Teaching-Learning Paradox: A Comparative Analysis of Three Methods of Teaching Social Studies in Nigerian Secondary Schools

Abstract

Aim of the Study: This study examined the effects of using three innovative methods, presumably better than the traditional method of teaching Social Studies on secondary school students’ achievement and attitude to Social Studies. The immediate focus of this investigation has also been on the gender issue in terms of student achievement and attitudes. The aim of this study was to figure out how robust and potent or otherwise of the story telling, inquiry and guided discovery methods regarded as innovative methods as against the lecture method of teaching subject.

Methodology: The study chose a quasi-experiment research design for the prepost-test control group. All junior high school class 1 students in Ekiti and Ondo State made up the study's population. The sample consisted of 240 pupils drawn from eight coeducational schools located in the two states. A random sample of thirty pupils, fifteen males and fifteen girls, from each school was used to choose the chosen schools. There were two primary instruments used. Both the Social Studies Attitude Scale and the Social Studies Achievement Test were applied. All instruments were given content and face validity. For the instruments a test retesting method has been chosen, and an inefficient reliability of 0.70 and 0.72 respectively has been obtained.

Findings: The findings demonstrated a statistically significant variation in student accomplishment across the guided discovery, narrative, and inquiry experimental groups; the control group, which used the lecture approach and produced the lowest results, was next. The results also indicate that the mean scores on the attitude scale are not significantly different between the pretest and posttest tests.

Conclusion: It was concluded that teachers of social sciences in Nigeria's secondary schools should be greatly encouraged to use innovation methods for the training of pupils.