ABSTRACT
The quest for the effective methods
of teaching social studies in Nigerian schools is a continuous one. This research is designed to investigate the
effects of Integrated Group Based Mastery Learning Model on social studies
students’ achievement in junior secondary schools in Benin City. The problem of students’ poor performance and
underachievement in social studies has been a major issue of concern and
interest in the Nigerian educational sector.
Seven research questions and seven corresponding hypotheses
were raised to guide the study. A quasi-experimental design of non-equivalent
control group was adopted. Two mixed
secondary schools were purposively selected from Benin City out of which, two
in-tact classes were selected. One of
the two classes was used as the experimental group, taught with integrated
group based mastery learning model and the other as control group, taught with
the traditional/expository instructional model.
There were 100 students in the two groups combined. The instrument used for the data collection
was the Social Studies Achievement Test (SSAT).
The data collected were analyzed using t-test of independent sample for
hypotheses one, two, three and four.
Hypotheses five and six were tested using one-way ANOVA, while
hypothesis seven was tested using two-way ANOVA. The hypotheses were tested at .05 level of
significance.
The result of the study showed that there was a significant
effect of treatment on social studies students’ achievement. This means that the integrated group based
mastery learning model was more effective than the traditional expository
method. The result of the study also
showed that initial ability level did not have any significant influence on the
effect of ML on students’ achievement in social studies. It was concluded that students’ achievement
in social studies is more likely to improve if more teachers employ the mastery
learning. It is recommended that social studies teachers should be encouraged
through in-service training, seminars or other forms of on-the-job training to
employ mastery learning models. Also,
teacher-education in the universities and colleges of education should
intensify the teaching of skills related to the application of mastery learning
model.
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
The
recent socio- political and economic changes in the world and within nations
have brought about changes in educational goals and greater challenges for
social studies. The schools are called
not only to equip the learner with basic knowledge of social studies content
but also with higher cognitive skills, such as problem solving and thinking
skills that allow for self-development and continuous learning. To meet up with these challenges, there is a
movement away from the behaviourist method of direct teaching such as in the
lecture method, note copying and dictations, where the learner is given
contents to memorize and regurgitate.
Social Studies as a discipline continues to enjoy
changes in educational objectives. In
the 20th century, History, Economics, Government and Geography were
taught as separate subjects with a listed series of facts to be memorised. With
changes in educational outcomes students’ learning had to be reconsidered and
taught as integrated discipline.
Emphasis is now shifted from learning as acquisition of facts to
learning as utilization of facts; from learning as memorization (from Geography
and History texts), to learning as a process of discovering important
relationships and principles inductively; from learning for learning sake to
learning as a way of inquiring and thinking according to the processes of the
Social Sciences. This can only be achieved through the process of mastery
learning strategy (Onibokun, 1999).
Social
studies as a subject is of a fairly recent origin throughout the world. The
concept of social studies was first developed in USA in 1916 by the committee on
social studies of the commission on the reorganization of secondary education
of the National Education Association (Jarolimek 1977). Later in I930s social
studies was introduced into Europe especially in Great Britain due to unprecedented
enthusiasm to reform the conventional curriculum to meet up with the demands of
the society. From 1950 to 1956, the subject had spread to many African
Countries. The new independent nations of Africa
were faced with how to re-order their national policies to enable them perform
their expected roles as independent nations within the world community of
nations. The development of social studies in secondary schools in Nigeria gained
momentum from the year 1977 after the introduction of National Policy on
Education popularly known as the 6-3-3-4 system. This rapid progress was caused
by two major factors. The first was that the Universal Primary Education (UPE)
introduced in 1976 made social studies the only social science subject to be
taught in the primary schools. The second factor was that social studies was
made a core subject for the junior secondary school. This has brought a lot of
awareness to the students and the teachers on the significant roles of social
studies especially as it affects the implementation of 6-3-3-4 system of
education.
In
order to implement the national policy on education, government at all levels became
more interested in the schooling process in terms of educational outcomes, learning
activities, instructional resources, instructional strategies and evaluation
procedures. In view of this, emphasis has been on the need to:
v make
educational activities centre on the learner for maximum self-development and
self-fulfillment.
v structure
the educational system to develop the practice of self -learning (FRN, 2004).
The implication of these for classroom teachers is that, they should develop a
teaching approach which encourages the learners to participate in the learning
processes.
Despite
the efforts of Government in restructuring the educational system to develop
the practice of self-learning, the dominant approach to instruction in schools
has been the expository type especially since the inception of western
education in Nigeria in 1843. Other methods of instruction were later
introduced into the learning processes. For instance, since 1960, curriculum
planners have emphasized the inquiry approach by claiming that carrying out
investigations is the most promising method by which students will master
inquiry skills and become literate in social studies (Schwab, 1963; Yager &
Lutz, 1994). Even at that, it cannot be said that schools have done well in
developing such skills in the learners.
Quite a number of studies have been conducted to investigate
the causes of students’ under achievement in Junior Secondary Social Studies
(Onasanya, 1985; Ogbu, 1993; Iroegbu, 1998; Adegbite, 1999; Adepoju, 1999) and
the most reoccurring factor in all is the inadequate teaching method used by
Social Studies teachers.
Consequently,
learners’ individual needs, preferences and interest cannot be met by most
strategies utilized in the traditional, expository method of teaching. This is one of the reasons the researcher is
interested in trying out other method such as mastery learning strategy. If the
objectives of Social Studies education are to be met, then the need to look for
an alternative teaching paradigm in the form of an improved and effective
teaching strategy that is result oriented becomes necessary.
Social
Studies as a school subject introduced by the Federal Government was to help
students acquire basic social knowledge, positive attitudes, values and social
skills needed to make the students functional and responsible citizens and
contributing members of the society. It provides knowledge, skills and attitude
that enable learners understand their physical and social environment in order
to act or behave as responsible citizens. It prepares students to live in a
global and culturally diverse world, as well as keep pace with rapid development
in electronically and technologically changing world, (Martorella, 1996). It
involves person with group and group with group. It is a study of man’s
relationship with his environment, how environment affects man and how man in
turn influences his environment.
The teaching of social studies is therefore an
activity that involves both the teacher and the learner. The purpose of teaching is to ensure that
learning takes place. While learning involves a behavioural change in the
learner, social studies teaching involves the transmission of the relevant body
of knowledge, attitudes, manner, dispositions, skills and values that enable
the individual to survive in a growing and dynamic society.
Adeyemi (2007) defines teaching of social studies as a
process of facilitating student learning through a proper management by the
teacher of the inter-relationships among the students’ interest, the content
for learning and the methods and materials he or she intends to use in the
teaching and learning of the content materials. It may involve giving
instruction to somebody on knowledge, skills and attitudes with the intention
that the person will be able to know the information or to do something or act
in a particular way that is compatible with the instruction. We know that the person the instruction is
given to may be a learner, a pupil, a student or a trainee. The means employed by the teacher to pass
information to the learner would determine ultimately, if he or she is
teaching.
According
to Lynn, Douglas and Gerald (2009), Mastery Learning is an instructional
process that provides students with multiple opportunities to demonstrate
content mastery. Initial instruction is
presented at a fast pace to engage all learners. Students who do not demonstrate mastery are
given additional instruction specifically designed to correct their
misunderstandings. Re-teaching should
involve strategies that are different from the original instructional methods. For example, if the original material was
presented in a lecture format with visuals, the re-teaching process might
involve hands-on activities and cooperative learning strategies. A retest is later given to these students to
allow them to demonstrate mastery.
The teacher must be an effective communicator who
thoroughly processes his information of social studies content and presents it
in an orderly and comprehensive manner. There must be an established feedback
mechanism so as to enable correction of lapses in instructional methods which
can thus bring about improvement in the teaching and learning of Social
Studies.
Summarily,
to instruct for mastery the following guideline are to be followed:
(i)
Clearly
state the objectives representing the purpose of the subject
(ii)
The
curriculum is divided into relatively small learning units, each with
modelling, practice, formative evaluation; re-teaching, reinforcement, and
summative evaluation included.
(iii)
Each
unit is preceded by brief diagnostic tests, formative assessments.
(iv)
The
results of formative tests are used to provide supplementary instruction, or
corrective activities to help the learner overcome problems.