AN ASSESSMENT OF TEACHING METHODS USED BY SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EDO STATE, NIGERIA

The emerging realities of the 21st century societies have necessitated the call for pedagogical renewal in the social studies classroom. Evidence suggests that the traditional teacher-dominated instructional methods are unsuitable for contemporary social studies classrooms. This study seeks to contribute to the search for optimal instructional methods by examining the teaching methods used by Social Studies teachers in junior secondary schools in Edo State of Nigeria. The study adopted a survey research design utilizing questionnaire and observation of actual classroom teaching. Two hypotheses were addressed in this study. A sample of 173 teachers was randomly selected from 150 junior secondary schools in ten local government areas of Edo state. Out of the 173 teachers, 50 teachers were randomly selected for classroom observation. Data was collected and analyzed using Z- test. The result revealed that majority of the social studies teachers was not using the appropriate teaching methods in social studies classrooms. Findings from the classroom observation revealed that teacher-centered pedagogy was the dominant method of curriculum instruction. Learner-centered constructivist pedagogy was completely neglected by virtually all the teachers observed. Recommendations were made including the need for prospective teachers to have thorough understanding of concept and benefits of leaner-centered instructional methods in order to improve students' learning and facilitate instruction in the social studies classroom.