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
SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION ON SOME DETERMINANTS OF STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN SOCIAL STUDIES (Published)
The focus of this study was on secondary school teachers’ perception on some determinants of students’performance in Social studies. Three research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated by the researchers that guided the study. The design of this study was descriptive survey research design aimed at eliciting information from the respondents on factors that determine students performance in secondary schools and the population of the study comprised 115 secondary school teachers teach Social studies in Abakaliki education zone. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire and data were analzed using mean and standard deviation for all reseach questions and t-test statistical tool was used for testing the null hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that government related factors, teachers’ related factors and students’ factors are some determinants of students’ performance in Social studies. The researchers reommended based on the findings that only competent and qualified Social studies teachers should be employ to teach the subject in secondary schools
Keywords: Perception, Secondary School Teachers’, Social Studies, Students performance
EVALUATION OF SOCIAL STUDIES STUDENTS’ LEARNING USING FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN SELECTED COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN GHANA (Published)
Evaluation of students is an integral part of teaching and learning in Social Studies in the Colleges of Education in Ghana and is beneficial to both students and tutors if use formatively. This could be achieved if, tutors follow the laid down procedures in administering formative assessment in their colleges.This study adopted a case study research design. The study was carried out in three Colleges of Education in the Central Region of Ghana. The data were used together to form one case. Both the Tutors and the Colleges were purposively and conveniently selected for the study. Interviews and classroom observation were used. The semi-structured interview guide and the structured classroom observation setting checklists were administered to nine (9) Social Studies tutors. It was found that evaluation in the classroom motivates tutor-student relationship in formative assessment but it was observed that most of the tutors were not using concrete evaluation feedbacks. Clarifying and sharing learning intentions and criteria for success foster effective classroom discussions and learning tasks in formative assessment. Tutors agreed that the use of Formative Assessment Classroom Techniques (FACTs) is an integral part of teaching and learning
Keywords: Assessment, Evaluation. Students, Formative assessment, Learning, Social Studies
TEACHERS’ MOTIVATIONAL SKILLS AS A STRATEGY FOR ENHANCING EFFECTIVENESS IN METHODS OF TEACHING SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION TOWARDS NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA (Published)
Within the background of most graduates of Social Studies Education not being entrepreneurial enough to contribute to national development after school, The research on Teachers’ Motivational Skills In Social Studies Education And Comprehensive Education Towards National Development in Nigeria aimed at determining if motivational skills of the teacher important for a comprehensive learning of Social Studies Education is a factor for comprehensive education towards the development of our nation. The ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study. A null hypothesis was formulated to guide the study. The data for the work were collected with the help of a PTMSIC questionnaire as the working instrument. The stratified random sampling technique and the simple random sampling technique were adopted for the choice of samples from the population which was made up of Social Studies Education Students from Akwa Ibom State. The face and content validity were established and the alpha Cronbach coefficient was used to establish the reliability of the instrument. The collected data were coded and analysed using the one way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The hypothesis was calculated at F-value of 31.89 and was significant at 0.05 levels with a critical value of 3.00. The Fishers’LSD Multiple Comparison Analysis was used to determine the group means that brought the significance. All showed that students with moderate and high level perception of teachers’ motivational skills experienced more competence in Social Studies Education towards national development than students with low level perception. Based on the above result conclusions were drawn and some recommendations made
Keywords: National Development, Social Studies, Teachers’ Motivation