TEACHERS AND STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS OF PROBLEMS AFFECTING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF SOCIAL STUDIES IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

1.1 Introduction

Social studies provide opportunities for students to develop the attitudes, skills and knowledge that will enable them to become engaged, active, informed and responsible citizens. Recognition and respect for individual and collective identity is essential in a pluralistic and democratic society. Social studies helps students develop their sense of self and community, encouraging them to affirm their place as citizens in an inclusive, democratic society.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

According to David (2018), Social studies is the integrated study of multiple fields of social science and the humanities, including history, geography, and political science. The term was first coined by American educators around the turn of the twentieth century as a catch-all for these subjects, as well as others which did not fit into the traditional models of lower education in the United States, such as philosophy and psychology (David, 2018). One of the purposes of social studies, particularly at the level of higher education, is to integrate several disciplines, with their unique methodologies and special focuses of concentration, into a coherent field of subject areas that communicate with each other by sharing different academic "tools" and perspectives for deeper analysis of social problems and issues (Wikipedia, 2021). The social studies aims to train students for informed, responsible participation in a diverse democratic society. The content of social studies provides the necessary background knowledge in order to develop values and reasoned opinions, and the objective of the field is civic competence (Larson, 2017).

To teach social studies in the United States, one must obtain a valid teaching certification to teach in that given state and a valid subject specific certification in social studies. The social studies certification process focuses on the core areas: history, geography, economics, civics, and political science. Each state has specific requirements for the certification process and the teacher must follow the specific guidelines of the state they wish to teach (Teaching-certification, 2021).

The original onset of the social studies field emerged in the 19th century and later grew in the 20th century. Those foundations and building blocks were put into place in the 1820s in the country of Great Britain before being integrated into the United States. The purpose of the subject itself was to promote social welfare and its development in countries like the United States and others (Socialstudies, 2021).

Dewey (1990) articulated an early concept of social studies is found in John Dewey's philosophy of elementary and secondary education. Dewey valued the subject field of geography for uniting the study of human occupations with the study of the earth. He valued inquiry as a process of learning, as opposed to the absorption and recitation of facts, and he advocated for greater inquiry in elementary and secondary education, to mirror the kind of learning that takes place in higher education. His ideas are manifested to a large degree in the practice of inquiry-based learning and student-directed investigations implemented in contemporary social studies classrooms. Dewey valued the study of history for its social processes and application to contemporary social problems, rather than a mere narrative of human events. In this view, the study of history is made relevant to the modern student, and is aimed at the improvement of society (Dewey, 1990).

Social studies is not a subject, instead functioning as a field of study that incorporates many different subjects. It primarily includes the subjects of history, geography, economics, civics, and sociology. Through all of that, the elements of ethics, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, art, and literature are incorporated into the subject field itself. The field of study itself focuses on human beings and their respective relationships. With that, many of these subjects include some form of social utility that is beneficial to the subject field itself (Historians, 2021).

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Teachers and students perceptions of problems affecting effective teaching and learning of social studies in primary schools.

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1.3 Statement of the Problems

The researchers found out that there are many problems that affect effective teaching and learning of Social Studies and computer science in primary schools in Enugu Educational zone. They found out that students lack of interest in Social Studies and computer science was due to inappropriate method of teaching and teachers ineffectiveness.

The teachers of Social Studies and computer science do not acknowledge the importance of both subjects, because of this, they do not guide their students in secondary schools on how to learn and understand Social Studies and computer science. And as a result of this, it causes the problem of effective teaching and learning of these subjects.

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1.4 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to find out the reasons why there is problems of effective teaching learning of Social Studies in primary schools in Enugu Educational zone and these reasons are:

1. Lack of qualified teachers of Social Studies and computer science in schools.
2. Overpopulation of students in a class.
3. Inadequate provision of instructional material for teaching of English and computer science.
4. The time allotted for teaching and learning of these subjects is not enough.

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1.5 Research Questions

In order to carry out this work efficiently, the following questions will be addressed in the research work:

• Do schools lack qualified teachers of Social Studies?
• Does population of the students in classes affect the teaching and learning of Social Studies?
• Do schools lack adequate instructional material for teaching Social Studies?
• Does time allotted to for teaching of both subjects enough?
• How does the availability of instructional materials contribute towards effective teaching in primary schools?
• What is the effect of supervision on effective teaching and learning?
• To what extent is the socio-economic background of students affecting effective teaching and learning?
• How do teachers’ instructional practices affect teaching and learning?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no significant impact on Teachers perceptions of effective teaching of social studies in primary schools
• H1: There is a significant impact on Teachers perceptions of effective teaching of social studies in primary schools

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There is no significant impact on Students perceptions of effective learning of social studies in primary schools
• H1: There is a significant impact on Students perceptions of effective learning of social studies in primary schools

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1.7 Significance of Study

Social studies education helps explain the world in which we live. Much like science teaches children to observe the physical aspects of life, social studies encourages children to open their minds to the many places humans live on this planet. Not only does the social studies curriculum teach physical geography, but as students learn about different places, they also become aware of the many cultural differences of the world’s populations through the study of sociology and anthropology. As they learn more about cultural differences, students begin to find that there are a large number of cultural similarities as well (Synonym, 2021).

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the Teachers and students perceptions of problems affecting effective teaching and learning of social studies in primary schools in Enugu Educational zone.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this institution to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
3. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
4. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
5. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends 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 interview).