Social Studies Teachers’ Perception on the Use of Community Resources in the Teaching/learning of Social Studies in Some Selected Junior Secondary Schools
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of Study
- To determine if social studies teachers are aware of the value of community resources available for teaching the subject.
- To determine if social studies teachers are aware in schools of the value of community resources in the teaching of social studies.
- To determine if professional and non professional social studies teachers differ in their perception of community resources.
- To determine if social studies teachers differ significantly in their perception of constraints to the use of community resources.
CHAPER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The review of related literature is carried out under the following headings:
- Concept of Social Studies.
- Concept of Community Resources.
- Advantages of Using Community Resources.
- Constraint or Demerit of Community Resources.
- Summary.
Introduction
It is well known among educators that the educational experiences involving the learner actively participating in concrete examples are retained longer than abstract experiences. Instructional materials add elements of reality by providing concrete examples to learning.
Many authors have written on the use of instructional materials both in teaching social studies and other related subjects in order to enhance teaching for desired social and behavioural change. These authors include McLuhan (1964), Alaka (1978), Kochhar (1986), Mkpa (1989), Bozimo (2002) Nnanna-Nzemwumna (2003) and Adekeye (2008). More specifically, it was emphasized on the works of these authors that the use of community resources is a since qua non in affecting behaviour of learners in every field, especially social studies and that these materials are important catalysts for social re-engineering and change. It is obvious that social studies teaching and learning cannot be well accomplished without the use of community resources.
Concept of Social Studies
Social studies is one of the school subjects which came into being at the beginning of the 20th century. In the recent past, social studies has been made one of the core subjects in the primary and junior secondary schools in Nigeria and has ever since gained recognition in the school system.
Iyamu (1991) observes that the focus of social studies in Nigeria is a new reaction to the inadequacies of past educational practices, particularly in its primary concern for the inculcation of desirable norms, values and attitudes that were required to sustain the new independent nation. Social studies as a problem approach discipline, focuses on the problems of man and the society as well as how to solve them. Social studies is a subject whose scope is not definite as it is interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary in nature. It is difficult to say where social studies begins or ends. This, coupled with its focus on changing social condition of man and society makes its scope assume an increasing horizon. Social studies is an interdisciplinary subject that cut across several other discipline particularly in the social sciences and humanities.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
This chapter shows the research method and procedures used in carrying out this research study. The description of the procedure falls under the following subheadings:
- Research Design
- Population of the Study.
- Sample and Sampling Procedure.
- The Research Instrument.
- Validity of Instrument.
- Administration of Questionnaires.
- Method of Data Analysis.
Research Design
This study is a descriptive survey which adopts the ex-post design in analyzing the relationship between variables which are related to social studies teachers constraint to the use of community resources.
The study is designed to assess social studies teachers perception of the constraint to the use of community resources for teaching. The dependent variable is the teachers’ use of community resources for teaching social studies and the independent variables are factors such as the school timetable, fund, parent’s attitude and teachers desire to complete the scheme of work.
Population of the Study
The population of this study consist of all junior secondary school social studies teachers in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State. The total number of social studies teachers in the thirty three (33) junior secondary school in Oredo Local Government Area was eighty nine (89) consisting of professional and non professional social studies teachers.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULT
This chapter presents the findings and the results of the study as stated as follows. It is presented in the following order:
Research Question 1
Are social studies teachers in schools aware of available community resources for the teaching of social studies?
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter dealt with the following issues:
- Summary of the study
- Conclusions
- Recommendations
Summary of the Study
The study population was made up of some selected junior secondary schools’ social studies teachers in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State.
The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire designed to elicit the needed responses to facilitate the testing of the research questions and hypotheses and these were analyzed using the simple mean percentage and t-test of independent sample.
The results revealed that there is no significant difference between the professional teachers and non-professional teachers on their awareness and values of community resources in the teaching and learning of social studies.
Conclusion
Based on the findings of this study, is hereby concluded as follows:
That there is no significant difference between the professional and non-professional teachers on their awareness and value of community resources. This means they have the same perception, awareness and value for community resources. By this it means both the professional and non-professional teachers will not be having problem with the use of community resources in the teaching and learning of social studies in the junior secondary school.
Recommendations
The following recommendations are hereby made for the study:
- There should be full-scale implementation of the use of community resources in the teaching and learning of social studies in the junior secondary school.
- Social studies teachers should be encouraged to use community resources as it enhanced the teaching and learning of social studies.
- However, in-service training should be given to non-professional teachers of social studies on the use of community resources.
- There should be vehicles and transportation, provided by the school principal to enable students and teachers move around in the community.
- There should be reputed journal and textbooks devoted to community resources to enable teachers and students learn the skills of community resources.
- The social studies curriculum should be reviewed in a way that it can accommodate the use of community resources.
- It should be made compulsory for both professional and non-professional teachers to make use of community resources in the teaching and learning of social studies.
Recommendations for Further Study
- Similar studies should be carried out elsewhere to prove the genuineness of the study.
- The attitudinal disposition of other stakeholders in education like policy makers, parents, community leaders, professional associations, should be investigated on the use of community resources.
REFERENCES
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