Teaching Techniques and Students Academic Performance in Social Studies
Abstract
The research was conducted to examine teaching technique and students’ academic performance in Social studies. The research design adopted for this study was a survey research design. A review of the related literature was used as a guide in establishing principles for the study. The population for this study was one thousand, two hundred and forty six (1,246) Social studies Students from junior secondary two (JSS2) class in the study area. The sample size of two hundred (200) Social studies Students were randomly selected for the study. Two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study.
Social studies Achievement Test was the main instrument for data collection. The data generated from the instruments were analyzed using independent t-test statistics. The findings of the study revealed that there is a significant difference in academic performance of students’ taught Social studies using discussion method and those taught using lecture method. It also revealed that there is a significant difference between academic performance of students taught Social studies using demonstration strategy and those taught using discussion method. The results of the study equally uncovered that when Social studies students are taught with discussion method they get first hand encounter and experience with equipment and machinery which in turn help in enhancing their academic performance.
Teaching Techniques and Students Academic Performance in Social Studies
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
The primary purpose of teaching at any level of education is to bring a fundamental change to the learner (Tebabel, 2011). To facilitate the process of knowledge transmission teachers should apply appropriate method of teaching that best suit specific objectives. The goal of teaching is to impart knowledge to the learners in and outside the classroom. Teaching involves the use of appropriate strategy or methods that will capture the attention and interest of the learners. This is because the role of teachers is to guide the learners properly by arousing their interest and curiosity to participate fully in order to attain the learning objective.
Teaching is an attempt to help someone, acquire the prerequisite skills, attitude, knowledge and values which will enhance a change in behaviour. This implies that success in teaching is measured by the degree to which the teacher is able to achieve the desired learning outcome. To achieve this, the teacher must select the content and method to use (star, 2010). Moreover, research on the teaching and learning constantly endeavour to examine the extent to which different teaching method enhance growth in student learning, and remarkable academic performance of student in various examinations to an effective teaching method (Ademola, 2011).
Substantial research on the effectiveness of teaching method indicates that quality of teaching is often reflected by the achievement of learners. According to Ayeni (2011), teaching is a process that involves bringing about desirable changes in learners so as to achieve specific outcome. In order for teaching method to be effective, Ademola (2011) maintains that teachers need to be conversant with numerous teaching techniques that take cognizance of the magnitude of the complexity of the concept to be covered.
Teaching techniques refers to the process of selecting, directing controlling and evaluating the experiences of the learnerss to achieve desirable learning outcome (Eddie 2006). To achieve the objectives of education as selected by the federal government of Nigeria in National Policy on Education (2014), asserts that serious efforts must be made to ensure that proper teaching process takes place in schools. This implies that conducive learning environment must be put in place and appropriate techniques must be adopted (Coilsamalia, 2015).
Research by Reid and Shahi (2017) have shown that the most rewarding approach for teaching social studies is the use of participatory approach. This method actually involves students participation resulting in new discovery through activities and discussion. There are different techniques for effective and efficient teaching which include: Demonstration method, lecture method, and discussion method etc.
Selection of appropriate techniques for Social studies instrument depends on theoretical competence of the teacher to handle the technique and the nature of instruction itself. As such, this research intends to highlight how methods of teaching influence academic performance of Social Studies students is secondary schools. However, methodology is very vital in any teaching/learning process. The method used by a teacher may promote or hinder learning of Social Studies.
Teaching Techniques and Students Academic Performance in Social Studies
1.2 Statement of the problem
Academic performance of a student depends on the teaching techniques used by the teacher. This could be the consequence of ineffective teaching which might cause poor academic performance in Social Studies. Academic performance are somewhat associated with methods of teaching, for instance, students with better performance scored higher in concrete experience, abstract conceptualization and reflective observation than those with poor academic performance (Cano and Justiceca, 2013). This could be the consequent of ineffective teaching which might cause poor academic performance in Social Studies.
Teaching techniques as noted by Agwu (2015) refers to the overall plan for the orderly presentation of content of learning materials. Usually a method is driven by a philosophy or an assumption about how students learn in school. Teaching method is therefore, a general process the teacher adopts in presenting his lesson to the students, such that students learn such as assigning roles to individual students in the classroom. The important index in the teaching and learning process is that the students learn at the end of teaching (Aguokogbuo, 2015). Hence, the use of good teaching method in teaching of Social studies plays an important role in harmonizing classroom instruction. The Social Studies teacher needs to acquire competence in transferring the content to the learner and mostly competence in the use of variety of teaching method.
Student’s poor performance in Social Studies has been the main concern of this research. Derek (2018) reported the seriousness of the deplorable performance of secondary school student studying social studies which identifies persistent use of the traditional mode of instruction as one of the major short comings that affects higher achievement in Social Studies which has been partly ascribed to inadequate teaching and instructional strategy adopted in teaching Social Studies.
