Framing Towards Culturally Relevant Practice in Nigeria High School Physics Education

Physics education in Nigeria is often critiqued for being overly theoretical and disconnected from students' cultural contexts and everyday lives. While students struggle to relate physics concepts to their lived experiences, teachers themselves are frequently blamed for lacking innovative or student-centered approaches. However, this perspective often overlooks the colonial legacies and systemic barriers that shape how teachers were trained and the resources available to them. This study uses interviews with two in-service physics teachers in Nigeria to examine how they navigate these constraints and strive to reframe physics teaching in ways that resonate with their students. Drawing on framing theory, culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP), and the concept of coloniality, the findings reveal that while the curriculum and professional development continue to privilege Western epistemologies and canonical physics knowledge, teachers are finding creative and culturally rooted ways to make physics more relevant and meaningful. Teachers like Obi and Esther leverage students' local knowledge, whether it be farming practices, musical traditions, or community challenges to build bridges between textbook content and real-world applications. Yet, this culturally relevant work remains largely informal and teacher-driven, occurring in the margins of a system still structured by colonial assumptions about what counts as valid scientific knowledge. This study argues for a reimagining of physics education in Nigeria that moves beyond deficit views of teachers, instead foregrounding the agency and resourcefulness of teachers as they negotiate and reframe physics in their classrooms.