IDENTIFICATION OF PHYSICS CONTENTS THAT CAN PROMOTE ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS AMONG SENIOR SECONDARY PHYSICS STUDENTS

Abstract

One of the major crises facing Nigeria today is the high rate of unemployment and drop out of its youths from secondary schools. This h as been found to be one of the reasons for the current high rate of extreme poverty and hunger in the society. Entrepreneurial Education is the process of providing individuals with concepts and skills to recognize opportunities that others have overlooked and to have the insight, self - esteem and knowledge to act where others have h e s i t a t e d. E n t r e p r e n e u r i al E d u c a t io n h elp s t o d e v elo p i n y o u t h s, t h e entrepreneurial spirit to make many drop outs of school youths who are jobless roaming the streets to embark o n their own self - employment . In this paper , the contents of the Senior Secondary School Physics curriculum which promote the a c q ui si t io n o f e n t r e p r e n e u r i al s k ills w e r e identified . Als o t h e d i f f e r e n t approaches that should be used in teaching Physics to promote the inculcation of these skills were also identified.  A total of forty Physics teachers were drawn from thirty out of sixty - five government owned secondary schools and also ten i n d u s t r i ali s t s i n N n e wi E d u c a t io n Z o n e. T h e i n s t r u m e n t w a s self - structured questionnaire. The results were presented on tables. Two research questions and one hypothesis were stated. Mean and standard deviation were used in answering the research ques tions while t - test statistics was employed in testing the sole h y p o t h e si s. T h e f i n d i n g s r e v e al e d t h a t t h i r t y - o n e o u t o f f o r t y - e i g h t m a j o r t o p ic s i n t h e S e ni o r S e c o n d a r y S c h o ol P h y si c s c u r r i c ulu m p r o m o t e t h e acquisition of entrepreneurial skills. Also the u se of such approaches like field trip/excursion, laboratory work, inquiry, discovery approach, concept mapping a n d p r a c t ic al a c t i vi t i e s i n t e a c h i n g t h e c o n t e n t s will h i g hly p r o m o t e t h e inculcation of entrepreneurial skill among the Physics students. Howeve r, there i s n o s i g ni f i c a n t d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n s c o r e s f r o m P h y si c s t e a c h e r s a n d industrialists in the contents that can promote entrepreneurial skills by the Physics students.