Impacts of Students’ Attitude toward Social Studies in Selected Junior Secondary Schools in Oshimili South Local Government of Delta State

Impacts of Students’ Attitude toward Social Studies in Selected Junior Secondary Schools in Oshimili South Local Government of Delta State

ABSTRACT

The study examined the impacts of Students’ Attitude toward Social Studies in Selected Junior Secondary Schools in Oshimili South Local Government of Delta State. Five research questions were raised and answered in this study. The study employed descriptive survey research design. The population of this study comprises all the Junior secondary school students, the sample for the study include 120 students which were randomly selected 5 Junior secondary schools from 5 government schools in Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State. Structured questionnaire titled “impacts of Students’ Attitude toward Social Studies in Selected Junior Secondary Schools in Oshimili South Local Government of Delta State” was used for data collection. The instrument was duly validated by experts and subject specialist. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was 0.70. 120 copies of instrument was distributed to the respondents for data collection. Mean and Standard deviation statistics were used to answer the research questions. The decision rule was that any item with a mean score of 2.50 and above was regarded as agree and any item with a mean score below 2.50 was regarded as disagree. The findings of the study revealed that factors such as method of teaching and students’  responsible for student’s attitude towards social studies in junior secondary schools in Oshimili South Local Government in Delta State, there is no gender difference in the study of social studies among the junior secondary school students in Oshimili South Local Government in Delta State, methods of teaching impacts of students attitude towards the study of social studies, Parental support influence students’ attitudes towards the study of social studies, method of teaching, nature of the subject and others cause student’s attitude towards social studies in junior secondary schools in Oshimili South Local Government in Delta State. On the basis of the findings, it was recommended among others that There is need for schools and teachers to motivate students with positive attitude towards the study of social studies in schools.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

            Social studies is a subject which is taught at various levels of education in Nigeria. It is taught at the junior secondary schools, Senior Secondary School, and teacher training colleges as a core subjects. Even at the lower basic studies is taught under environmental studies, now known as citizenship education. All these point to the importance attached to the study of social studies in our schools. Over the years, these have been growing concerns about the attitude of students towards the study of social studies in secondary schools the need to adapt our education to the needs of the Nigerian society started before and after independence. Many educations elites began to recognize that the functional inadequacies of the educational system inherited from the colonial education failed to develop positive values, attitude and habits in our society because the social studies they taught was British oriented and his nothing to offer to the Nigeria child.

Okam (2008) is of the view that social studies is expected to provide students with procedures that have relevance to modern civilization by fostering understanding of the movement of events and personalities that have influenced the  history of Nigeria.

The major ideas and philosophies behind the curriculum innovation in the 1969 National curriculum conference according to Akinlaye (2001) were: the need to make education more relevant to the needs of the individuals and the society, the need to use education for national integration and socio – economic development, the need to develop the right societal value and the need to make an individual responsible to the society in which he lives.

This has been the case, the National Policy on education (2004) has in recognition the important role social studies will play towards the achievement of the country’s educational aims and objectives. Thus, Social Studies was made a core subjective, there is a greater responsibility for social studies teachers in Nigeria today than the days independence, this is because the Nigeria youth now live in an environment characterized by social ills and moral decadence which have to be cured at all cost. The youths therefore need Social Studies education which focuses on the problems and issues of human beings in their changing environments and seeks to develop desirable habits, values, attitudes and skill in order to solve them.

Inclusive education, gender, attitude, and learning are all effective aspects of social studies teaching and learning. The teaching and learning of social studies exposes learning to the importance of access, equity, and quality in all sphere of human endeavour. Mezieobi (2016) has noted that social studies as a discrete subject in schools are essential for effective living in every environment and society including Nigeria. According to Osakwe (2013), social studies are a course of study that studied human beings with various capacities of his interaction with his fellow counterparts. Social studies are a programme of study which a society uses to instill in students or learners the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and actions it considers important in the relationships human beings have with each other, their world, and themselves (Mezieobi, Ossai, & Young, 2013). Furthermore, the relative newness of social studies in Nigeria in general and in Nigerian schools in particular, coupled with varieties of persons, professional social studies educators, and non-professionals or generalist social studies personnel who are associated with social studies have led to an overdose of social studies definitions (Mezieobi, Fubara, & Mezieobi, 2018). The all-encompassing definition of social studies is as an integrated field of study which probes man’s symbiotic relationships with his environments, endows man with the reflective or contemplative capacities, intellectual, effective, social, and work skills, to enable him to understand his world and its problems, and to rationally solve or cope with them for effective living in the society (Mezieobi et al., 2018).

On the other hand, attitude is the opinion and feelings everyone has about something. Çetin (2006) posits that attitude is a tendency attributed to individuals and creates ideas, feelings, and behaviours about a psychological object in an orderly manner. According to Kara (2010), attitudes cause individuals to always behave in the same way to people, objects, events, and foundations are constant and unchangeable beliefs, feelings, and tendencies. Attitude can alter every aspect of a person’s life, including education. Learning on the other hand is the acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience, or being taught. Learning is a process of acquiring new or modifying the existing knowledge, behaviours, skills, and values. It is an active process that is built on prior knowledge. Learning occurs in social environment, situated in an authentic context. However, because of the nature of learning, it requires learners’ motivation and cognitive engagement. In all, learning is a process that results in a change in knowledge or behaviour as a result of experience.

Researches have concentrate much on the cognitive aspect of the importance attached to success in public examinations, however, there is an interplay between the cognitive and affective areas of teaching. For example, Taylor (2001) and Gunsch (2005) have shown that there is a relationship between interest and developments in different school subjects, therefore, it is believed that favourable attitude towards social studies may influence to a considerable extent the uptake of knowledge in social studies.  The past 50 years have witnessed a number of studies that have attempted to understand why students either like or dislike social studies. These studies have tried to identify and measure student’s attitude about social studies and predict what influence their attitudes related to this area of the school curriculum. (Corbin, 2011; Curry & Hygness, 2012; Fraser, 2013; and MC Tear & Biafon, 2013).

Through the years, ongoing changes in curriculum design, teaching methodology and administrative practices may have helped to improve student’s perception of social studies. Akinlaye (2011). However, most students still perceive social studies classes as dull, boring and irrelevant to their lives if the social studies curriculum is to continue to have support from school administrators, politicians and the general public. It is desirable to have positive student’s attitudes towards the subject matter. This is important because it is quite possible that negative attitude toward social studies could ultimately result in a sharp decrease in the allocation of resources for this subject areas.

Unfortunately, previous research indicates that young students are not positive about social studies and find it irrelevant for future careers (Schug, Todd & Beery, 2013). Historically. When elementary and high school were surveyed, the most dominant negative perception that social studies was boring and had little relevance to their lives. Social studies education in both Nigeria and the world at large, one could attest to the fact that, an exploration with students’ attitude towards the teaching and learning of social studies will be of great relevance to the development of active citizens. It is against this background that this study sought to examine the impact of students’ attitude toward Social Studies in selected junior secondary school in Delta State.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

The advancement of liberty and justice for all as envisioned by our country’s founders requires that, citizen have to acquirer knowledge, attitudes and values to guard and endorse the principles of constitutional democracy (Constitution of Nigeria, 1992). The success of Nigeria’s growth and stability relies strongly on its educational system. Social Studies is a major part of the school’s curriculum because it explores moral, values and provides students with being a good citizen (Ministry of Education 2007).

The phenomena increase in students’ attitude towards the study of social studies to remain for the long unattended to. The need to motivate students to develop positive attitude towards the study of social studies in secondary school and to create a conducive environment for studying social studies not disputable and cannot be over emphasized. The unfortunate thing is that students’ attitude towards the study of social studies in schools fraught with a lot of problems. There is a general belief that whenever student perform poorly in their subject the teacher has not really taught them well. People hardly look at the problem from the point of view of the student attitude towards the subject; the problem of this study therefore is to ascertain the impact of student’s attitude toward Social Studies in junior secondary in Delta State.

1.3       Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study was to know the impact of students’ attitude toward Social Studies in junior secondary school in Delta State. Specifically, the study was guided by the following objectives:

1. To examine the factors responsible for students’ attitude towards social studies in secondary schools.
2. To find out gender based differences in attitudes toward social studies among secondary school students
3. To investigate the impacts of students attitudes toward social studies among secondary school students.
4. To examine parental support on students attitude towards the study of social studies.
5. To investigate the causes of junior secondary school attitudes towards the study of social studies.
6. To investigate how different teaching methods affect students’ attitude toward social studies.

1.4       Research Questions

1. What are the factors that responsible for student’s attitude towards social studies in secondary schools?
2. Are there gender based differences in attitudes toward social studies among secondary school students’?
3. What are the impact of students’ attitudes towards social studies among junior secondary school students?
4. Does parental support influence students’ attitude towards the study of social studies?
5. What are the causes of junior secondary school attitudes towards the study of social studies?
6. Does different teaching methods affect students’ interest toward the study social studies?

1.5 Significance of the Study

The significance of the study would be of great benefit to teachers, students, policy makers and curriculum design. As Nigeria is still a developing nation, it is hoped that the findings of this research will encourage various governments to provide conducive environment for teaching aids and qualified teachers for effective study of social studies in secondary schools. It also assist the government to identify student’s attitude towards the study of social studies in secondary schools.

The study is of educational importance because it believed that, if social studies, teachers in secondary schools understand the factors which stimulate the growth of interest in Social Studies, such knowledge may provide bases not only to make Social Studies popular but also to make the teaching of Social Studies humanizing. It helps to re-orient students with negative attitude towards the study of Social Studies in secondary schools.

It serve as a basis for other researchers who are carrying out investigation on similar problems facing development of education in Nigeria.

1.6       Delimitation of the Study

The study is specifically limited to the investigation into The Impact of Students’ Attitude toward Social Studies in Selected Junior Secondary Schools in Delta State. This is due to financial and time constraint which tend to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interviews.

The researcher will simultaneously engage in the study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work. The researcher may experience some constraints due to lack of accurate and adequate information from respondents, school authorities unwillingness to allow research to be carried out in their school that hinder the smooth execution of the research process in junior secondary school, Delta State.

1.7. Area of the Study

The study was conducted in Delta State. Delta State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named after the Niger Delta, a large part of which is in the state, the state was formed from the former Bendel State on August 27, 1991. Bordered on the north by Edo State, the east by Anambra and Rivers States, and the south by Bayelsa State across the Niger River for 17 km and the Forçados River for 198 km, while to the west is the Bight of Benin which covers about 160 kilometres of the state’s coastline. The State was initially created with 12 local government areas in 1991 which was later extended to 19 and now has 25 local government areas. Asaba as its state capital is located along the River Niger on the northeaster end of the State, while the state’s economic centre is the twin cities of Warri and Uvwie. This study was carried out in Oshimili South Local Government Area of Delta State. It has an area of 603km2 and maintain an average tropical temperature of 26 degree during the dry season and an average rainfall of 1765.5mm during the raining season. It has a population of 143,603 a record in 2006 census (National Population Census, 2006).

1.8 Definition of Terms

Social Studies: is the study of people as social beings, as they have existed and interacted with each other and the environment, in time and in place.

Attitude: Attitude is how individual behave or respond to a situation or a thing.

Student: A person who is studying at a university or other places of higher education.

Junior Secondary School: means a school which provides a three year post-primary course of full-time instruction suitable for pupils between the age of twelve years and fifteen year

Pages:  103

Category: PGDE

Format:  Word & PDF               

Chapters: 1-5                                          

Source: Imsuinfo

Material contains Table of Content, Abstract and References.