The intentional inculcation of Social Studies, Science and Technology can strengthen democratic citizenry. It also equip active child citizens with scientific reasoning skills for informed decision-making on numerous SSI issues. Thus, NOS is imperative to the understanding of science in its sociocultural context (Erduran & Dagher 2015). To describe the nature of knowledge systems one should be mindful of the unique characteristics and suppositions of this knowledge system, based on how it has developed socially, philosophically, historically and scientifically (Abd-El-Khalick et al. 1998; Hodson 2009). Nature of science is best defined by looking at three different aspects, namely (1) preserving the historicity of knowledge systems, (2) promoting citizenship through knowledge systems and (3) the curriculum as a collective knowledge system.

Individuals are not born with knowledge about the past; they intentionally have to develop cognisance of and appreciation for the meaning of historical knowledge systems (Le Roux 2013; Marwick 2001; Nutbrown & Clough 2014). Actively engaging with historical knowledge systems not only stimulates one’s thinking, emotions and understanding but also enables one to reconnect knowledge systems (Le Roux 2013; Marwick 2001; Nutbrown & Clough 2014). Connected knowledge systems help reconstruct or elaborate on existing knowledge systems in order to contribute, share, transform and reach consensus on current thinking (Rückriem 2003; Sannino, Daniels & Gutiérrez 2009). By preserving knowledge systems, a historical consciousness within society is sustained. Saving past voices from being forgotten and generating a full, trustworthy and accurate record of a knowledge system are beneficial to current and future generations (Booyse et al. 2013). Thus, any discontinuity or disconnectedness between past and present knowledge systems can have far-reaching consequences.

Standing at the beginning of the 21st century, astonishingly, few inquiries have been made to map the historicity of South African curricula or the intended science knowledge system for school learners (Pinar 2010; Soudien 2010). We confirm that BK for the young child has not been intellectually mapped or scrutinised – neither in the apartheid Environmental Education syllabus (Departement van Onderwys [DvO] 1991; Du Raan 1978; Lea & Gildenhuys 1967a, 1967b) nor in the post-apartheid Life Skills curricula (Department of Education [DoE] 2002, 2003, 2011) could we locate a historiography for early childhood curricula implemented. A disconnected knowledge system not only impoverishes the national education system and teacher preparation programmes from benefiting from international discoveries but also deprives societies of cultivating a particularly envisioned citizen and inhibits individuals to advance with the demands of the 21st century (Asabere-Ameyaw, Sefa Dei & Raheem 2012; Booyse et al. 2013; Horsthemke et al. 2013).

An SSI knowledge system resonates with the core of human existence – our yearning for interconnectedness – and ultimately deepens our relationship with society and a supreme source in the metaphysical realms (Asabere-Ameyaw et al. 2012). Knowledge systems are inherently and genetically disposed to all societies and are, therefore, not a sole product of a society or country, as one may sometimes be led to believe (Asabere-Ameyaw et al. 2012; Le Roux 2013). Therefore, the transference and progression of knowledge systems promote understanding and a sense of belonging in the child citizen, as well as interconnectivity among the child citizen, society and his or her environment. The subjects Social Studies, Science and Technology are socially and culturally inspired knowledge systems (Abd-El-Khalick et al. 1998; Hodson 2009), and these knowledge systems contribute to human development on an interpersonal, civic, moral and cognitive level (Booyse et al. 2013). Science knowledge systems, therefore, prepare child citizens for the demands of the 21st century.

In relation to what kind of citizen is being envisioned for South Africa, the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) (DoE 2011) aims to cultivate individuals who are problem-solvers and critical and creative thinkers, who work effectively both as individuals and with others as members of a team. It is expected that learners should be able to organise and manage themselves and their activities responsibly and effectively, use Science and Technology effectively, show responsibility towards the environment and the health of others and demonstrate an understanding of the world as a set of related systems that are context-bound.

These ideals can be interpreted as cultivating democratic citizens who are morally sound, adaptive to change, technologically innovative and SSI literate. However, we call these postulations into question, as we have not been persuaded that these envisaged intentions are intentionally put into practice. As argued before, scholars emphasise that SSI knowledge systems should be intentionally and mindfully cultivated in the early years. In the CAPS, it is being implied that by merely teaching the content of the curriculum, the child will instinctively or incidentally be cultivated into a child citizen. The reason why we are contesting this notion is that the cultivation of citizenship is envisaged as being developed as a general (delayed) outcome (DoE 2011) and it is expected of the teacher to keep these general outcomes in mind when teaching the Life Skills subject, but the cultivation of citizenship is neither intentionally attained by a learning activity nor formally assessed.

A general understanding of a curriculum is that it serves as a framework for teaching, learning and assessing a learner with regard to a specific content domain. There are two types of curriculum frameworks in South Africa. The curriculum for the early years is an integrated curriculum, and the phases beyond that utilise a collection curriculum. The characteristics of an integrated curriculum are that it consists of subject areas that are not strongly related to one another, which requires holistic teaching because the boundaries are weakly structured (Hoadley & Jansen 2003). A collection curriculum, on the other hand, has subject areas that are closely linked, where the knowledge systems are taught as separate entities; the curriculum has boundaries to keep the content apart and is strong in structure (Hoadley & Jansen 2003).

In the foundation phase in South African schools, one teacher is responsible for teaching the integrated curriculum, which consists of three respective subjects, namely Languages, Mathematics and Life Skills. The subject Life Skills has been organised into four study areas, namely Beginning Knowledge, Personal and Social Well-being, Creative Arts and Physical Education, in order to ensure that the foundational skills, values and concepts of early childhood development and the subjects offered in Grades 4–12 are taught and developed in Grades R to 3 (DoE 2011). The content of BK is integrated and presented as topics or themes to the young child.

Teaching BK in the early years appears not to require considerable effort, time or knowledge, as only 1–2 hours per week in a 5-week cycle are dedicated to teaching this diverse science knowledge system. The assessment of Life Skills in the early years predominantly includes informal observations, discussions, role play, demonstrations and, on occasion, written recordings (DoE 2011). The reason for this is that Life Skills assessment focuses on the young child’s holistic development and his or her integrated understanding of concepts, skills and values, and therefore formal assessment of specific content knowledge is postponed to when learners progress to the Intermediate Phase (DoE 2011). On the other hand, in the collection curriculum of the Intermediate Phase for Grades 4–6, the BK knowledge system is now being educated as separate and isolated subjects, called Social Sciences, Natural Sciences and Technology (DoE 2011). The Intermediate Phase teacher requires approximately 7–8 hours per week to teach these subjects, which also require formal assessment. It seems that instilling a science knowledge system is primarily the responsibility of the Grade 4 teacher.

In the historicity of types of curricula having been implemented in the early years in South Africa, the provincial syllabus for Environmental Education adopted an integrated curriculum (Du Raan 1978; DvO 1991; Lea & Gildenhuys 1967a, 1967b). The first National Curriculum Statement having been implemented in the post-apartheid era was a collection curriculum. This curriculum consisted of eight subjects, of which Social Studies, Natural Science, Technology and Economics Business Sciences were taught as respective knowledge systems to the young child (DoE 2001). The collection curriculum of the National Curriculum Statement was soon revised and replaced with an integrated curriculum. The subject Life Skills came into existence, and all science knowledge systems were merged into this subject (DoE 2003, 2011). Although it has been decreed that an integrated, fused and topic-orientated curriculum better prepares the young child for the transition to Grade 4, we are not convinced of this point. The radical shift from an integrated curriculum to a collection curriculum is challenging for young learners, as they suddenly need to rotate among teachers, they are introduced to subject-specific content and no longer themes and topics, and the didactical application changes and they are now formally assessed on what they have learnt. Not only is there a historical disconnectedness among South African curricula and syllabi, but moreover these curricula do not correlate with international frameworks for teaching, learning and assessment of science knowledge systems from kindergarten to Grade 12 (ISTE 2008; NCSS 2010; NFAS 1998; NGSS 2013; NRC 2011).

Delineating the nature of a science knowledge system (e.g. NOS) guides educators to interpret and implement an intended SSI knowledge system decorously and, furthermore, prevents them from developing misconceptions or false beliefs about what its underlying knowledge, skills and values are (Lederman et al. 2002). Therefore, demarcating the nature of BK as a study area is fundamental not only to teaching and learning an SSI knowledge system in the early years but also to cultivating democratic and active child citizens.

The genetic law of cultural development and the CHAT originated from the groundbreaking work of Russian psychologist L.S. Vygotsky, with his cohort, Alexander Luria and Alexei Leont’ev (Sannino et al. 2009; Smidt 2009). Vygotsky took a keen interest in the work of philosopher Friedrich Hegel and sociologist Karl Marx, which influenced his thinking about context, social learning and culture (Sannino et al. 2009; Smidt 2009). Vygotsky’s doctrines were only translated and made public after his death, following which various extended studies have since been conducted as third-generation cohorts, that is, Engeström, Miettinen and Punamäki (1999), Holzman (2009), Kozulin (2004), Sannino et al. (2009), Virkkunen (2009) and Wertsch and Tulviste (1992). Cultural–historical activity theory, therefore, signposts diverse factors that influence the acquisition of SSI knowledge systems for cultural development, that is, mediation and cultural tools, culture and context, language, concepts and thinking, play, and the zone of proximal development (Engeström et al. 1999; Holzman 2009; Kozulin 2004; Smidt 2009).

The general genetic law of cultural development of a knowledge system for Vygotsky (1981, 1997) accentuates the importance of developmental transitions as a way of understanding humans’ mental functioning by means of tracing it back through the developmental changes it has undergone (Wertsch & Tulviste 1992). Third-generation scholars have optimised Vygotsky’s notion by elaborating on the importance of depicting a clear trajectory of a knowledge system by means of exploring how historical activity systems have helped shape current and potential future activity systems (Sannino et al. 2009). The mental functioning of any society about a knowledge system can, therefore, be studied through its historical trends.

How the young child acquires knowledge systems is an important focus of cultural–historical scholars. Vygotsky (1981, 1997) depicts in his scholarly writing that the internalisation of a socially instilled knowledge system by the young child ultimately transforms his or her cognisance, experience, connection and functioning. The intentional acquisition of a knowledge system transforms how the young child comes to express and ascribe meaning to his or her experience of the me-you-world because social relations genetically underlie all higher functions and behaviours (Engeström et al. 1999; Holzman 2009; Kozulin 2004; Smidt 2009; Wertsch & Tulviste 1992). The child’s meaning-making process is not directed at the environment alone but instead is mediated through cultural tools or artefacts as a collective activity with others towards a common goal (Engeström et al. 1999; Holzman 2009; Kozulin 2004; Smidt 2009; Wertsch & Tulviste 1992). For third-generation theorists, the emphasis is on the community, collaboration, environment, and tools and signs that are shaped over time and contexts. The acquisition of a knowledge system that transforms the young child’s thinking, use of language and functioning does not rely on memorising but instead on comprehension and using scientific language to express his or her everyday experiences that take place under the guidance of a significant other (Fleer & Pramling 2015; Holzman 2009; Smidt 2009). Socio-scientific issues concepts, language, values and skills are, therefore, not an inherent part of the young child’s consciousness, but rather such a knowledge system is culturally-historically inspired, that is, to acquire such a knowledge system requires context and an intentional-dialectical relationship through social and cultural interventions (Eshach 2006; Fleer & Pramling 2015; Seefeldt et al. 2014; Settlage & Southerland 2012).

The ecological systems theory and the media theory raised our awareness of the multifaceted influences that contribute to an SSI knowledge system. Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) eco-systemic perspective on the development of the young child indicates how different levels of interacting systems within the social context influence how a child acquires a knowledge system. The complexity of these interrelated and interactive systems (micro, exo, meso, macro and chrono) influences the knowledge systems from a social, cultural and ecological point of view (Donald, Lazarus & Lolwana 2010). As for the media theory, this particular theory sets out how external cultural–historical changes influence knowledge systems, cultural tools and media, as well as the effect they have on the stability of activity systems (Giesecke 2005; Rückriem 2003). A cultural tool can be a physical apparatus or instrument or a medium through which semantic systems and thinking as well as worldviews are constructed and conveyed, which contributes to current knowledge systems and their future (Giesecke 2005; Rückriem 2003). Rückriem (2003) rightfully states that cultural tools are unavoidable, irreversible, general and even universal – they revolutionise the communicable structure, its interacting systems and, ultimately, the thinking and knowledge of humans. Cultural tools, as tooled knowledge, give researchers the opportunity to understand the trajectory of societal, educational and technological developments by scrutinising the functioning of the tool and how it has transferred knowledge systems throughout history.

For humans, knowledge systems do not merely exist but instead are consistently open to adaptation, expansion and transformation to progress, and they advance with current living standards and futuristic expectations (Asabere-Ameyaw et al. 2012; Horsthemke et al. 2013). As humans advance, so do knowledge systems, skills, cultural tools and media as well as values. Constructing a hybridised view by merging the three theories (Hybrid CHAT) enabled us to appreciate how SSI knowledge systems and, therefore, BK as a study area have been constructed and transferred historically, along with how knowledge systems have been reconstructed and reshaped to fit the expectancies of modern life (Du Preez 2016).

The Hybrid CHAT theoretical framework enabled us to identify the three most significant contributors that, in our opinion, abetted in shaping SSI knowledge systems internationally and in the BK study area nationally. These activity systems are represented by ‘educational’, ‘societal’ and ‘technological’. Because of the complex nature of activity systems, it cannot always be sufficiently explained, but requires one to explore it using multi-voicedness.

The multi-voicedness of each of the three activity systems enabled us to identify underlying criteria for each perpendicular system in order to conduct a vertical analysis within each of the six epochs (see Box 1 and Figure 1). By utilising the appropriate perpendicular criteria, we could then compare the multiple historical perspectives held by both international and national bodies of scholarship about the development of SSI knowledge systems and the BK study area. The vast volume of the typographical database was constructed for each of the three respective activity systems over six epochs. To analyse the educational activity system perpendicularly we drew on the knowledge systems that an educator should include when inculcating SSI in the early years (Ball et al. 2008; Shulman 1986, 1987). Seven knowledge typologies were categorised as subject matter knowledge (SMK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), each with their underlying typologies (Ball et al. 2008; Shulman 1986, 1987). Subject matter knowledge includes common content knowledge (CCK), horizon content knowledge (HCK) and specialised content knowledge (SCK) (Ball et al. 2008; Shulman 1986, 1987). As for pedagogical content knowledge, the three knowledge typologies that are of importance are knowledge of curriculum (KC), knowledge of content and students (KCS) and knowledge of content and teaching (KCT) (Ball et al. 2008; Shulman 1986, 1987).

For the societal activity system, we decided on scientific literacy as the major knowledge typology, with five underlying knowledge typologies (De Boer 2000; Linder et al. 2011; Roberts 2007, 2011). Scientific literacy can best account for societal requirements that contributed to the changes and progress in SSI knowledge systems through the years and according to which a teacher has a responsibility to cultivate learners for citizenship and 21st-century skills (De Boer 2000; Linder et al. 2011; Roberts 2007, 2011). Scientific literacy draws on two visions, which feeds into cultivating a knowledge society (KS). The three knowledge typologies associated with KS are language as codified knowledge, politics and economy as personal knowledge and, lastly, cultural tools as tooled knowledge. Instilling Scientific Literacy in SSI education not only advances educational, social and cultural experience but also equips the young child with the knowledge, skills and values to participate in current and future cultural–societal events (De Boer 2000; Linder et al. 2011; Roberts 2007, 2011).

We incorporated in the technological activity system educational technology and technology pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) as our knowledge typologies for an educator (Koehler et al. 2014; Mishra & Koehler 2006; Roblyer & Doering 2014). The reason for this is that educational technology is not limited to only machines, physical material and software or hardware but also embraces pedagogical and didactical techniques and methods to promote SSI teaching-learning and bring about change in the young child’s thinking and functioning (Giesecke 2005; Rückriem 2003). To implement educational technology in the early years requires a sound understanding of technology pedagogical content knowledge, together with knowledge of the 21st-century skills that the young child needs to acquire, in other words, knowledge of content, which includes concepts, skills and values; knowledge of pedagogy, which incorporates teaching-learning processes and practices; and knowledge of technology, which includes the classroom equipment, advanced tools and 21st-century skills akin to habits of mind (Koehler et al. 2014; Mishra & Koehler 2006; Roblyer & Doering 2014). Understanding the multi-voicedness of each activity system is imperative for a conceptual understanding; however, historicity is required for a contextual understanding.

To explore the development of the SSI knowledge system and BK as a study area through its genetic origin we drew on the historicity principle. Looking at the rich historical account of national and international occurrences enabled us to inaugurate a timeline or epoch, consisting of six national educational periods (Booyse et al. 2013), which we merged with the six most significant international societal and technological transitions (Dever & Falconer 2008; Luke 1989; McLuhan 1962). The synthesised and synchronised time epochs (see Table 1 and Figure 1) that we utilised in our historical research inquiry are as follows: (1) precolonial times: traditional education (1400–1652); (2) colonial times: Dutch colonisation and education (1652–1806); (3) industrial and progressive era: British rule and education (1806–1899); (4) Child Study Movement era: missionaries, Boer Republics, wars, the end of union and education (1899–1948); (5) post-World War era: National Party rule and apartheid education (1948–1994); and the accountability and electronic era: democratic education (post-1994–2017). Seeing that activity systems do not function in isolation at a specific moment in time, it is also important to explore the interaction, tensions and contradictions that can occur when perpendicular systems are conglomerated.

As argued earlier, the fact that some curricula and syllabi, together with the body of scholarship, for decades postulated the assumption that the young child should only be educated to become literate on basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic clearly conveys the possibility that knowledge systems can become stagnant and reluctant to advance. In order to detect openness for change in an activity system we created horizontal tensions (see Table 1 and Figure 1), called ‘contradictions’, between the activity systems over a historical period by conglomerating the three activity systems into the (1) educational–societal, (2) educational–technological and (3) technological–societal systems. These conglomerated activity systems enabled us to develop an understanding about the activity that occurred among them and how this contributes to shaping or stagnating SSI knowledge systems across six epochs. Change and expansion are inevitable as no activity system can remain stagnant incessantly; thus, investigating the possibilities for transformation is crucial.

Activity systems can undergo transformation when the purpose of and motivation for the activity have been reconceptualised by the members and they want to embrace the possibility for change and move away from the former mode of the activity (Engeström 2001). By applying the proposed theoretical and analytical frameworks, we could explore the constructed SSI knowledge system over an extended historical period to substantiate or detect connectedness or anomalies in the knowledge systems, internationally and nationally (Du Preez 2016). Furthermore, we could ascertain whether the activity systems were open to transformation or, to the contrary, what was inhibiting the activity system from progressing (Du Preez 2016). The possibility that expansive transformations in activity systems could lead to changes necessitates the identification of predominant trends from both the perpendicular (vertical) analysis and the conglomerated (horizontal) analysis (Du Preez 2016).