From Passive Learners to Nation Builders: The Case for Activity-Based Chemistry Curriculum Reform in Nigerian Secondary Schools

Abstract

Nigeria's secondary school chemistry education system has long failed to cultivate the problem-solving, entrepreneurial, environmental, and civic competencies that sustainable national development demands. Rooted in a teacher-centred, lecture-based tradition inherited from the colonial era, the conventional curriculum continues to produce graduates who are academically certified yet developmentally under-equipped. This study examined the perceived role of activity-based learning (ABL) in addressing these gaps, and the extent to which the current curriculum meets national developmental needs, from the perspectives of chemistry teachers and students in Owerri Municipal Council, Imo State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey was conducted with 255 SS2 students and 14 chemistry teachers (n = 269) drawn from six government secondary schools, using a validated 36-item, four-point Likert-scale questionnaire analysed against a decision threshold of 2.50, where higher scores indicate stronger agreement. Respondents strongly affirmed ABL's developmental potential across seven dimensions, including problem-solving, social cohesion, entrepreneurship, environmental literacy, communication skills, civic thinking, and university preparation, yielding a grand mean of 3.16 out of 4.00. Conversely, the conventional curriculum was assessed as inadequate across all equivalent dimensions, with a grand mean of 2.63, only marginally above the acceptance threshold. These findings constitute an evidence-based mandate for urgent curriculum reform, sustained investment in laboratory infrastructure, and systematic teacher professional development aligned with Nigeria's national development goals.