s Head Start Program launched in 1965. He was especially instrumental in causing a perspec- tival shift or reconfiguration in the premises of developmental psychology by emphasising the varied environmental (particularly societal) influences affecting children’s development.
11 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S : A S U R V I V A L G U I D E F O R T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y 1 1.5.5 The chronosystem Events affecting immediate family members, thereby causing a significant deviation in the child’s life course, are at issue here. For instance, a divorce may affect not only a couple’s relationship but also their children’s behaviour (e.g. perceptions and atti- tudes) over time. M a c r o s y s t e m I n c l u d e s n o r m s a n d v a l u e s o f c u l t u r e s a n d s u b c u l t u r e s ( b e l i e f s y s t e m s , i d e o l o g i e s , s o c i e t a l s t r u c t u r e , g e n d e r r o l e s o c i a l i s a t i o n , n a t i o n a l a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l r e s o u r c e s , e t c . ) I n c l u d e s n o r m s a n , i d e o l o g i e s , s o c i e t a l s t r u c t u r e , g e n d e r r o l e s r n a t i o n a l r e s o u r c e s , e t c . ) E x o s y s t e m D i s t a l s y s t e m s t h a t i n f l u e n c e t h e i n d i v i d u a l i n d i r e c t l y t h r o u g h t h e i r i m p a c t o n m e s o - a n d m i c r o s y s t e m s ( e . g . e d u c a t i o n p o l i c i e s , p r o g r a m m e c o m p o n e n t s ) D i s t a l s y s t e m s t h e i r i m p a c t o n m e s o - a n d m i c r o s y s t e m s ( , p r o g r a m m e c o m p o n e n t s ) M e s o s y s t e m I n t e r c o n n e c t i o n s a m o n g t w o o r m o r e m i c r o s y s t e m s ( e . g . i n t e r a c t i o n s a m o n g f a m i l y m e m b e r s a n d t e a c h e r s ) . E x p a n d a s i n d i v i d u a l e n t e r s n e w s e t t i n g s o v e r t i m e . I m p a c t s i n d i v i d u a l i n d i r e c t l y t h r o u g h h i s / h e r i n t e r a c t i o n s w i t h i n t h e m i c r o s y s t e m . d i v i d u a l i n d i v i d u a r e c t l y t h r o u g h h i s / h i n t h e m i c r o s y s t e m . M i c r o s y s t e m A c t i v i t i e s , r o l e s , r e l a t i o n s i n a d e f i n e d s e t t i n g w h e r e t h e i n d i v i d u a l i n t e r a c t s d i r e c t l y w i t h o t h e r s ( f a m i l y , p e e r s , e t c . ) Individual Chronosystem: Changes in systems over time via a process of mutual accommodation Figure 1.1 Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological systems theory Each of the systems shown in Figure 1.1, as discussed previously, absorbs roles, norms and rules that may shape psychological development. For example, an inner-city fam- ily faces many challenges that do not afflict an affluent family in a well-ordered com- munity, and vice versa. The inner-city family is more likely to experience challenging environmental conditions such as crime and squalor, yet on the other hand an affluent family in more favourable circumstances is more likely to lack the nurturing support of extended family (Van der Zanden, Crandel & Crandell, 2007). The most retardant and derailing effect on a child’s development (thus Bronfen- brenner) are wrought by instability and unpredictability in his or her home life. Many children lack the steady interaction with significant adults required for sound devel- opment. According to the bio-ecological theory, the microsystem is an indispensable platform from which the child needs to venture forth and explore the other systems. Hence the child will be significantly impeded, if not stymied, in this regard if rela- tionships in the microsystem breakdown. When children are not affirmed in their
12 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S I N T H E F O U N D A T I O N P H A S E relationships with their parents and/or significant other adults, they may look for at- tention in inappropriate places. This occurs especially in adolescence when risk taking and rebellion against authority become prominent features of preadult life. As a result the lack of affirmation that should be a normal feature of interaction with the mi- crosystem tends to play out as antisocial and undisciplined behavior and directionless socialising because of an absence of a sense of purpose or life plan (Addison, 1992). The potential implications of Bronfenbrenner’s theory for education is enormous. This is especially true if one considers the link proposed between the effects of malad- justive dysfunction (such as crime, poverty, ill-health, racism and the technological de- mands of cellphones, the internet etc. associated with children’s micro-, meso- and ex- osystems) and microstructure breakdown in the early formative years. As such, when the foundation is laid in the early years in the micro system, it must provide a solid base from which the person will be equipped to deal with the changes faced in life. Given these facts and in light of the strength of Bronfenbrenner’s argument, it fol- lows that life skills education should be considered crucial. John Dewey supports the view that education promotes the development of in- dividual capabilities falling under the categories of knowledge, skills and values, as can be seen from his well-known definition, which reads: education is “the process of living through a continuous reconstruction of experience. It is the development of all those capacities in the individual which will enable him to control his environment and fulfil his possibilities” (Dewey, in Rayn & Cooper, 2009). 1.6 lI fe sk I lls educat I on I n the f oundat I on p hase Life skills education in particular lays the foundation for the development of individ- ual capabilities and a society that will be equipped with: • a high level of creativity that will be especially conducive to problem solving • a capacity for critical thinking when making decisions • skills attuned to gathering information for the specific purpose of situation analysis • an empathetic disposition that is readily placed at the service of others • communication skills that enable people to blend harmoniously into society. Though apparently difficult to attain, the teaching of these skills should commence as early as possible in a child’s life but in a more structured way in the Foundation Phase. Naturally, this should be done with due allowance for the learners’ abilities and level of development. The implementation of teaching programmes of this nature is concerned with the integrated social, personal, intellectual, emotional and physical growth of the learner as envisaged in the South African Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). CAPS organises life skills teaching for the Foundation Phase (i.e. grades R–3) into four study areas namely: beginning knowledge; crea- tive arts; physical education; and personal and social well-being (DoBE, 2011) (see Figure 1.2).
13 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S : A S U R V I V A L G U I D E F O R T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y 1 Figure 1.2 The subject of life skills in the Foundation Phase and its knowledge areas The chapters of this book (chapters 2–12) are structured around the layout indicated in Figure 1.2. Life skills has been structured in this way in order to ensure that the foundational skills, values and concepts of early childhood development and of the subjects offered in grades 4–12 are taught and developed in grades R–3. Beginning knowledge and personal and social well-being are integrated in the topics or themes used in other subjects. Life skills is a cross-cutting subject that supports and strength- ens the teaching of the other core Foundation Phase subjects, namely languages (home and first additional) and mathematics. 1.6.1 Specific aims of life skills education The life skills subject is aimed at guiding and preparing learners for life and its possi- bilities, including equipping learners for meaningful and successful living in a rapidly transforming society. Through life skills learners are exposed to a range of knowledge, skills and values that strengthen their: • physical, social, personal, emotional and cognitive development • creative and aesthetic skills and knowledge through engaging in dance, music, dra- ma and visual arts activities • knowledge of personal health and safety • understanding of the relationship between people and the environment • awareness of social relationships, technological processes and elementary sciences. 1.6.2 Sequencing and progression in life skills education Sequencing and progression is a road or pathway that learners take as they advance to- ward the mastery of the knowledge, skills and values set out in the Foundation Phase life skills curriculum. The road to mastery is paved with a collection of stepping stones with one following the other. For example, there are stepping stones set for Grade R, Beginning knowledge Creative arts Physical education Personal and social well-being Life skills Natural science Performing arts: • Music • Dance • Drama Social and emotional well-being Technology Visual arts Sexuality education Social science: • History • Geography Health education
14 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S I N T H E F O U N D A T I O N P H A S E which will be followed by Grade 1, then Grade 2 and then Grade 3. These stepping stones are the content outcomes set for the life skills subject per grade. Along the road there are predetermined major mileposts. The mileposts will show what comes before and after a particular point along the road. They also serve as the assessment anchors learners will need to grasp as they progress toward the mastery of more sophisticated skills in a follow-on topic or the next grade. Ultimately, learning progressions are used by teachers to determine whether learners have achieved the mileposts and are able to move forward to more difficult outcomes. The progressions further provide teachers with the opportunity to identify learners who have navigated successfully beyond the mileposts for each topic and are in need of an accelerated curriculum or alternatively need to go back and repeat the content for better understanding (Standards Aligned System, 2014). A particular sequence and progression in the teaching of topics such as “Myself, My family, My school” is suggested by CAPS to observe the important rule that early childhood education should start with what is familiar to the learner and gradually move outwards to less familiar topics. It thus follows the pattern of stages and mile- stones in childhood development (see Table 1.1) as suggested by Bronfenbrenner’s theory (see Figure^1.1). Therefore sequencing and progression have been built into the design of the topics. Teachers can change the sequence in which they present topics but they should carefully note what level the learners understand topics in order to monitor their development. Although sequencing, progression and the child devel- opmental stage are important when teaching life skills, it is important to know that learners learn in classroom environments that are compatible with their own learning styles. 1.7 t he relat I onsh I p B et W een learn I ng and teach I ng styles I n the l I fe sk I lls curr I culum Observation shows that individual learners display different learning styles; in other words, they differ in the ways they approach learning. For example, some learners work well in groups, others prefer to work alone, some need quiet in order to concen- trate, while others can cope with noise and movement. Thus, various learning styles and preferences can be identified. Research has established that some learners do not succeed as well as others in the classroom because they are not given the opportunity to use their own style of learning. However, where teachers accommodate different learning styles and preferences, academic achievement, attitudes and behaviour are en- hanced. In these situations, learners learn more with less effort and remember better. It is therefore important for teachers to become aware of a variety of learning styles displayed by their learners and to design teaching strategies for the teaching of life skills to accommodate this diversity (Lemmer, Meier & Van Wyk, 2012: 85). The teaching style of individual teachers is determined largely by their own learn- ing style. In other words, teachers tend to teach according to the way they like to be taught. Therefore, it is essential for teachers to recognise their own particular teaching
15 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S : A S U R V I V A L G U I D E F O R T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y 1 style in order for them to understand how their “natural” teaching style may inadvert- ently conflict with, or be unresponsive to, the learning styles of some of their learn- ers. The performance, attitude and behaviour of learners towards life skills teaching can be enhanced when teaching accommodates learning styles. Teachers often have a stereotyped idea of the ideal learner. This disadvantages learners with an atypical learning style. Successful teachers will have a flexible teaching style once they have developed the ability to accommodate the diverse learning styles and needs of their learners (Lemmer, Meier & Van Wyk, 2012: 91). 1.7.1 Accommodating different learning styles in the life skills curriculum Each learner may have a preferred learning style but this is not the only style by which the learner can learn. The following are the basic learning styles of which the teacher needs to be aware (Gordon & Brown, 2014: 306–307): • The visual learner: these are learners who prefer pictures to words. Photos, charts and graphs provide the necessary information. These learners like to present their learning by reading, writing and drawing and the finished product is important. • The auditory learner: these are learners who listen to others to learn and speak and discuss what they are learning. They are good at following directions in the appropriate sequence from one task to another. • The tactile-kinesthetic learner: these learners are active, full-body learners. They need hands-on activities and learn by doing, not listening or sitting still. There are also other ways in which learners prefer to integrate knowledge. Howard Gardner’s multiple-intelligences theory offers a useful guide for teachers to follow in varying their teaching style to accommodate the learning styles that suit their learners best. 1.7.2 Accommodating learners' multiple intelligences suggested by Howard Gardner Gardner (1999) refers to learning styles as “intelligences” and maintains that learners tend to apply one or two such “intelligences” in preference to others (Arce, 2000: 35). Teachers should be aware of these preferences and design teaching activities accord- ingly so that learners can use their preferred styles to maximum advantage, with due reference to their individual talents, abilities, experiences, ideas and interests, all of which make them unique individuals. The following are reasons why accommodating multiple intelligences in life skills education is important: • To help all learners reach their full potential • To help all learners become independent
16 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S I N T H E F O U N D A T I O N P H A S E • To encourage creative use of material • To encourage cooperative behaviour • To assist learners to learn problem-solving skills • To enhance self-confidence • To ensure that learning is a pleasant experience • To open opportunities for many adult occupations Gardner identified the following intelligences: • Verbal linguistic intelligence: this intelligence is predicated on reading, writing and speaking, which is a preferred mode of expression utilised by some learners who have a special (linguistic) aptitude or penchant. • Logical/mathematical intelligence: this type of intelligence entails learning by reasoning. It proceeds mainly by asking questions, logical inference and experimen- tation to test and further develop inferential reasoning with a view to implementing the knowledge in a practical way. • Visual/spatial intelligence: learning in this instance proceeds by using an inclina- tion for imagination and spatial perception. These learners often seem to be day- dreaming and show a preference for artistic expression by others and themselves (to stimulate visual imagination). This is exemplified in building picture puzzles, watching movies, doodling, and forming clear mental pictures by visualising sce- narios, etc. (e.g. architectural structures). • Body/kinaesthetic intelligence: this is learning through movement of the body. Such learners are dramatic, and love activities that involve touching and feeling to understand. • Musical/rhythmic intelligence: outward traits of this intelligence are a sensitivity to sounds, music and voice tones. Learners in this category typically remember melodies and songs, sing well (i.e. tunefully by memorising and rehearsing a me- lodic line while modulating the tone of voice used), and are sensitive to sounds emanating from their environment, whether this be industrial and traffic noise or birdsong. These learners are in fact extraordinarily aware of the sound landscape of any given setting, and derive specific meaning from the combination of sounds from their environment. • Interpersonal intelligence: this is learning through cooperative and group com- munication. Such learners communicate, lead, coordinate, persuade, inspire and counsel others. • Intrapersonal intelligence: learning proceeds from knowing the self, including pri- vate feelings, emotions and thoughts. Learners in this category enjoy being alone, are wrapped up in their private thoughts and ideas, and learn independently with- out external inputs. The following activities can be devised for learners in accordance with Gardner’s mul- tiple-intelligences model:
17 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S : A S U R V I V A L G U I D E F O R T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y 1 • Verbal/linguistic intelligence: reading, informing, writing, discussing, debating, copying, poetry, storytelling, word games • Logical/mathematical intelligence: measuring, estimating, ordering, analysing, calculating, classifying, patterns, games, problem solving • Visual/spatial intelligence: drawing, painting, mind mapping, sculpture, design, flash cards, diagrams, illustrating, decorating • Body/kinesthetic intelligence: creative dance, drama, role play, physical exercise, sports games, making models, craft work, cleaning, repairing, sorting, mimicking • Musical/rhythmic intelligence: singing, vocal sounds, instrument sounds, envi- ronment sounds, musical play, composing, listening, rhymes • Interpersonal intelligence: cooperative learning, group work, questionnaires, in- terviews, brainstorming, counselling, mentoring, supervising, mediating, motivat- ing, assessing, leading • Intrapersonal intelligence: diary writing, setting goals, attaining learning out- comes, evaluating, creative poetry, creative writing, independent projects 1.8 act I v I t I es to use W hen teach I ng l I fe sk I lls I n the f oundat I on p hase Successful teachers resort to a variety of activities to achieve planned classroom out- comes and to enable learners to use these techniques to take control of their own learn- ing. Once again, these activities must be selected in accordance with the learners' de- velopmental stage (see section 1.4 and Table 1.1) as well as the environment (micro-, meso-, exo-, macro-, chronosystem) in which the learner functions (see section 1.5). The following activities are considered most helpful in the Foundation Phase: • Role play • Pair and group work • Brainstorming • Whole-class discussions • Questioning • Drawing • Storytelling • Poems • Riddles Each type of activity is discussed in detail, highlighting the definitions, importance and ways to use it in teaching. 1.8.1 Role play • What is role play? Without a script, learners act out an event or activity to represent a scene or experi- ence that is unfamiliar to them. • Why use role play? It can help the actors to understand a situation as if they are directly involved in it. For example, if they act out a robbery, the feeling of being a victim of crime can become real to them. Or if they act out a name-calling scene they might realise how it feels to
18 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S I N T H E F O U N D A T I O N P H A S E be the target of name calling. Or they can acquire social graces by acting out a scene where they express gratitude to someone for a kindness done. • Things to remember when conducting a role play – Identify the issue that the role play will illustrate. – Decide on the situation, the problem, and who the characters are. – Decide how many learners will do the role play, how many will be observers, whether to do the role play simultaneously in small groups, or all together as a class. – Encourage shy learners to be involved. – Work with the learners to think about the situation and their roles. • Learners perform the role play It may be useful to introduce a well-timed break in the action and ask the learners to give their impressions of what is transpiring in the role play. For example, if a violent scene is being acted out they can be asked to think of non-violent solutions to defuse the violence and then act out their proposals. After the role play it is important that learners ponder the significance of the action, not as a mere routine activity, but as a constructive learning experience. Role play should be planned to allow time for ret- rospection afterwards so that the purpose of the dramatised action and the salient points that have arisen through the action can be fully absorbed and appreciated. 1.8.2 Working in pairs and groups • Why use pairs and groups when presenting role play? By working in pairs and groups learners can be sure of an opportunity to participate. Engaging in the activity together and working cooperatively can result in a considera- ble flow of ideas. Individuals can draw on their personal experience to suggest possible solutions to a posed challenge. Such ideas could then be taken up and embroidered upon or elaborated on by the group. For example, if the theme "festivals" is being dis- cussed, every group member can contribute information, leading to more detail than if only one learner were to report on a particular festival. • Things to remember when working in pairs and groups When organising the groups or pairs, ask yourself questions, such as the following: – Do I want to divide learners according to ability? – Do I want friends to work together or learners of the same culture, if "festivals" is the theme? – Will the group be together for more than a few minutes? If so, it may be neces- sary for the group to elect a leader to coordinate their activities. – Have I explained the task clearly? – Have I told the learners how long they have for the task? – Have I seated the learners where they can see each other?
19 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S : A S U R V I V A L G U I D E F O R T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y 1 • When the pairs or groups are working stand back, but be available – Do not interrupt, unless a group has misunderstood what it is supposed to be doing. – Spread your attention between groups. – Allow group and pair discussions to flow, and intervene only if the group asks. – Groups often need encouragement to get them going. – Pairs tend to stop work when you approach. • When groups are reporting back – It may be necessary for groups to report their work to the whole class. – It might involve reporting a decision, summarising a discussion, or giving infor- mation about the group discussion. – Groups need to select a spokesperson if they have to report back, so they will have to be told in advance if report-back is required. • When evaluating group work Ask learners what they did and what they learned. 1.8.3 Brainstorming • What is brainstorming? Brainstorming is a way to encourage creativity and to generate ideas in quick succes- sion. • Why brainstorming? It can be used: – to solve a specific problem or answer a question – to introduce a new subject, arouse interest and discover what participants know – to invent possible endings for an unfinished story. • Things to remember when engaging in a brainstorming exercise – Decide on the issue you want to brainstorm. – Form it into a question that will have many possible answers. – Write the question where everyone can see it and put the question to the class. For example, with the theme "at school", the question can be: “How can we im- prove our classroom?” – Ask learners to contribute their ideas. Write the ideas where everyone can see them. – Ideas should be written as single words or short phrases. Read them back to the learners. – Encourage everyone to contribute, but do NOT move around the class in a cir- cle, or force learners to think of an idea – it is likely to discourage creativity. – Do not judge the ideas as you write them down. Only give your own ideas if it is necessary to encourage learners.
20 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S I N T H E F O U N D A T I O N P H A S E – If a suggestion is unclear, ask the person to clarify it, or suggest a clarification and check that they agree to it. – Write down EVERY new suggestion. Often, the most creative or outrageous suggestions are the most useful and interesting. – Stop the session when the flow of ideas slows to a trickle. 1.8.4 Whole-class discussions • Why whole-class discussions? Such discussions provide a setting in which people can become accustomed to the rules of polite intercourse. From these discussions they learn the rules of interacting constructively to everyone’s mutual benefit. For example, the interacting parties must learn to engage in conversation by listening actively to each other and allowing ample opportunity for all concerned to participate freely so that no party feels inhibited by pressure from any other(2$). For example, with the theme "my body", good basic hy- giene practices can be an interesting topic for a whole-class discussion. If the parties are at ease and confident with each other, they can learn to state their own views clearly and grasp others’ views. From this they can argue from strong posi- tions in order to negotiate a mutually satisfactory solution. In the interest of enabling constructive interaction, a protocol titled “rules for discussion” can be put in place at the beginning of the school year (or at any other time if needed) to regulate conduct in group contexts. • Points to bear in mind when conducting whole-class discussions – Ask the learners if they want their classroom to be a place where they feel free to express themselves and to learn through discussion with each other. – Ask the class members if they can think of rules that should be observed by all when classroom discussions are in progress. The following are possibilities: • Listen to the person who is speaking. • Only one person speaks at a time. • Raise your hand to be recognised if you want to be heard. • Don’t interrupt when someone is speaking. • Don’t laugh when people are speaking (unless they make a joke). • Encourage everyone to participate. Suggest that the class agree to obey the rules they listed. Learners are then committed to applying the rules individually and collectively and procedures to deal with viola- tions can be agreed upon and implemented. 1.8.5 Questioning • What is questioning? Questions are asked to ascertain the status of learners’ knowledge and to encourage
21 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S : A S U R V I V A L G U I D E F O R T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y 1 them to think in such a way that they can draw logical conclusions. For example, with the theme "shapes and colours around us", the teacher can ask learners to look around the classroom and name what they see. This kind of stimulation should be regular practice from the earliest stages of schooling. The questions the teacher asks are very important for encouraging participation and analysis, even with very young children. Teachers already use questions every day, such as: “What did I just say?”, to control the class. Other questions, which are used a lot are the so-called “closed” questions. They have only one correct answer and are used to test knowledge. • Types of questions to ask Questions should be open, encouraging exploration and eliciting debate. Questions include the following types: – Hypothetical questions: for example, “What do you think of ... ?” These are calculated to engage the learner’s imagination evocatively and to encourage him or her to think creatively. – Speculative: for example, “Can we devise a plan to solve this problem?” – Encouraging/supporting: for example, “That’s interesting, what happened next?” These encourage learners to recount, and in the process review their personal experience. – Opinion seeking: for example, “What do think/feel about it?” You value their opinions and find them interesting. – Probing: for example, “Why do you think that?”Provided the tone is adjusted to reassure the learner that it is a friendly enquiry, it can encourage the learner to examine his or her opinions analytically and defend or justify them by dint of active reasoning. – Clarifying/summarising: for example, “Am I right to say that you think ... ?” Paraphrasing is calculated to clarify the learner’s views for the questioner as well as for the learner. Moreover reiteration in the presence of other learners will help them to engage with the point under discussion and decide whether they agree/disagree or take a stance of some kind. – Consensus seeking: for example, “Do most of us agree that ... ?” The object is to crystallise knowledge covered by eliciting discussion to ascertain that learn- ers have all arrived at the same position and are ready to move on. – Leading or trick (i.e. misleading) questions: for example, “We must conclude that X is correct, not so?” This type of question should be avoided because it tends to alarm the learner and consequently discourage or inhibit wholeheart- ed participation, which is the object of the exercise. Multifaceted questions, or several simultaneous questions, or ambiguous questions should also be avoid- ed. That is to say, questions should be simple and direct, leaving no room for misunderstanding or confusion. Note: An occasional nod, a smile or even just sitting on the same level as the class will improve the responses the teacher gets.
22 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S I N T H E F O U N D A T I O N P H A S E 1.8.6 Drawing • Why drawing? Learners’ powers of observation are exercised when they draw since they have to be- come aware of the shapes, or lines and proportions of what they are drawing. Other faculties that are exercised are their imaginations and their creative ingenuity, which are taxed as they apply them to perform the exercise. For example, with the theme "summer", learners can draw "a day out in summer". • Things to remember when presenting drawing exercises – Drawing an object placed in front of them, or copying a picture can be a useful exercise to engage learners’ powers of observation. – Creativity and imagination can be exercised by requiring that learners draw a composition consisting of a combination of subjects. – Drawing skills can be enhanced by eliciting a description from one learner and a drawing from another of what the former has verbalised. – If learners find verbal descriptions (written or spoken) difficult they can be asked to draw a picture of what the description envisages. 1.8.7 Storytelling • Why storytelling? – It is particularly well suited to serve some learners’ needs as a learning technique. – It is conducive to cooperative learning and developing social skills. – It motivates learners to read and write and affords experience in speaking and listening. – Attentive listening is especially enhanced. – It motivates learners who are normally hard to reach because the safe impartial- ity of a story that removes it from present realities encourages them to partici- pate. – It stretches the learners’ attention spans and exercises the imagination. – It exposes learners to displays (embodied in the text) of well-mannered dialogue among people who move in polite circles, thereby enabling them to learn by observing when they should merely listen quietly. – It improves vocabulary, which in turn improves sight reading. – It improves comprehension, as can be seen when learners are required to recount and interpret the story. – Higher-thinking skills are enhanced by requiring learners to recall basic (i.e. sa- lient) facts, names of persons and places, and the order of events. They also learn to summarise the story, identifying and articulating the main idea of the story and predicting how the story will end after hearing the first half. Learners may brainstorm a prediction by means of problem solving that includes comparing and contrasting various characters appearing in the story. Finally the substance of the story can be used to generate a new story as a creative exercise.
23 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S : A S U R V I V A L G U I D E F O R T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y 1 – Characters built into stories serve as role models that are explicitly required to solve problems by non-violent means as violence is prohibited. – It develops empathy, understanding and tolerance by exposing listeners to a va- riety of situations involving different events, people and places. – It serves as a source of original material that learners can use as an outlet for, and an exercise to, enhance their creativity. • Reading stories – Reading sessions must be animated for children, for example by assuming ap- propriate facial expressions and executing appropriate hand/body movements to suit the substance of the text as the reader proceeds. – Pause and ask learners questions like what they think will happen next, or why a particular character acted as he or she did. – Simulate voices (i.e. tonal qualities etc.) that are appropriate to portray the char- acters, and simulate sounds where necessary and practicable for a reader. – Involve the class collaboratively by encouraging them to make sounds to accom- pany and enliven the reading. – Ask learners to repeat the stories. – Ask learners to tell stories. – Develop a story in collaboration with the learners. For example, someone starts a story with appropriate opening phrases or a sentence or two, then passes it on to the next person who takes it further with appropriate phrases or sentences, and so on. The progression can be recorded in writing and then read back to the audience. For example, with the theme "winter", the whole winter season can unfold as each learner adds another element to the story. – Once verbalised the story can be dramatised (acted out) with class members taking the parts of characters. 1.8.8 Riddles • Why riddles? – It develops curiosity. – It develops analytical skills in that learners have to draw inferences from the formulation of the riddle. – It develops critical thinking in that learners have to weigh interpretive options when working out answers to riddles. – It develops learners’ ability to think generally and solve problems. • Things to remember when presenting riddles – Begin with easy riddles. – Tell the riddle slowly and in simple words so that learners can think. – Use facial expressions and hand movements as you tell the riddle. – Ask the learners to raise their hands to answer. – Ask the learners to decide if the answer is correct. – Give all learners a chance to participate.
24 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S I N T H E F O U N D A T I O N P H A S E – Hold group competitions to decide which group can guess the most riddles. – Ask learners to tell riddles. 1.8.9 Poems • Why poems? – Reciting poems enhances learners’ musical intelligence and develops their com- mand of language. – They offer a novel form of self-expression. – They develop learners’ vocabulary. – They develop learners’ imagination. • Things to remember when reading poems: – Accentuate compositional rhythm when reading poems to the class (but do not overdo it, otherwise a counterproductive singsong effect may be created). – Pause between verses so that the compositional break is clearly noticeable. – Enunciate clearly and audibly for the benefit of the entire audience. – Use simple words. – Ascertain that the learners are listening attentively. By using a combination and variety of the above-mentioned activities, teachers can plan lessons for the life skills classroom which will accommodate learners’ best ways of learning. Unlike older children who are better able to assimilate complex concepts, young children’s learning is optimised by adopting playful interactive methods. These meth- ods encourage them to utilise the opportunity provided by the school environment to develop their skills with confidence and optimism. This is particularly true if the teaching and learning climate is rendered conducive by a teacher who serves as a role model. The teacher should also take the lead by initiating activities to create a positive climate in which learners can participate freely thereby developing their skills interac- tively with others. 1.9 s ummary Mankind has established incredible innovation in nearly every aspect of life. Despite this, we still face huge challenges such as health pandemics (HIV and Aids, Ebola), economic recessions and intolerance to diversity, to mention but a few. As humans try to manage the different levels of their environment they face huge challenges in succeeding. Being part of 21st century living forces individuals to be equipped with specific life skills to be able to: live a better quality life; accomplish their ambitions; live to their full potential; and to become socially acceptable and successful persons. The earlier in life these life skills are taught the better the skills are internalised. Teaching life skills in the Foundation Phase is laying the groundwork for life skills teaching in
25 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S : A S U R V I V A L G U I D E F O R T H E 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y 1 Student activities 1. Define the concept “life skills” . 2. Explain the necessity for life skills education. 3. Describe what developmentally and culturally appropriate life skills education is. 4. Discuss the bio-ecological systems theory of Bronfenbrenner. 5. Discuss how the bio-ecological systems theory relates to life skills education. 6. Discuss the aims of life skills education in the Foundation Phase. 7 . Describe the structuring of the life skills subject in the Foundation Phase. 8. Discuss three learning styles. 9. Design three life skills learner activities using Howard Gardner’s multiple in- telligences model. 10. Use the following activities to teach the theme “tolerance for diversity” as a life skill in the Foundation Phase: – Role play – Drawing – Questioning b ibliography Addison, J.T. 1992. Urie Bronfenbrenner. Human Ecology , 20(2): 16–20. Arce, C. 2000. Curriculum for young children: An introduction. US: Delmar. Bronfenbrenner, U. 1989. Ecological systems theory. Annals of Child Development , 6: 187–249. Childhood years. Ages 5–12. 2014. Available at: (http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/ pdfs/fcs^465.pdf ) Click, P. 2004. Administration of programs for young children . New York: Delmar Learning. Department of Basic Education (DoBE). 2011. Curriculum and Assessment Policy – Life Skills Foundation Phase (CAPS). Pretoria: Government Printer. Gardner, H. 1999. Intelligence reframed. Mul- tiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books. the later grades. It is, however, essential that developmentally and culturally appro- priate life skills are taught to Foundation Phase learners using activities that relate to each learner’s unique way of learning. The topics addressed in the next chapters are critical to enabling and empowering young learners to deal with an increasingly complex world and the pressures of life in schools and society. The crucial outcome for teachers is to assist learners from “learn- ing to know” to “learning to do” and ultimately “learning to be” by realising their full potential and contributing to the upliftment of society.
26 T E A C H I N G L I F E S K I L L S I N T H E F O U N D A T I O N P H A S E Gordon, A.M. & Brown, K.W. 2014. Be- ginnings and beyond: Foundations in early childhood education. US: Wadsworth. Hutton, L. 2014. Teaching your child life skills. Available at: http://life.familyeducation. com/slideshow/independence/ 71434. html (accessed on 14 March 2014). Lemmer, E.M., Meier, C. & Van Wyk, J.N. 2012. Multicultural education: A manual for the South African teacher , 2nd ed. Pre- toria: Van Schaik. Life skills approach to learning. n.d. Training Module for Primary School Teachers. National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). n.d. 3 core considerations of DAP. Available at: http:// www.naeyc.org/DAP (accessed on 18 March 2014). National Commission for Human Devel- opment. ABHCG. North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T State University. 2014. North Carolina: North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Available at: http://www.ces. ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/pdfs/fcs^465.pdf (accessed on 3 April 2014). Paquette, D. & Rya, J. 2014. Bronfenbren- ner’s ecological systems theory. Available at: http://www.dropoutprevention. org/sites/default/files/paquetteryan- webquest_20091110.pdf (accessed on 15 January 2015). Ryan, K. & Cooper, J.M. 2009. Kaleidoscope: Contemporary and classical reading in edu- cation. Wadswoth: Belmont. Sincero, S.M. 2014. Ecological systems theory. Available at: https://explorable.com/ ecological-systems-theory (accessed on 30 October 2014). Skills You Need. 2011–15. Life-long learning. Available at: http://www.skillsyouneed. com/ps/life-long-learning.html (accessed on 6 May 2015). Skills You Need. 2011–15. What are 21st century skills? Available at: http://www. thoughtfullearning.com/resources/what- are- 21st-century-skills (accessed on 6 May 2015). Skills You Need. 2011–15. What is learning? Available at: http://www.skillsyouneed. com/general/learning.html ixzz^3C^3b- 3TrLx (accessed on 6 May 2015). Skills You Need. 2014. General learning. Available at: http://www.skillsyouneed. com/general/learning.html ixzz^3C^3b- 3TrLx (accessed on 6 May 2015). Standards Aligned System. 2014. Learning progressions. Available at: http://www. pdesas.org/module/content/search/learn- ingprogressions.aspx (accessed on 6 May 2015). Thoughtful Learning. n.d. What are life skills? Available at: http://www.thoughtfullearn- ing.com/resources/what-are- 21st-centu- ry-skills (accessed on 4 April 2015). Van der Zanden, J.W., Crandell, T.L. & Crandell, C.H. 2007. Human development , 8th ed. New York: McGraw Hill. Wikipedia. 2007. Life skills based education. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/ index.php?title=Life_skills-based_edu- cation&oldid= 602244957 (accessed on 4 April 2014).
27 Teaching social science in the Foundation Phase Joyce West & Ina Joubert Pur P ose of the cha P ter The purpose of this chapter is to provide theoretical and practical insight into the teaching and learn- ing of social science in the Foundation Phase. The reader will understand what is defined by the term “social science”, and what it entails. Citizenship that forms the link between the various components of social science will also be explained. The instruction of geography and history as the major compo- nents of social science will be addressed. This chapter aims to inspire teachers to use diversity in their classrooms as an opportunity to guide learners towards citizenship and the understanding of social sciences. Before focusing in this chapter on the teaching and learning of geography and history in the Foundation Phase classroom, a cursory glance over the place of the social sciences in life skills will clarify its place in the curriculum according to the CAPS document. c ontents 2.1 Introduction 2.2 What is social science? 2.2.1 Purposeful and powerful social science 2.2.2 Milestones to reach during social science education 2.2.3 The teaching of social science and the bio-ecological model of Bronfenbrenner 2.2.4 Accommodating diversity 2.3 Citizenship at the heart of social science 2.3.1 Purpose-driven citizenship starts with each individual 2.3.2 South Africa’s Constitution 2.3.3 Citizenship in a multicultural society 2.3.4 Problems and possibilities when teaching citizenship 2.4 Theoretical framework when teaching social science 2.4.1 Social constructivism as an educational tool 2.4.2 The difference between traditional class- rooms and social constructivist classrooms 2.5 How teachers can help learners to take part in social science 2.5.1 Zone of proximal development 2.5.2 The social science learning cycle 2.6 Conceptual framework for history as part of social science 2.6.1 Definition of history 2.6.2 The young historian 2.6.3 Aspect of time 2.6.4 Sequencing and chronology in the Foundation Phase 2.6.5 The interdependent relationship between cause and effect 2.6.6 Rights and responsibilities 2.7 Conceptual framework for geography as part of social science 2.7.1 Definition of geography 2.7.2 The young geographer 2.7.3 Characteristics of geography in a South African context 2.7.4 The five fundamental themes of geography 2.7.5 Skills, knowledge and values of geography 2.7.6 Geography in the South African school context 2.7.7 Conservation activation 2.7.8 Mapping as part of geography 2.7.9 Stages of mapping 2.8 What does CAPS say about social science? 2.9 Integration as key 2.10 Investigating historical and geographical resources 2.10.1 Oral history resources 2.10.2 Visual history and geographical resources 2.10.3 Artefacts and museums 2.10.4 The community 2.10.5 Written materials 2.10.6 Technological resources 2.11 Technology as a useful resource during instruction 2.12 Assessment of social science 2.13 Summary 2 CH a PT er2 days agoReport content
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Step 1:Define the concept 'life skills'
Life skills are abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. They include psychosocial skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, self-awareness, and communication.
Final Answer
Life skills are adaptive abilities that help individuals manage daily challenges and interact positively with others.
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