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(a) What is known about a topic:
Teachers and learners know something about climate. They know it from geography, biology, agriculture and general knowledge.
Many people are aware that the climate is changing even though they do not fully understand courses and reparations thereof. It is a cross-cutting issue hence it is in the mouths of many people including the general public.
(b) What is not yet known about a topic (in this case, climate change in Southern Africa).
The anthropogenic course of climate change is not known and very difficult to understand when it is taught because of its abstract nature.
Issues of climate change are highly contested. Disciplinary integration is quite aloof and not so many teachers are able to do it as our subjects are indeed made to be in silos. As a result, little is known on how to treat climate change issues since what affects people here and now will be affecting others differently elsewhere. Again, people get comfortable when they deal with common issues that are familiar; as such, they avoid anything that stretches their mind.
Use these videos to review what is currently included in your TE/TVET subject curricula on climate change in southern Africa, what is missing, and how you can review your curriculum to improve it.
The videos are helpful in that they bring the world closer to the classroom. The missing element is to bring the world into the classroom so that teachers and learners can interrogate the behavior and functions of different ecosystems and understand the services that ecosystems offer. Once they understand these, they can easily connect to their own societal issues and debate on whether their ecosystems are providing these services or not.
Watching these videos also make it easy to understand how different disciplines relate. It enables curriculum developers to think of activities that can be carried out in real places where learners can appreciate problems confronting society and, together with the community, suggest solutions to such problems, thus making learning that is relevant to real life problems. This mode of learning is suggested by Active Learning Models.