INTRODUCTION
Education is a cornerstone of human development that
plays a pivotal role in shaping individuals and influencing the trajectory of
societies. Education is not merely a process of acquiring information rather it
is the process of acquiring knowledge. It is a dynamic force that cultivates
intellectual curiosity, refines skills, and molds character. Education serves
as a beacon of guiding individuals towards self-discovery and equipping them
with the tools necessary to navigate the complexities of life. Whether through
formal institutions or informal learning experiences (Agada, 2018). Education
empowers individuals to unlock their latent potential, fostering a sense of
self-efficacy and confidence. The influence of education extends far beyond the
individual, reverberating throughout the broader societal landscape. A
well-educated populace forms the bedrock of a thriving society, contributing to
economic prosperity, technological innovation, and social cohesion. Societal progress
is intrinsically tied to the collective intelligence and capabilities of its
citizens, and education serves as the catalyst for the cultivation of these
essential qualities.
In order to achieve its goals, education should provide
opportunities for learners to acquire knowledge, values, skills, attitudes for
future development as enshrined in the goals of secondary education in Nigeria.
The federal government of Nigeria (FGN) in its National Policy on Education,
(NPE) (2014) further states that Universal Basic Education (UBE) should provide
the child with diverse basic knowledge and skills for entrepreneurship and
educational advancement for future living, develop patriotic young minds
well-equipped to contribute to social development and achievement of civic
responsibilities, inculcation of worthwhile values, and to raise morally
upright individuals capable of independent thinking among others. This is the
gap social studies was introduced into the curriculum to fill as these educational goals can be
realized through effective teaching and learning of social studies. It is for
this reason that the National Council of Education (NCE) through Nigeria
Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) came up with curriculum of
social studies having education related contents including values, attitudes,
peace, human right, education, entrepreneurial skills (NERDC, 2014).
Social Studies is vital because it is an essential
linking thread at all the levels of education in Nigeria. Social Studies is a compulsory
subject in upper basic education in Nigeria. The National Council on Education
(NCE) accepted and recommended it as the study of man as a biological,
political, social, economic and spiritual being responsible for and responsive
to nature in all its ramifications. The subject is also offered in schools in
order to nurture responsible citizens to acquire new skills and knowledge for
good and successful life.
From the foregoing, it will be right to declare that
education and social Studies have many things in common. For instance, Ariya
(2012) defines education as a lifelong process which transforms an individual
from the helpless, dependent creature to a self-reliant, rational and skillful
person who can contribute meaningfully to the development of the society. Since
education is a way of making a better living through meaningful contribution of
an individual, the concern of most educators, stakeholders and the researchers
is how education could be effectively transmitted to individuals. Social studies
on the other hand, has been variously defined as a spiral ecological study
which starts from self to family, harmlet, village, district, local government
area, town, state, country, continent, and world at large. (Kazi, 2017). Social Studies is an integrated
study of man as he battles for survival in both the psychical and social
environment. It is those portions of social sciences selected for instructional
purposes which apply to anything pertinent to the immediate purpose of learning
and adopted to the level of comprehension of students.
Social Studies is also viewed as an interdisciplinary
approach to the study of human beings in groups or individuals with their
inter-relationships within social and physical environment. Social Studies is
an instrument for preparing and mobilizing learners for the purpose of enabling
them to be aware and understand the tasks that would transform good citizens
with competent skills and good moral values and attitudes to interact,
interpret and contribute positively and cultural development of their society.
Social Studies according to Section 19(c) and 24(a) of the National Policy on
Education (2014) is a significant subject area that should be compulsorily
taught to all primary and junior secondary school students’ because of its
immense value of instilling attitudinal and intellectual worth in learners and
at the same transform their reasoning and critical thinking abilities thereby
enhancing their innate and creative skills capable of initiating technological
awareness in them, leading to technological development in the society. The
decline in academic achievement in Social Studies by students in upper basic
education (UBE) has shown that in 2019
students achievement in BECE was a source of concern to parents teachers
and all stakeholders in education.
In spite of the crucial role of Social Studies in
contributing to the development of the spirit of patriotism, loyalty, spirit of
fair play, justice, national consciousness, preserving the country’s national
heritage and becoming useful citizens to the nation, students achievement in
the subject has been low. There is steady decline in students’ achievement in
Social Studies in upper basic education (UBE) in 2019 BECE in Plateau State.
This is due largely to teaching methods employed by teachers, inadequate
motivation of students, inadequate instructional materials, students interest
towards the subject and wrong use of instructional materials (Agara (2010). The
consequence of this is that there is
perennial poor achievement by students in internal and external examination
apart from the growing nepotism, corruption, religious intolerance, rape,
abortion, drug addiction, insecurity and other such devices that the teaching
of social studies is supposed to eliminate from the society.
Individualized learning technique gives
students the opportunity to engage in the teaching and learning process by
engaging in their own activities and at their pace. It helps in meeting the
differences in individual learning style and rate. Individualized learning
technique provides students the opportunity to grow in self-discipline,
self-motivation and also presents occasion for genuine interaction between the
teachers and students which is lacking in the traditional teaching.
Another variable of interest to this study is motivation.
Motivating students to learn is very important and is a great concern for this
study, because motivation brings about interest and concentration among
students to learn in school. Motivation is an arousal of learning behaviour or
action by an individual. Motivation is a important variable in teaching and
learning Social Studies by students. It enhances academic achievement of
students if properly employed by teachers and students of Social Studies
through individualized learning technique.
Considering the other variables of the study and with some scholars asserting
that female students achieve higher than males in Social Studies and vice
versa, this study deems it fit to investigate whether gender could influence
students’ achievement in Social Studies in Upper Basic
II in Pankshin Local Government Area, Plateau State, Nigeria when taught using Individualized learning technique.
Statement of the Problem
Available statistics from the
educational resource center Jos revealed that students performance in Basic
certificate examination BECE from 2016-2019 shows that students performance
basic education certificate examination
is low (BECE report (2019). Parents, teachers and students have
continued to laments the poor performance of students in Social Studies. the
(BECE) results reveals that students’ academic achievement in Social Studies
recorded a decline from 2016 through 2019 the results show a 7% decline which
indicates that only 58% of the population passed by scoring credit and above in
2016, likewise 42% passed with credit
and above, while in 2017, 51% had distinction and above and 40% had ordinary passes. In 2018 there was a
little bit of improvement with 60% credit pass but there was downward movement
in 2019 with only 50% pass.
Some reasons that have been advance
for students’ poor performance in social studies include; method of teaching
used by teachers, attitude of students towards social studies, interest towards
social studies, lack of instructional materials for teaching social studies
among others. Efforts have been put in place to improve student’s achievement
using different strategies. This include, preparation of students for the
examination through extra lessons, training and retraining of teachers, used of
new methods of teaching and organization of compulsory preps. The consequence
of this is that students will not be able to read courses of their choice at
the senior secondary school level and at the higher level of education. Individualized
learning technique has been found to promote students deeper understanding or
higher cognition and gives students the opportunity to engage in their own
activities at their pace.
Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of
this study is to examine the effects of individualized learning technique on
achievement of Upper Basic Social Studies students in Pakshin local Government
Area of Plateau State, Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study are to:
1.
determine the pre-test and post-test achievement
mean scores of students taught Social Studies with individualized learning
technique and conventional technique.
2.
examine the difference in the achievement mean scores of
male and female students in Social Studies after exposure to individualized
learning technique.
3.
determine the achievement mean scores of
urban and rural social studies students’ exposed to individualized learning
technique.
Research
Questions
1.
what is the achievement mean score of
students taught Social Studies with individualized learning technique and those
taught with conventional technique?
2.
What
is the achievement mean scores of male and female students in Social Studies
after exposure to individualized learning technique?
3.
What
is the achievement mean scores of Urban and Rural school students in Social
Studies Education after exposure to Individualized Learning technique?
Hypotheses
1.
There
is no significant difference between the post-test achievement mean scores of
students in Social Studies in the experimental and control group.
2.
There
is no significant difference between the achievement mean scores of male and
female students taught Social Studies using Individualized learning techniques
3.
There
is no significant difference between the post-test achievement mean scores of
urban and rural students taught Social Studies Using Individualized learning
techniques
LITERATURE REVIEW
Meaning of Social Studies
The subject
Social Studies is viewed by many authors or educators as civics or any of the
social science subjects like geography or sociology. Peoples’ opinions about
what Social Studies is vary from country to country and from individual to
individual. However, Social
Studies is a subject which deals with the network of relationship of man and
with his social and physical environment. It is concerned with man’s surviving
efforts in the society. Man relates with his environment, his environment
influences him and he in turn influences his environment in an attempt to
survive (Igba, 2004).
Udoko,
(2012) defines Social Studies as an integrated study of the Social Sciences and
humanities which promotes civic competence and helps young people to develop as
citizens of culturally diverse, democratic society in an independent world.
This means that, Social Studies which is seen as citizenship education focuses
on positive socio-civic living by young people in the society. Thus, the study
of the subject Social Studies in context and its application to daily living of
an individual has made the society worth living in. Kazi (2017) define Social
Studies as a subject that concerns itself with how people live, where they
live, how they structure their society, how they govern themselves, how they
provide for their material and psychological needs and why they love or hate
each other, how they use and misuse the resources of the earth-planet.
Kazi (2017)
defines Social Studies as a study of man as a biological, social, political,
economic and spiritual being, responsible and responsive to nature in all its
ramifications. In order words, Kazi sees Social Studies as an eclectic
distillation of social phenomena for socio-civic living or behaviour in the
society. The author asserts that Social Studies is both value-free and
value-laden in nature which dispensers or teachers of the subject must be aware
of how to produce effective citizens for Nigeria.
Concept of
Individualized Learning
Individualized
learning technique is a means or way of teaching in which content,
instructional technology and pace of learning are based upon the abilities and
interests of each learner (Dunn, 2015). The use of individualized learning
technique in teaching of Social Studies is based on five (5) steps as: Setting
clear and specific goals or objectives; making goals or objectives challenging
and realistic; Making goals or objectives dynamic and review regularly; letting
students or learners own their own progress; and; involving parents or
guardians in the process. The implication of this is that, to individualized
instruction in Social Studies education, students should be provided with
learning experiences that are personal and meaningful thereby enabling them to move
in the direction of goals or objectives that are believed to be important in
ways that maximize their success and potentials.
The
individualization of learning technique stresses independence and
self-direction on the part of the learner with a lot of flexibility in which
the teacher’s sensitivity to and caring about idiosyncrasies of individual
student is critical. The teacher sees individual student rather than the entire
class together. The teacher places greater emphasis on diagnosis not in the remedial
sense but to find out the level at which a student is functioning. For this
reason, the technique is not teacher-centered but student-centered.
Individualized learning is highly flexible as it uses multiple materials and
procedures in which a student is given a substantial responsibility for
planning and carrying out his own organized programme of studies, with
assistance of his teacher so that the student’s progress is determined solely
in terms of those plans. Individualized learning technique is a total
educational programme incorporating all useful concepts known to enhance the
learning process. Its success depends upon an optimal balance between the
student’s own self-appraisal and the teacher’s counsel – the student does not
progress autonomously in his learning programme.
Importance of Individualized Learning Technique
The
Individualized learning technique as construed in this study is an approach
that allows every student to learn at his/her own pace with minimal teacher’s
direction. Devery (2015) explain some of the major benefits from individualized
learning technique to include: promotion or development of individualization,
which stresses independence and self-direction on the part of the learner with
a lot of flexibility, development of research skills in which learners develop
skills like reading, collecting, writing and reporting, also, it enhances the
development of presentation skills where the students are involved in skills of
describing, telling, illustration, exhibiting and dramatizing. The
individualized learning technique promotes the development of creative
experience which enhances writing, drawing, sketching, modeling, painting,
constructing, singing and carving skills in the learners.
Effects of individualized learning and students’ academic
achievement in social studies
The effects
of individualized instruction on achievement are varied. In others words
effective individualized instruction uses different learning modes. Learning
modes in individualized instruction allow for self-pacing. Thus, the
individuals learn at their own pace, taking their time to understand difficult
materials, ask questions, and make inquiry. This kind of learning raises the
motivation in the learner since the understanding of one concept sustains in
them the motivates them to learn the next related concepts as learning is in sequence
and systematically planned. Consequently, this, positively affects students
‘achievement. Researchers and scholars:
in Social Studies education like Jarolimek cited in Dewey (2015) stresses that
individualized learning technique essentially develops independence and
self-direction on the part of Social Studies learners where the teachers’
attitude of sensitivity to and care about the idiosyncrasies of individual
learner is critical. At this stage, the teacher sees individual student rather
than the class. He or she places emphasis on diagnosis and on how the student
is working. To affirm this, Dunn (2015) found out that activity based approach
in individualize learning technique has effective effects on social studies students
on their imagination and activities like writing, drawing and reporting.
METHOD AND
PROCEDURE
The research employed quasi-experimental,
non-equivalent pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental research design. The
design is appropriate since the school authority did not allow the
randomization of subjects into experimental and control groups. The design
involved experimental and control groups
which participants were not assigned to group by the researcher, but pre-existing as intact classes.
The
population for the study comprised all the 25 public Upper Basic Secondary
Schools in Pankshin Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State. The
population consisted of 1,191 students of the public secondary schools. The
population is presented in Table 2. It is made up of 663 male and 528 female.
The
sample for the study consisted of four public Upper Basic Secondary Schools in
Pankshin LGA. The four schools were having two control and two experimental
groups. The sample was 153 Social Studies students in the intact classes. The
experimental groups consisted of 44 males and 41 females while the control
groups was made of 38 males and 30 females.
The stratified sampling technique was adopted
to select the sample for the study. This technique is deemed appropriate
because the researcher intended to use students in urban and rural schools for
the study.
Social
Studies Achievement Test (SSAT) as instrument for data collection. The data
collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Mean and
standard deviation were used to answer all the research questions while
inferential statistics specifically, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were used
to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The use of ANCOVA helped
to control any initial differences that existed between the group in the
dependent variables and other extraneous factors that could affect the results
other than the treatment.
RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION
This chapter presents
the results of analysis based on research questions raised and the hypotheses
that were formulated to guide the study.
RESULTS
Research
Question One
What is the
achievement score of students taught Social Studies with individualized
learning technique and those taught with conventional technique?
Analysis of
Covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to determine if there is a significant
difference between the post-test achievement mean scores of urban and rural
students taught Social Studies using individualized learning techniques. Table
16 shows that the F-value for the school location (urban/rural) is 21.42 with
significant P -value of .000 which is less than .05, the null hypothesis was
therefore rejected. With this result, there was a significant difference
between the post-test motivation mean scores of urban and rural students taught
Social Studies using Individualized learning technique. The result further
shows an adjusted R squared value of .202 which means that 20.2% of the
variation in the dependent
variable which is students’ achievement is explained by variation in school location, while the
remaining is due to treatment and other factors not included in this study.
This means that individualised learning technique has an effect on the
achievement of urban and rural school students in social studies. This implies
that individualized learning technique can help improve the achievement of
students in social studies in favour of urban school students.
DISCUSSION
The findings
were that the mean achievement scores of students taught using individualized
technique were higher than the mean achievement scores of those taught with
conventional methods. Dunn (2015) found out that activity based approach in
individualize learning technique has effective effects on social studies
students on their imagination and activities like writing, drawing and
reporting. Zywno and Waalen (2017) in their study found that individualized
instruction increased students’ achievement and was significantly better than
the conventional teaching lecture method. The effects of individualized
instruction on achievement are varied. In others words effective individualized
instruction uses different learning modes. Learning modes in individualized
instruction allow for self-pacing. The findings is in line with those of Owoye and Yara (2011) who found that
Social Studies students from urban schools performed better than those from
rural secondary schools. Ezendu and Obi (2013) opined that both gender and
location have effects on students’ achievement in Chemistry in secondary
schools. Furthermore, Onukwo (2014) asserts that if a school is located at a
noisy place like airport, market or factory with constant noise and vibration,
they will disrupt teaching and learning thereby affecting academic achievement
by the learners.
CONCLUSION
The study on
the effects of individualized learning techniques on the achievement of upper
basic Social Studies students in Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau
State, Nigeria, reveals several important findings. Individualized learning,
which tailors instruction to the needs, pace, and interests of each student,
significantly enhances students' understanding and retention of Social Studies
content compared to traditional, one-size-fits-all methods. Students exposed to
individualized learning techniques demonstrated higher achievement levels in
Social Studies. This suggests that when learning is personalized, students tend
to grasp concepts more effectively. Individualized learning led to greater
student engagement, as it allowed learners to explore topics at their own pace,
which increased their motivation and participation in classroom activities. The
technique enhanced critical thinking, problem-solving, and self-directed
learning skills among students, essential for the comprehension of Social
Studies content. Individualized learning effectively accommodates students with
diverse learning abilities, ensuring that both high-achievers and slower
learners can succeed.
Recommendations
- Integration of Individualized
Learning in Curriculum: Educational authorities in
Plateau State should consider integrating individualized learning
strategies into the curriculum for Social Studies and other subjects. This
can be done through the development of teaching materials that cater to
diverse learning styles and paces.
- Teacher Training and Development: Teachers
should be trained on how to effectively implement individualized learning
techniques in the classroom. Workshops, seminars, and in-service training
can equip teachers with the skills necessary to create personalized lesson
plans and manage a differentiated classroom.
- Provision of Learning Resources: Adequate
resources such as digital tools, textbooks, and instructional aids should
be provided to support individualized learning. Access to technology would
be particularly beneficial in enabling personalized learning paths for
each student.
- Continuous Assessment: A continuous
assessment model should be adopted to track student progress. This will
allow teachers to identify areas where students struggle and adjust
instruction accordingly, ensuring that all students benefit from
individualized learning.
- Further Research: Additional
research should be conducted on the long-term effects of individualized
learning on student achievement across different subjects and local
government areas. Such research will provide a broader understanding of
its impact and areas for improvement.
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