Basic Science as a Catalyst for Entrepreneurial Development at the Upper Basic Education Level in Benue State, Nigeria

Basic Science is one of the core subjects at the basic level of education. It aims to provide a sound base of both the process and skills of science as unified entity to young pupils at primary and junior secondary school levels. This paper examined Basic Science as a catalyst for entrepreneurial development at the Upper Basic Education level in Benue State, Nigeria. The article highlighted the nature and concept of the subject, brought out skills enshrined in Basic Science curriculum many of which are required and important entrepreneurially. It also discussed the effective methods of developing these important skills in our pupils which include child-centred, activity-based demonstration and excursion methods. The concepts of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education as well as entrepreneurial skills were also examined. The role of the Basic Science teachers in the development of entrepreneurial skills in pupils at Upper Basic Education level in Benue State was looked into which included mastery of the subject matter, teacher ability to motivate the students, psychomotor skills of the teacher and managerial skills among others. The paper also examined the factors that militate against the development of entrepreneurial skills in Basic Science at the Upper Basic Education level such as inadequate teacher preparation, absence and poor laboratories as well as low level motivation of teachers. It was concluded that Basic Science played a vital role in the development of entrepreneurial skills at the Upper Basic Education level in Benue State. The paper recommended among others, that entrepreneurship education should be made part of science teachers’ education at various level of education in Benue State, Nigeria.VillageMath Educational Review (VER) is an International/Multidisciplinary Journal of the Network for Grassroots Science and Mathematics Education (The VillageMath Network), A publication of VillageMath Educational Services (CAC RC: 4097888