Shaping the knowledge society in the 21st century classroom: An HIV/AIDS action research project

Abstract

In this article I set out to describe an HIV/AIDS project that I did with a Grade 6 class. This action research project, although conducted in a primary school classroom, has important implications for future teachers who are aware of and critical enough to take up social issues and other challenges in their quest to shape the twenty-first century into a knowledge society. My education project entailed the role of the teacher as a researcher and critical change agent in an HIV/AIDS-challenged society. My investigation embodied a variety of concepts drawn from theorists such as Gramsci (1971), Habermas (1972), Freire (1982), Giroux (1988), McLaren (2006) and McNiff (2007a). This action research project must, however, not be seen as a blueprint or a recipe for changing a teacher's classroom practice, but should rather be viewed as an attempt by a teacher to give a 'voice' to, and 'empower', his learners to make meaning of their existence, including himself.