Investigating the Contents of the Senior Secondary School Chemistry Curriculum that can Inculcate Entrepreneurial Skills among Students in Nigeria

Abstract

Entrepreneurship or business creation and ownership has been revealed to be playing very important roles in the economic development of any country as it helps in alleviating the problem of unemployment of the citizens of the country. In this paper the contents of the senior secondary school curriculum which promotes the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills were identified. Also the different approaches that should be used in teaching chemistry to promote the inculcation of these skills were also identified. A total of fourty chemistry teachers drawn from thirty out of sixty-five government owned secondary schools and ten industrialists in Nsukka education zone constituted the sample. The instrument used was a self structured questionnaire. The results were presented on tables as well as the hypothesis tested with the t-test. The findings revealed that thirty three out of the forty eight major topics in the senior secondary school chemistry curriculum promote the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills while seventeen do not. Also the use of such approaches like field trip/excursion, laboratory work, inquiry approach, discovery approach and practical activities in teaching the contents will highly promote the inculcation of entrepreneurial skills among the students. However, there is no significant difference between scores from teachers and industrialists in the contents that can promote entrepreneurial skills by our students.