Worldview and Academic Self-Concept (ASC) as Predictors of Biology Achievement among Nigerian Senior Secondary School Students Mbajiorgu, Ngozika M. & Ude, Veronica Dept. of Science and Computer Education Enugu State University of Science and Technology Enugu, Nigeria Email: nmbajiorgu@yahoo.com Abstract In this study, a global predictor variable, worldview, and a specific predictor variable, Academic Self- Concept (ASC), were investigated for their predictive powers on achievement in biology. Participants were final year secondary school students (N=530, age = 16- to18- year-olds) from Nigeria. Data for the study came from two instruments, the Academic Self-Concept Scale (ASCS) and the Belief Systems Analysis Scale (BSAS) as well as from the final Senior Secondary Certificate Examination. Results from the analysis of data using spearman rho correlation and regression analysis suggest that worldview is a better predictor than ASC, violating the specificity matching principle. It was also found that ASC was negatively correlated to worldview and mediated between worldview and achievement. Chance evidence from the study also reveals this cohort of students to believe in the intervention of a deity (God) in nature. Science education cannot, therefore, neglect the worldview of students if a major breakthrough is to be recorded in its research and provisions for the minority groups. Keywords: worldview, academic self-concept, biology achievement, specificity matching What Inhibits Science Learning? What really inhibits science learning? Put in another way what are the comparative powers of conceptual paradigms, socio-cultural paradigms and psychosocial paradigms in accessing science knowledge? These are the ultimate questions science education efforts always inadvertently try to answer. Educators therefore, continuously seek for variables to manipulate in order to enhance learning. It does appear that for different cultures the variables to be thus manipulated would differ. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1995-2007 reveal that African countries continuously rank low in mathematics and science achievement. The results of the TIMSS 2007 study further reveal that blacks are disadvantaged in accessing mathematics and science knowledge even in USA (Gonzales, Williams, Jocelyn, Roey, Kastberg & Brenwald, 2008). It is interesting to note that on the contrary, the Asian countries and culture do well in their native countries or as a sub-culture within the USA. What then can we attribute these trends to? Can the patterns be sufficiently understood to direct science education provisions? From this general perspective we consider the comparative roles of one psychosocial paradigm (academic self concept) and a socio-cultural paradigm (worldview) in accessing science knowledge. Worldview Worldview refers to the totality of presuppositions developed by an individual that organise and direct knowledge and beliefs (Mbajiorgu, 2003). These originate from the culture of a group of people as a result of their unique world experiences over several millennia. In science education we restrict these basic assumptions or presuppositions “to the amalgam of experiences and explanations of phenomena developed from birth” (Mbajiorgu, 2003, p. 147). Kreitzer (2010) conceives worldview to be the fundamental cognitive, affective and evaluative presuppositions a group of people possess about natural phenomena and which they use to order their lives. Kearney (1975) one of the pioneers of worldview study identified six broad universal categories of worldview to include, Relationships, Causality, Time