The Impact of Junior Secondary Basic Science on Senior Secondary Physics Outcome in Rivers State, Nigeria

The study investigated the impact of Basic Education Certificate Education (BECE), considering Basic Science as a predictor of Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) Physics performance in public secondary schools in Port Harcourt metropolis. The study employed both ex-post facto and correlational design. A sample of 593 students was employed for the study and purposive sampling technique was utilized to select the sample. The study was anchored on the Motivational Systems Theory of Academic Achievement. Three research questions and three corresponding hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data used for the study was collected directly from the examining bodies. The data obtained was analyzed using simple linear regression statistics. The findings of the study showed BECE Basic Science performance does not significantly predict SSCE Physics performance (R² = .001; β = 0.028, P > 0.05), accounting for only 0.1% of the variance in students' Physics scores. Gender-based analysis indicated that female students' BECE Basic Science performance had no significant predictive effect on SSCE Physics (R² = .004; β = -0.064, P > 0.05), explaining only 0.4% of the variance, while male students' BECE Basic Science scores also showed no significant prediction (R² = .005; β = 0.069, P > 0.05), explaining 0.5% of the variance. Based on these findings, it was recommended that the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) review the junior secondary Basic Science curriculum to incorporate more Physics-related content, ensuring early exposure to fundamental Physics concepts.