Gender, Socio-economic status, Teacher qualification and their Interaction on Students' Retention Ability in Social Studies in Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria

This work sought to find out the effect of gender, socio-economic status, teacher qualification and their interaction on students' retention ability in Social Studies in Akwa Ibom State schools of Nigeria. Literature review was carried out on the variables directing the study. A total of 270 Upper Basic students were used for the study. The instrument consisted of thirty multiple choice objective questions and a questionnaire. The research design used for the study was a pretest post-test control group experimental design. One hypothesis was postulated for the study and tested at 0.5 level of significance using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The result of the analysis indicated that students' socio-economic status, teacher qualification and the interaction of teacher qualification with treatment significantly influenced students' retention ability in Social Studies. Specifically, the retention ability of higher SES students is significantly greater than that of medium SES students who in turn had significantly higher retention ability than low SES students. Based on these findings, recommendations were made. Keywords: Gender, Socio-economic status, Teacher qualification, Students' retention ability, Social Studies

Formal and Informal Social Studies Curriculum in Nigeria

The aim of this work was to examine formal and informal Social Studies curriculum in Nigeria, particularly in Obanliku Local Government Area of Cross River State. The study posed three research questions. Instrument for data collection was questionnaire. Random sampling technique was used to select one hundred and seventy (170) JSS 3 students and teachers as sample for the study. The data collected were analyzed using means and standard deviation, with 3.00 as pre-determined cut-off point for each item. Formal Social Studies curriculum contents are implemented in uniformity in Nigeria while, informal contents and its implementation varies from society to society, but all geared towards inculcating in the learner positive attitudes, skills for national development and integration. Keywords: Curriculum, Formal, Informal, Society, Skills, Implementation and Social Studies

Towards the Enhancement of Population and Family Life Education for Nigerians

A ZJER article on population and family life education in Nigeria.The thrust of this paper is to highlight the strong relationship that exists between population/family life education and the quality of life for Nigerians. It observes that Nigeria’s population is increasing exponentially and this has affected several aspects of her national life. Reflecting on the numerous health problems like vesico vaginal fistula, recto vaginal fistula, ante partum and post partum haemorrhage, eclampsia, obstructed labour that come with unwanted childhood pregnancies, as well as increased cases of sexually transmitted diseases, and wide spread prostitution, the paper emphasizes that Nigerian students need more information on human sexuality now as future adults of the country. It therefore prescribes specific curricular contents of population and family life education and recommends a cooperative effort by home, school, church and community to provide selected learning experiences and guidance for young people in and outside schools concerning the need, interests, problems and goals that arise out of human psycho-sexual development primarily as related to love, marriage, parenthood and family life. The basic assumption here is that good families make a good society