School learners’ knowledge and views of traditional medicinal plant use in two regions in Namibia

Abstract

Local knowledge about natural resources that may be of use to communities, including medicinal plants, is becoming increasingly important globally. This knowledge is important for the participation of indigenous peoples in the conservation and maintenance of indigenous forests (Gazzaneo, de Lucena, & de Albuquerque, 2005) in addition to the frequent use of these resources in the treatment of common ailments and diseases.Knowledge about the use of local fauna and flora, nowadays, is minimal. To ensure the preservation of indigenous knowledge, this state of affairs needs to be rectified. In fact, Teklehaymanot, Giday, Medhin and Mekonnen (2007, p. 272) note that 'traditional knowledge is rapidly eroding', hence, there is real danger that if something is not urgently done, this knowledge might be lost for good. This is due to the fact that often indigenous knowledge is passed on from older to younger generations orally, and is not documented. According to Kambizi and Afolayan (2006), it is essential to make an effort to avoid the loss of this important knowledge in order to conserve medicinal plants, especially in rural communities. There is an increasing advocacy for the integration of indigenous knowledge into mainstream science curricula.School can play an important role in ensuring this knowledge is not lost. The school is thus seen as a conduit through which this knowledge could be passed from one generation to the next. One way of doing this is to integrate indigenous

Medicinal Uses, Phytochemistry and Pharmacological Properties of Elaeodendron transvaalense

“…The extracts and compounds exhibited activities with IC 50 values, ranging from 31.4 µg/mL to 80.2 µg/mL, which was comparable to IC 50 value of 48.9 µg/mL exhibited by quercetin, the control [46]. These findings support the traditional use of the species as herbal medicine for abdominal pains [24], body pains [20], skin inflammations [19,20,30,31,32], and wounds [51].…”

“…The extract and the compounds demonstrated moderate antibacterial activities with MIC values ranging from 0.1 mg/mL to 1.7 mg/mL [54]. These findings corroborate the traditional use of the species as a herbal medicine for diarrhoea [10,18,19,20,21,22,23], sexually transmitted infections [16,35,45,46,50], skin infections [19,20,30,31,32], sore throat [32], stomach aches [19,20,21,22,23,26,27,28,29], venereal diseases [22,38], and wounds [51].…”

Instructional Strategies Used by Junior Primary Teachers in the Oshana Region of Namibia to Teach the Number Concept to Grade 1 Learners

“…Further, she argues that Namibian teachers emphasize procedural thinking and rote learning. Likewise, Kapenda et al (2015) also argues that Namibian mathematics teachers chose to develop procedural mathematics skills compared to conceptual understanding. A study by Miranda and Adler (2010) found that Namibian teachers did not use manipulatives during lessons.…”

“…The study recommended a complementary course in mathematics for these teachers. Research (see N. Feza, 2014;Kapenda et al, 2015) has argued that teachers who lack appropriate pedagogical and subject content knowledge negatively affect the extent to which their learners can learn.…”

“…Acquisition of early numeracy skills and related understandings among young learners is a worldwide challenge that has been a focus of research and interventions for many years. Research that focused on upper primary and secondary phases in Namibia revealed that most teachers lack the competencies (pedagogical skills and subject content knowledge) to teach mathematics proficiently (Courtney-Clarke, 2012;Ilukena & Scha¨fer, 2013;Kapenda et al, 2015;Miranda & Adler, 2010;National Institute for Education Development, 2009), hence, the learners' weak performance in mathematics. Even though Namibian junior primary learners have also been performing dismally in mathematics (MoE, n.d.) the researchers did not come across any Namibian research on the teaching of early numeracy skills in junior primary classes.…”