Choosing a career in science: The Nigerian student perception

Abstract

The selection of subjects is a vital incident in the life of the senior secondary school child hence the need for proper guidance and encouragement to boost their interest and perception of science subjects. In this research a total of 180 senior secondary III students (91 boys and 89 girls) were carefully selected from four secondary schools in Delta State Nigeria, for the study. One research question and 4 hypotheses guided the study. The instrument used is the Subject Choice and Perception Questionnaire (SCAPQ). It was discovered that 40.6% of the students studying sciences as a result of personal interest had better perception of sciences than the 32.7%, 20.6% and 6.1%, influenced to study science by parental, teacher and gender factors respectively. Also, there was no significant difference between perception of boys and girls about science subjects. Conclusion and recommendations were made based on the results.