Effect of Educational Field Trips on Academic Performance of Social Studies Students
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH
- To determine the nature of field trip in teaching and learning of Social studies in secondary school.
- To appraise the significance of field trip
- To determine the factors affecting the use of field trips in teaching and learning Social studies in secondary school
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Teaching Social studies at Secondary Level
Social studies literary Means study of Human way of life, and interaractions between one another Usnan, (2000), describe Social studies as the study of the relationship of people with one another and their environment. And as such view Social studies as being concerned with culture. Ajaja, (2010) define Social studies as the study of the relationships of living organisms with each other and their non-living or physical surroundings.
The undoubted interest which youngsters have in one another is at once and advantage and a trap to the teacher of Social studies (Jean 2001). Since Social studies has to do with interactions of people their culture and their environment and the non- living components of the environment, it is necessary to create the awareness of Social studies as a subject early in the life of the students (Nzewi, 2008). Certain aspects of basic concepts like family, culture e.tc are expected to be taught in secondary schools.
In this study, therefore, an investigation was made on the effects of field trip teaching strategy on academic achievement and learning among rural and urban students. It offers direct observation and interpretation of the substances in their natural surroundings. This may help the students to remember and understand what they have seen in its natural environment, thus improving the students’ academic achievement in Social studies.
Students Academic Achievement in Social studies
Science Educators reported the downward trend in academic performance of Nigeria students in science ( Ajagun 2001). Social studies is among the science subject and in fact the failure rate in Social studies is even more alarming compared to chemistry and physics despite the fact that it is the popular science subject among students (Ogunleye 1999). In Science Curriculum, Social studies is one of the major science subjects whose pass at credit level determines the admissibility of student to study major professional science based courses at the university, (Lawal2010).
The failure rate in Social studies at JSCE has continued to be a source of worry to curriculum planners, educationist’s, parents and the entire society at large. This is as a result of using an ineffective teaching method (Lawal 2010). Some of the factors identified as opposing effective teaching in Nigerian secondary school include: rote learning ((Usman 2008), lack of appropriate learning environment under which science teaching can take place (Bichi 2009); inadequate equipment and facilities (Okafor 2002); lack of opportunity for the child to have direct experience with learning materials (Bajah, 2002), and inappropriate use of teaching strategies (Adeniyi,2004).
To minimize the failure rate in Social studies, teachers should be well armed with various teaching strategies which can be used alongside lecture method for the teaching of different concept in Social studies. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of field trip teaching strategy on SSI students’ academic achievement in Social studies.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The research design for this study was Experimental design involving the pre and posttests. There were two groups: the control and experimental, all sampled students were pre-tested to determine the level of equivalence academically. The experimental groups received trSSATment (field trip), while the control groups received no trSSATment (lecture). Also, all the groups were subjected to posttest (to determine the effect of the trSSATment on students Academic achievement), and Post- Posttest (to determine trSSATment effect on learning ability)
Population of the Study
The population of the study consisted of 2934 SS1 students from nineteen (19) schools admitted in, 2011/2012 session in Zaria, Kaduna State. Though, these schools are physically different in terms of location, they are the same in terms of administration, staffing, infrastructure and students were admitted on merit.
CHAPTER FOUR
ANALYSIS, RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Analysis and Results Presentation
The data collected for the purpose of this study were analyzed based on the research questions and hypotheses formulated.
Research Question 1: What is the effect of field trip strategy on students’ academic achievement in Social studies concept in Zaria educational zone?
The descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were used to answer this research question and the summary of the results is presented in Table 4.1.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Summary
The major purpose of this study was to determine the effects of field trip on teaching and learning of Social studies in secondary school students in Zaria educational zone. The study reviews the literature relevant to the study under the following sub-headings: Nature of Social studies as Science subject at senior secondary level, teaching Social studies concept at senior secondary level, student’s academic achievement in Social studies, science teaching methods/strategies., field Trip for teaching science, learning ability in science, school location and academic achievement in science, overview of similar studies and Implication of the literature reviewed on the present study.
The design of the study was quasi experimental control involving the pre-test post tests. The sample of the study consisted of 200 Social studies students in both rural and urban areas. Three research questions were raised and collapsed to three hypotheses. The research questions were tested with descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation and the hypotheses were tested with inferential statistics i.e independent sample test(t-test).
From the results of the analyses discussed in 4.2, the field trip teaching strategy favored the experimental group in Social studies concept. This provided a positive response to the question does field trip strategy have any effect on students’ performance in Social studies concept? The study shows that, there is significant differences between the achievements of students taught using field trip teaching strategy and those taught by traditional method. The study further confirmed that field trip teaching strategy is a good tool in teaching Social studies concept at secondary school level.
Field trip teaching strategy also favoured the urban experimental group in Social studies concept; this provided a positive response to the question, what is the effect of field trip on urban and rural students’ performance in Social studies concept in Zaria educational zone? The study shows that, thereare significances between the achievement of students in urban experimental group using field trip teaching strategy and those students in rural experimental group using the same strategy. The study further confirmed that field trip teaching strategy has made more impact on urban students.
Field trip teaching strategy favoured the experimental group in Social studies concept on learning ability. This provided a positive response to the question, what is the effect of field trip on student’s learning ability in Social studies concept among senior secondary school in Zaria educational zone. The study shows that, there is significant difference between the achievement of students taught using field trip teaching strategy and those taught by traditional method. The study further confirmed that field trip teaching strategy is a good tool in teaching Social studies concept at senior secondary school level.
Conclusion
This unit gave inferences drawn from the finding thus:
Generally, it was confirmed that there was high significant difference between the mean achievement of the experimental and control groups in Social studies concept. And there was also high significant difference between the mean achievement of the experimental and control groups in Social studies concept on learning ability. This further confirmed that the field trip teaching strategy has gained more than the traditional method of teaching.
However, it was statistically, shown that field trip teaching strategy favoured students in urban experimental group in teaching Social studies concept. This might be that, the students in urban are more curious i.e want to know when taken to the natural surroundings, urban student used English as a means of communication so they have advantage in JUNIOR WAEC examination and also availability of electric light in the urban help in the used of internet.
Field trip teaching strategy favored the experimental groups was due to the fact that the pre-requisite steps of activities in teaching of Social studies concept were followed. This has stimulated students’ attention and interest, which led to good performance in Social studies concept. The students on experimental group were taught with the strategy (field trip) that required the used of basic science process skills i.e observation, identification, classification and manipulation of substances in the natural surroundings. The students in this group became more active and creative since they can see and manipulate organism in their natural surroundings.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of this study; the following recommendations are made; thus:
- Although field trip is integrated into the teaching programme, it is not being used. Therefore, the government should make the use of field trip teaching strategy compulsory particularly in the teaching and learning of the Social studies concept. This will enhance students gain first hand information, and provide opportunity for them to see, possibly touch and feel what they have heard about certain organism and situations.
- Field trip experiences when used should be relevant to contents in the curriculum, if they are to make the necessary impact.
- Field trip experiences should emphasizes real practical experiences with the students collecting, analyzing data, interpreting data and using them to explain previous knowledge.
- Field trip when used should be such that can serve as an integrated learning i.e field trip cannot teach one idea, but many. A field trip to a vegetable farm, for example can bring disparate topics together such as photosynthesis, the scientific method, how to collect data, plant, insect, part of flowers, soil erosion etc.
- For the exercise (field trip) to be successful, it has to be well-funded, by both school authorities and parents. As such the school authorities and parents should put hands together to make field trip teaching strategy at all level of learning in successful one by proper funding at any design time.
REFERENCES
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