Levels of Acquisition of Scientific Literacy among Senior Secondary Three Science Students in Ebonyi State, Nigeria
Raymond O. Ozobu, Rose C. Anamezie
This study looks at the level of scientific literacy possessed by senior secondary three science students in Ebonyi State. Three research questions and three null hypotheses were formulated for the study. The population composed of 3462 SS3 science student s from Abakaliki Education Zone. A sample of 346 science students making 10% of the population was selected. The instrument for data collection was a Test of Levels of Scientific Literacy (TOLSL) adapted by the researcher and validated by experts. A reliability estimate of 0.73 was obtained using Kuder Richardson KR -20 formula. Friedman Chi-Square (χ2) test of the mean and mean rank was used for answering research question 1 and analyzing hypothesis 1. Mann Whitney (U and Z) test was also used for answering research questions 2 and 3 as well as analyzing hypotheses 2 and 3. It was found that the SS 3 science students possessed more of nominal scientific literacy, less of functional and least of structural scientific literacy. Gender was significant in the acquisition of scientific literacy because, males possessed more of nominal while females possessed more of functional and structural scientific literacy. Location was also significant as science students in the urban schools possessed more scientific literacy than their counterparts in schools located in the rural areas. It was recommended that science teachers should adopt better methods and strategies for teaching science in order to increase the possession of scientific literacy among students.