Effects of Teaching Gardening on Science Students' Attitudes toward Entrepreneurial Skills Acquisition in Jos South, Plateau State, Nigeria.

Charity, et al.: Entrepreneurial Skills Acquisition Science Education International ¦ Volume 28 ¦ Issue 2 137 for improving students’ attitudes toward the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills. Highlighting the importance of this study. Kuratko and Hodgets (2004) and UNESCO (2012) view entrepreneurial skills as skills that enable people, particularly young people, to acquire both academic knowledge and practical skills to prepare them for responsible citizenship and the world of work. Entrepreneurial skills have to do with the skills/ability of an individual to exploit an idea and create an enterprise (small or big) not only for personal gain but also for social and developmental gain ( Olugunji, 2004). Kuratko (2005) sees entrepreneurial skill as a dynamic process of vision, change, and creation, which requires the transfer of its skills and knowledge from an expert to novice. Entrepreneurial skills education by this definition then is the preparation of learners for real challenges in life after graduation from school at any level but, especially at the basic secondary level. However, entrepreneurship education is defined or seen from the foregoing, as a measure for ensuring quality and functional education for self-reliance and job creation. This definition implies that the expert is the teacher or parent who mentors the learner. Shaibu (2011) in citing Emeruwa (2006) and Ubanyi (2007) viewed entrepreneurship as attitude modification to create and develop an enterprising mind. Entrepreneurial skills acquisition-oriented education helps the students to see relevance of school to their own personal goals and achievement. It is this then, some form of mentorship by a skilled adult. This mentorship can take place either in the classroom or outside the class and all aimed at exposing the student to entrepreneurial experience toward better use of the vast opportunity he/she has to explore to solve contemporary problems. This can also be attained through teaching of biological concepts as targeted by this study. The impact of modern science in society and business world has raised the problem of acquainting science teachers and students with the social implications of science teaching and learning. The science teachers of the modern world need to understand and appreciate the dependence of a modern society on science and the changes in the structure that have been brought about by the achievement of science and technology. They should not only be able to appreciate and wonder at the modern marvels of science in business world but should also understand the social use of entrepreneurial skills in their dayto-day science affairs in the classroom, outside the classroom, and in the society at large (Das, 2006). Attitude toward entrepreneurial skills acquisition also affects job competency and productivity. An empirical study on the outputs from Nigerian tertiary institutions conducted by Chiemeke et al. (2009) ranked the developed countries higher than other developing countries for ranking academic productivity on research outputs, knowledge accumulation, and control of social and human capital formation, economic development, and improved living conditions. This study investigated the effects of teaching gardening on science students’ attitudes toward entrepreneurial skills acquisition in Jos South, Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to investigate the effects of teaching gardening on science students’ attitudes toward entrepreneurial skills acquisitions, extent to which teaching gardening skills promoted entrepreneurial skills, students’ attitudinal dispositions toward entrepreneurial skills acquisition, association between gender and students’ attitudes toward entrepreneurial skills acquisition. To achieve these objectives, two research questions were investigated and two hypotheses tested at the 0.05 level of significance. i. To what extent do gardening techniques promote entrepreneurial skills acquisition in students? ii. To what extent does teaching of gardening account for the attitudes of male and female students toward entrepreneurial skills acquisition? iii. There is no significant difference between the attitudes of students taught gardening, toward entrepreneurial skills acquisition and those of students not taught iv. There is no significant difference between the attitudes of male and female students exposed to gardening, toward entrepreneurial skills acquisition. The theoretical framework for the study was anchored on Vygotsky’s (1978) theory of social influence on cognitive development. Vygotsky posits that the learner seeks to understand the actions or instructions provided by the tutor (teacher or parent) then, internalizes the information using it to guide or regulate his/her own performance.