Contextualising the Curriculum through Local Floodplain Artefacts at Lealui Basic School of Western Zambia

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to report on a study conducted in Western Zambia which set out to explore how Lealui Basic School could be assisted to provide contextualised environmental and sustainability education through the display of local floodplain artefacts at a school open day. A collection of floodplain artefacts was prepared in readiness for display, and this article reports on how such artefacts can be used in localised curriculum work for teaching and learning purposes. The study used a participatory action approach in which school personnel participated in the collection of artefacts. It was found that connection, quality and relevance could be brought about by developing the capabilities of learners, teachers and community members through the use of floodplain artefacts. School managers could also draw relevance from the artefacts by innovatively working through such artefacts to improve the management of their school institutions. Teachers could work through ‘learning as connection’ in order to help their learners to make connections between a cross section of situations which are currently disconnected one from the other, such as the knowledge base of children, adults and elderly persons. Such findings can benefit school practitioners, educational administrators or university teacher educators interested in mainstreaming education for sustainable development (ESD) into education.