Social Studies Teachers’ ICT Proficiency for Teaching in Schools for the Deaf in Ghana (Published)
The study sought to examine how knowledge and skill in ICT of Social Studies teachers influence their teaching of the subject to students who are deaf in schools in Ghana. The study was hinged on the Social Cognitive Theory and Human Capital Theory and used convergent parallel design with the mixed methods approach. The population for the study comprised all JHS Social Studies teachers and headteachers numbering 42 in the 14 public schools for the deaf in Ghana. Census sampling was used to select all the 28 respondents (teachers) for the quantitative phase while convenience sampling technique was also used to sample 14 participants for the qualitative aspects of the study. Data was gathered through questionnaire for the quantitative data and analysed using descriptive measures (frequencies and percentages, means and standard deviations) while the qualitative data was accessed through semi-structured interviews and textually analyzed. The findings showed that the majority of Social Studies teachers handling deaf students possessed requisite knowledge and skills in ICT and showed interest in teaching the subject, nevertheless, only few of them employed ICT in teaching Social Studies. It is recommended that Social Studies teachers to students who are deaf be provided with computers and taken through regular in-service training to help them meet their special needs and other ICT tools.
Keywords: Deaf, Knowledge, Proficiency, Skills, Social Studies
School Environment: Implication for Pedagogy and Quality Assurance in Social Studies Classroom in Nigeria (Published)
The study examined the influence of School Environment on academic achievement of secondary school students in Social Studies: its implication for pedagogy and Quality Assurance in Social Studies classroom in Ekiti State Nigeria. The study was a descriptive research design, comprised of all the secondary school students in Ekiti State as the population. The sample of 200 students was drawn from 10 schools in 2 local government Areas of Ado and Irepodun/Ifelodun, using the simple random sampling technique. The instrument used for the study was a self-designed questionnaire, validated by experts, with reliability coefficient of 0-90. Data collected were analyzed using percentage, mean and chi square for two research questions and two hypotheses. The findings revealed that the quality of the physical school environment with regard to school building and school facilities have significant effect on academic achievement of students in Social Studies classroom. Based on the findings of the study, the implication of good and rich school environment was discussed in line with Pedagogy and Quality Assurance. Recommendations were made to schools, and government at all levels.
Keywords: Pedagogy, Quality Assurance, School Environment, Social Studies
Knowledge and Perception of Senior High School Social Studies Teachers on the Teaching and Learning for Nation Building (Published)
It is impervious to note that the main goal of Social Studies has been mentioned as citizenship education which involves preparing citizens for active participation nation building. However, it appears Social Studies teachers give little attention to the inculcation of the spirit of nation building in their students. The purpose of this study therefore was to determine whether SHS Social Studies teachers in Ghana have knowledge of and do teach towards Nation Building as a process of fostering unity in their classrooms and in society at large. The study adopted descriptive survey design. A total of 260 Social Studies teachers were selected from Senior High Schools in the Eastern Region for the study. The data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (independent samples t-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation-PPMC. The study found that most Senior High School Social Studies teachers have positive knowledge about Nation Building. It was further concluded that, most Senior High School Social Studies teachers in the Eastern Region have positive perception about practices of Nation Building. It was recommended that to maintain effective teaching and learning of nation building as an integral part of the Social Studies content, policy makers should come out with guidelines that will guide teachers’ classroom pedagogy towards achieving the former.
Citation: Eric Koomson and Isaac Eshun (2021) Knowledge and Perception of Senior High School Social Studies Teachers on the Teaching and Learning for Nation Building, British Journal of Education, Vol. 9, Issue 9, pp.1-18
Keywords: Nation Building, Senior High School, Social Studies, Social Studies Teachers
Family type, family size and scholastic success of social studies students in Cross River State, Nigeria (Published)
This study was designed to ascertain the relationship between family size, family type and scholastic success of Social Studies students in Cross River State. To achieve the purpose of this study, two null hypotheses were formulated to be tested at .05 confidence level. An Ex-post facto design was adopted for the study. One thousand (1000) Social Studies students were selected for the study through proportionate stratified random sampling and simple random sampling techniques from a population of 19,169 junior secondary three students. Family type was categorized into two (monogamous and polygamous) while Family size was categorized into three (large, medium and small). The only instrument for the study was the Social Studies Academic Achievement Test (SOSAAT). The SOSAAT was paired with the categorized variables for data collection and trial tested using the split-half reliability estimate to establish reliability indexes of 0, 78 and 0.82 while the reliability coefficient for performance test was 0.79 respectively. The reliability test was conducted in one of the schools within the study population but not among the sampled schools for the main study. The data collected were duly coded and analyzed in consistent with the formulated hypotheses using the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test-statistics. The results revealed that students’ family size and family type are significantly related to students’ scholastic success in Social Studies. Based on these findings it was concluded that students’ scholastic success is dependent on family size and family type. The work recommended, inter alia, that since small size family has greater positive influence on scholastic success of students in Social Studies, parents should maintain small size families they can adequately nurture and positively impact on. Moreover, parents should endeavour to live together and maintain intact homes so that they can give children the warmth, nurture and encouragement to contribute to the development of the required academic excellence.
Keywords: Family Size, Social Studies, Students, family type, scholastic success
Fieldtrip, Video Technology and Students Achievement in Social Studies (Published)
The study investigated the impact of fieldtrips and video-technology on students’ achievement in Social studies in Port Harcourt Local Government Area of Rivers state. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The research design adopted for this study was a quasi-experimental design which made use of pre-test, post-test, non-randomized, non-equivalent, control group design. From a population of 6, 240 Social Studies students which are made up of 2, 467 males and 3, 773 females of 13 schools in Port Harcourt LGA, 195 JSS II Social Studies students of three intact classes randomly drawn from three Government co-educational Secondary Schools constituted the sample for the study. The instrument for data collection was an achievement test constructed by the researcher, titled, “Social Studies Achievement Test (SSAT)”. The Social studies Achievement Test (SSAT) is a multiple choice objective test consisting of twenty five (25) items with five options (A-E). The test instrument was validated and had a reliability coefficient of 0.87 through Kuder-Richardson 20 (KR20) formula as a measure of the instrument internal consistency. The study was conducted for seven (7) weeks. The second week for obtaining the pre-test score while the 7th week for posttest scores. The main instruction lasted for four (4) weeks. Mean, standard deviation and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were the statistical tools used for analyses. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the study revealed that the achievement of students taught with field trip was higher than those taught with video technology; however the difference was not significant. Also, it was found out that the combined effect of fieldtrips and video technology on students’ mean achievement was statistically significantly different from the conventional method of teaching Social Studies. Consequently, it was recommended among others that Fieldtrips and Video technology Instructional strategies could be used together by teachers since the finding from this study showed that they could be combined and impact positively on the academic performance of students.
Keywords: Instructional strategy, Social Studies, fieldtrip, video technology
Assessment of Teachers Implementation of Social Studies Curriculum Contents in Private Secondary Schools in Aguata Education Zone: A Catalyst for Achieving National Integration in Nigeria (Published)
The research work deals on the assessment of teachers’ implementation of social studies curriculum contents in private secondary schools in Aguata education zone: A catalyst for achieving national integration in Nigeria. A survey design was adopted for the study. The population consists of fifty teachers teaching social studies in junior secondary schools in Aguata education zone. Purposive sampling technique was used to sample forty teachers. The questionnaire was the major instrument for data collection and it was validated by two experts in curriculum and social studies. The mean statistics was used to analyse the data collected. The findings of the study showed that the concepts or topics such as cross cultural studies, inter-tribal marriages, national institutions, national symbols promote national integration. It was also discovered that teachers of social studies face difficulties in relating some of the topics in physical environment, peace education, national values to national integration. The paper also discovered that field trip, discussion and inquiry methods are appropriate for teaching social studies for achievement of national integration but rarely used by teachers, and instructional resources for implementing social studies curriculum content are not adequately provided. The paper concluded that adequate instructional materials, training and retraining of teachers, employment of qualified social studies teachers are necessary conditions for effective implementation of social studies curriculum content for achieving national integration in Nigeria. Conclusion and relevant recommendations were made.
Keywords: Curriculum, Integration, National, Social Studies
Evaluation of the Impact of Science, Technology and Modernisation in Social Studies Curriculum on University Students (Published)
This study was designed to evaluate the impact of Social Studies course – “Science, Technology and Modernisation”, how it can be best delivered and learnt by university students. The novelty research was devised to ascertain how effective out-of-door activities and classroom interactive teaching and learning will have on students learning performance. The course is meant to develop in learners an attitude of re-examining society from the point of view of developments in science, technology and modernity. Four hundred students were involved in the study. Students were asked to answer pre-instructional, instructional and post instructional course questions. Unstructured interviews were also used for clarification of issues raised by students. The pre-instructional course questions were: (1) what do you know about “Science”, “Technology” and “Modernisation”?; and (2) what are the ideal teaching and learning techniques you will wished to be adopted in the classroom? The instructional course questions were: (1) what are your prospects for the course of study; and (1) what are the challenges you encountered during teaching and learning?. The post instructional course questions were: (1) what are the strengths of the teacher and the learners?; and (2) what are the achievements from the course of study?. These processes were employed to elicit responses from the students. Interpretative analytical approach was adopted to analyse the data collected. It was concluded that there was a strong consensus among students that the ideal participatory teaching and learning method, techniques and strategies they suggested to be used were later precluded by them. It was also revealed that majority of students were not in tune with the purely interactive and participatory lesson delivery approach. Based on the findings, the study recommended that favourable classroom atmosphere must be created, coupled with enforced cooperative teaching and learning techniques to enhance participation of students. Also, in order to ensure effective retention of concepts taught, students must be exposed to concrete and technological materials to practicalised the teaching of Social Studies. Educational / field trip should be incorporated in the teaching of Social Studies, especially when teaching the concepts “Science and Technology”. This will help students probe into issues concerning science and technology by using their observational, manipulative and investigative skills.
Keywords: Curriculum, Evaluation, Modernisation, Science, Social Studies, Students, Technology, University
Cooperative Learning Method and Junior Secondary Students’ Attitude towards Citizenship Education in Social Studies in Rivers State, Nigeria (Published)
The study explored the effect of cooperative learning method on the Junior secondary students’ attitude towards citizenship education in social Studies Port Harcourt local Government area of Rivers State, Nigeria. The quasi-experimental design was adopted. A total of 240 students participated in the study. There were 120 students in the experimental and control groups respectively. A validated 10-item instrument titled Students Attitude towards Citizenship Education Scale (SATCES) was used for data collection. In order to establish the reliability of the instrument used in this research work, the test- retest method was used to obtain r = 0.82 as the reliability index of SATCES. Three research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Line graph, mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions whereas paired sample t-test and ANCOVA were used to test the hypotheses at .05 alpha level. The findings were that cooperative learning method significantly influenced students attitudes towards citizenship education, there was a significant main effect of treatment on the students’ attitude towards citizenship education. The study recommended among others that teachers of social studies should always adopt CLM in the teaching of the subject for the enhancement of the attitudes of the students.
Keywords: Citizenship Education, Cooperative learning method, Social Studies, attitude, junior secondary students’
Effects of Individualized Instructional Method on Secondary School Students’ Achievement in Social Studies (Published)
The study investigated effects of individualized instructional method on secondary school students’ achievement in Social Studies. Two research questions and null hypotheses. The design of the study was quasi-experimental research design and the area of the study was Onueke education zone of Ebonyi State. The population of the study comprised two thousand seven hundred and ninety-three (2,793) junior secondary school two (JSS II) students drawn from public secondary schools in Onueke education zone of Ebonyi State. The instrument used for data collection was Social Studies Achievement Test (SOSAT), data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation for all research questions, and analysis of co-variance (ANCOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that the mean achievement scores of secondary school students taught Social Studies using individualized instructional method was higher than the mean achievement scores of those taught Social Studies using conventional methods, female secondary school students taught Social Studies using individualized instructional method obtained higher mean scores than male students taught Social studies using conventional method. The findings of the study also revealed that there were significant effects of individualized instructional method on mean achievement of students in Social Studies in urban and rural secondary schools in Onueke education zone. Based on these findings, the researcher recommended that Social studies teachers should re-assess their classroom instructional practice because there is a need for them to shift from instructional practice, which makes learners passive listeners to the practice that engages learners actively in the instructional processes.
Keywords: Individualized Instructional Method and Students’ Achievement, Social Studies
Social Studies Education and the Need for Value-Based Education in Nigeria (Published)
Values throughout the world are a universal concept. Nigeria as a pluralistic society is characterized by many goals and sets of values. The social, political, economic and religious institutions associated with this society are made up of many diverse groups. Each of these groups has its individual rules and values. The rules and values of these institutions very often conflict, yet many people continue to see the society as having a set of values. However, the conflict between the rules and values which characterize the various institutions in a given social framework collectively substantiate and constitute enough evidence as to the pluralistic nature of many modern societies ‘Nigeria’. Value-based education in Nigeria has been identified as the main condition for the growth and sustainable development of any nation of the world. With particular reference to these conflicting values in pluralistic society like ours Social Studies education has a critical role to play to actualize this dream. The paper therefore is beamed at exploring: the changing role of education and implication for values and versa, objectives of value-based education in the modern context, types of values, the role of Social Studies in inculcating value-based education, Social Studies education and spatial dimension of value-based education, Social Studies education and cognitive, and affective dimension of value-based education, Social Studies education and character based-education, Social Studies teacher’s function as a model for value development, the Nigerian core values and some recommendations were made.
Keywords: Education, Nigeria, Social Studies, Society, Value-Based Education