The study investigated gender difference in fieldtrips and video-technology methods in teaching Social studies in Junior Secondary Schools 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 showed that there is a significant difference in the mean achievement score of male students taught with fieldtrips and those taught with video technology (F (1, 67) = 4.279, p = .042). However, it was found out that there is no significant difference in the mean achievement score of female students taught with fieldtrips and those taught with video technology (F(1, 62) = .391, p = .534). Based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that fieldtrips and video technology could be effectively used to teach students irrespective of their gender. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers incorporate these teaching methods in teaching Social Studies especially concepts that require hands-on information.
Keywords: Gender, Instructional strategy, Social Studies, fieldtrip, video technology
