The book, which explores the significance of power in the historical development of the physical science curriculum in South Africa, is available in university libraries worldwide and will be published in other languages as part of the Curriculum Studies Worldwide Series alongside other books penned by curriculum specialists.

“The book is an endeavour to come up with new ideas for curriculum development that are more meaningful and appropriate for South African learners and university students,” says Koopman.

“We need more curriculum theorists in South Africa, especially in science education because most of the time we’re looking to the west and Europe for the design and development of curricula.”

He adds that he wrote the book in order to share with the rest of the world locally produced knowledge in science education.

All the chapters but one focus on phenomenology (lived experiences of teachers in South Africa).

“The book makes an argument for phenomenology as a philosophy for teaching in which science teachers can focus more on embracing the use of senses in the classroom.”

After publishing research articles in prestigious journals locally and abroad, last year Koopman decided to pen his debut book.

Printed and published by Palgrave MacMillan in the United States in October, the monograph can be bought online at about R1 900 per copy.

It was edited by the greatest curriculum scholars in the world, William PInar from University of British Colombia, and Janet Miller from New York University.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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A Senior Lecturer in the Media Department, Dr Trust Matsilele, is one of the editors of a new book which shines a spotlight on the intersection of journalism and social media.

Matsilele is also among the authors of the book, which is titled: New Journalism Ecologies in East and Southern Africa and is “the first and only edited volume looking at the appropriation of social media for journalistic purposes in Africa”.

It is published by Palgrave Macmillan and the other editors are Shepherd Mpofu, Associate Professor of Media and Communication at UNISA and Dumisani Moyo, Executive Dean of Humanities at North West University.

The book presents case studies of news media employing and integrating social media into their news production practices. It links social media use to journalistic practices and news production processes in the digital age of the Global South.

The Media Department’s Dr Blessing Makwambeni is also one of the authors.

Matsilele said academics’ scholarly contribution in terms of research should speak to the curriculum that they offer their students.

“I think one always has to observe changes that happen in the discipline that we teach as academics so that what we teach is reflective of the changes that are happening. It would be unfortunate if we rely only on academic contributions of the 1950s and 1960s and I think this is what’s happened in this case. There should be a conversation between what we teach and what we research,”

Since joining CPUT in 2019 he has published more than 30 articles and last year his first book, a monograph titled: Social Media and Digital Dissidence in Zimbabwe, was released.

Some of Matsilele’s upcoming projects and activities include:

• Metavoicing, trust-building mechanisms and partisan messaging, informational, and partisan messaging: A study of social media uses by selected South Africa’s African female politicians (with Dr Sisanda Nkoala)
• An edited book titled: Journalism in Precarity, co-edited with academics in Portugal, South Africa and China
• A second monograph titled Digital Politics in Africa with an academic in Portugal
• An article on AI adoption in community media with two other CPUT academics, John Bulani and Dr Blessing Makwambeni
• A press council project studying the rulings on media complaints since 2018 with Dr Sisanda Nkoala
• Speaking at the Futures Media Conference at the London School of Economics in June

Written by Ilse Fredericks

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