Student achievement in science: a cross‐cultural comparison of the Second International Science Study (SISS) results in Nigeria

Abstract

This study is a secondary analysis of the Second International Science Study (SISS) data for Nigeria, looking at the overall performance of students in science tests and whether their performances differed across different cultural zones. The paper also addressed the issue of ethnic stereotyping in Nigeria. Data for the study were collected in Nigeria in 1984 and covered 11 states at the primary and secondary school levels. The sample size for primary schools is 2152 pupils from 94 schools and for secondary schools 2275 from 82 schools. The findings showed that there was a significant difference in performance across the cultural zones for the primary and secondary populations. The students’ performance on the science tests was very poor across the zones. It also showed that stereotyping of northern students as being lower achievers than southern students may not be true.