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Literature suggests that drawing has an important role in the development of learning and thinking skills and the communication of ideas. However, the role and use of drawing by young learners within the process of designing is poorly understood. Working with 22 Grade 3 learners from a well-resourced school in KwaZulu-Natal, this study sought to explore the use of "drawing" in "designing." The research design constituted two phases. The preliminary phase explored the range of these learners' "ability to draw" using two normative diagnostic tests: the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI) and the Goodenough Harris Draw-a-Person (DAP) Test. The main phase of the study explored the relation between "drawing" and "designing." It used a design probe to ascertain how these Grade 3 learners represented their design solutions through drawing. Both the VMI and the DAP Tests revealed a wide range of drawing ability in this group, with performances higher in the DAP Test. A semiotic analysis of how these Grade 3 learners represented their design solutions through drawing revealed, first, that all four semiotic resources, as identified by Mavers, were employed in the design solutions. Secondly, there was no one-to-one relation between producing "good" drawings and "successful" designing. Thirdly, Grade 3 learners used drawing in two distinct ways: (a) as a "representational" tool--i.e. "recording" tool; and (b) as a "conceptual" tool--i.e. an "interactive design" tool. The analysis shows that 44% of Grade 3 learners use drawing as a "recording" tool. Attention is on the appearance of the drawing rather than on the development of the design solutions. In contrast, 56% used drawing as an "interactive design" tool, highlighting the attempt to have a visual conversation with the design. Despite the absence of formal coaching or explanation of the purpose of using drawing for design, more than half of Grade 3 learners enacted this capability.

The discussion on how to integrate African indigenous knowledge (IK) into mainstream Science and Technology schooling prevails. Nigeria's colonised school curriculum is antithetical to its rich IK heritage. Guided by postcolonial theory, and the need for a culturally relevant and decolonised curriculum, this paper sought to explore seven basic 7-9 Science and Technology teachers' conceptions of IK in Imo State, Nigeria, and ways they reportedly integrate IK in their classes. A qualitative approach was used to generate data from the teachers via narratives and focus group discussions. The teachers held five significant conceptions of IK: Informal Knowledge, Relational Knowledge, Traditional Knowledge, Technological Knowledge that is scientifically based and Lost Knowledge. However, only the conceptions of IK as Relational Knowledge and as scientifically based Technological Knowledge were enacted in their classroom. We advance the rationale that teachers with these conceptions and consequent classroom enactment are ideally situated to serve as cultural brokers of IK.

This paper accounts for the enacted realities of curriculum reform in South Africa, in particular the mediation of curriculum change. Curriculum implementation is viewed as a complex networked process of transforming or mediating policy into classroom practice. The fact that curriculum implementation is seen as problematic requires attention for curriculum mediation. The view that curriculum reform is a linear process, occurs in isolation and is entirely controlled by human agency is questioned. We argue that this view misjudges the complexity and grittiness of the process and ignores the multitude of actors involved who are networked during curriculum mediation and, in turn, eventually sculpt curriculum implementation. The two research questions addressed are: how is policy presented during mediation; and how does the practice of mediation get performed? Actor-network theory (ANT) is employed to model the tensions that exist in the terrains of curriculum policy reform with respect to the National Curriculum Statement--Further Education and Training Life Sciences policy. ANT is used at theoretical and methodological levels to trace the mediation of the policy workshops for Life Sciences teachers. The workshops were video-recoded, and analysed qualitatively using NVIVO to generate tag clouds to identify the drivers of the mediation process. The situated realities of policy mediation borne out by two scenarios created by change and National Senior Certificate examination results are discussed in the paper. At issue is the idea of how socio-material elements shape the mediation process when policy is presented as an invader and a hindrance while the practice of mediation is performed as moments of negotiations.

This article critiques the role of the ESKOM Expo for Young Scientists as a particularly salient node in the constitution of young learners' identity as prospective participants in the field of science and technology. The ESKOM Expo is seen as a particularly exciting means of providing access to the niche area of science and technology. Yet this attraction camouflages a number of pitfalls that learners have to negotiate. Looked at as a vehicle of accommodation of the scientific and technological aspirations of the young people involved in this research, the ESKOM Expo reveals itself to be problematic in various ways. Positioning itself within a postcritical ethnographic framework, this article considers these issues at two levels: a) the disjuncture between the bureaucratic institution of the expositions and the intuitiveness and spontaneity evident in the learners' preparation for the exposition; b) issues of language and representation that tend to marginalise learners from working class backgrounds. It is argued that the institution of the ESKOM Expo, while undoubtedly useful as a means of opening up young learners' horizons of science and technology, is still not sufficiently flexible, both at a conceptual and an organisational level, for it to be the vehicle of technological empowerment it is intended to be.

The article critiques the role of the ESKOM Expo for Young Scientists as a contributor to a national intervention in science and mathematics education. It cites the experiences of Sibusiso Nene and other learners from Hammarsdale in KwaZulu-Natal, documented through data from the author, learners, and researchers. While useful as means of opening up horizons in science and technology, the ESKOM Expo reportedly proved not to be sufficiently flexible, both at conceptual and organizational levels as the venue for empowerment for disadvantaged learners.