PERCEPTIONS OF SCIENCE TEACHERS TOWARDS TEACHING IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the perception of science teachers towards science teaching in senior secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study determined the perception of science teachers towards science teaching on the basis of their gender and years of teaching experience. It was a survey research in which simple random sampling technique was used to select 275 science teachers from secondary schools in Lagos state, Nigeria. Two hundred and eight five Science teachers were sampled from senior secondary schools, of the 285 questionnaires distributed, 275 were retrieved. The data collected were analyzed using frequency count, percentages and t-test. These were used to answer the research questions and also test the hypotheses. The findings of the study showed that: (i) science teachers generally had positive perception towards science teaching (t_cal.= 20.43 at p < 0.05);  (ii)  there was no significant difference in the perception of science teachers towards science teaching based on their gender (t_cal.= 0.39 at p > 0.05); and (iii) there was no significant difference in the perception of science teachers towards science teaching based on their years of teaching experience (t_cal.= 1.40 at p > 0.05). The implications are discussed.