Professor Ogunniyi was the Head of Science and Mathematics Education Unit, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, prior to assuming the UNESCO Chair in the School of Science and Mathematics Education, University of the Western Cape in 1995.
Professor Ogunniyi’s research focus revolves around philosophical and cultural studies in science and science education dealing with the nature of science and indigenous knowledge systems and how the two worldviews are construed and/or used by teachers and learners to interpret experience.
Based on the extant literature and research findings in the area, he proposed the harmonious Dualism Hypothesis in 1988, modified to the Contiguity Hypothesis in 1997 and to the Contiguity Argumentation Theory in 2004.
The theory explains how individuals resolve conflicting ideas through a dynamic process of accommodation, integrative reconciliation and adaptation resulting in dominant, suppressed, assimilated, emergent or equipollent coexisting worldviews.
The Contiguity Argumentation Theory has generated a lot of interest especially among science educators and others working in the area of socio-cultural studies in education.