‘CHANGING OF PARENTS’ PERCEPTION IN EDUCATING FEMALE STUDENTS IN NIGERIAN SCIENCE

Abstract

Parents are considered as the most vital influence for the education of female students, there has been a vast area of research on how science education is perceived by parents and society in general.  In Nigeria, the parents' mindset about the education of female students is not encouraging Thus, this paper presents the results of impact of carrying out science home projects by five female students on their parents’ perception of their daughters’ science learning.  The home project is part of a science module in a bigger study.   Data were collected from interviews with the female students and their parents and observation during the implementation of the home projects.  The interview was done after the home project.    The interview data was transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. The data was triangulated with the observation field notes. The result reveals that the parents' mindsets are positively changed. We also point out the implication of the of this study and the future researches about the education of female students is suggested. The home projects were found to be helpful to makes parents to see the importance of learning science by their female daughters so that they can change their thought and enrol more of their daughters to secondary school to learn science and further their studies at higher institution.