The relationship between African traditional cosmology and students’ acquisition of a science process skill

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Abstract
The significance of the process skill of observation cannot be overemphasized in the teaching and learning of school science to which the provision of explanations about natural phenomena in the world is central. The study investigated the supposition that observational skills can be influenced by students’ belief in traditional African cosmology, beliefs and superstitions. Data were collected from 319 pre‐degree science students from one of the Nigerian universities using the Traditional Cosmology Test (TCT) and the Test of Observational Skills (TOS). The results showed that students with a high level of belief in African traditional cosmology, made significantly fewer correct observations (p < 0.001) in comparison with those with a low level of belief. There is a strong possibility, as interviews with a random selection of subjects show, that traditional cosmology could have been a major factor responsible for this performance difference in observation. The results of the study have significant implications for curriculum developers and proponents of inquiry‐based science programmes in African classrooms.

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