Assessing the Moral Relevance of Peace Education Contents in the Basic Education Social Studies Curricula for Effective Citizenship Participation in Nigeria

Social Studies is a core subject at the basic education level in Nigeria which has the potentials of inculcating functional knowledge and desirable morals into pupils for effective citizenship participation through peaceful co-existence. However, despite this positive trend, the moral significance of peace education contents of the subject seem not to have been adequately explored. This lacuna justified the need for this study which sought to find out the moral relevance of peace education contents in basic education social studies in Nigerian schools. The study adopted a descriptive survey design with content analysis bias. A sample of 200 social studies teachers undergoing in-service sandwich training were selected through stratified random sampling technique from states across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. Similarly, two major instruments namely 10-item questionnaire titled “Teachers’ Awareness of the Moral Relevance of Peace Education Contents in Basic Education Social Studies Curriculum” and content analysis of the same social studies curricula published by NERDC, a foremost Nigerian educational regulatory body were used for data collection. Data collected were analyzed with the use of arithematic percentages. Findings of the study showed that majority of the teachers were not only aware of the moral relevance of peace education  contents in basic education social studies curricula but were also of the  opinion that the subject could be used to meet the moral and peace education needs of Nigerian pupils for the purpose of inclusion citizenship participation. It was also established that peace and moral education contents were adequately reflected in the basic education social studies curricula. These findings were exhaustively discussed with far-reaching recommendations on how to improve the teaching and learning of moral aspects of peace education contents through the basic education social studies curricula for effective promotion of inclusive citizenship participation in a multi-ethnic and religious society like Nigeria. Keywords: Basic Education, Moral, Moral Relevance, Social Studies Curricula, Citizenship Participation.

Teachers’ perception of the effectiveness of Computer-Assisted-Instruction in the teaching of Junior Secondary School Social Studies in Nnewi Education zone, Anambra State, Nigeria

This study sought to determine teachers’ perception of the effectiveness of Computer-Assisted-Instruction (CAI) in the teaching of junior secondary school Social Studies in Nnewi education zone, Anambra state. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Three research questions and three hypotheses (at 0.05 level of significance) guided the study. The population of the study consisted of all the twenty-nine Social Studies teachers in the education zone. There was no sampling since the entire population of the study was used.  A 16-item questionnaire titled “Questionnaire on teachers’ perception of the effectiveness of Computer-Assisted-Instruction (CAI) on the teaching of junior secondary school Social Studies” was used for data collection. Data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation while t-test statistic was employed to test the null hypotheses. The findings of the study showed that the respondents perceived CAI to be effective in the teaching of Social Studies in junior secondary school in the education zone.  The findings also showed that there is no significant difference in the mean perception of Social Studies Head teachers and teachers on the effectiveness of CAI in the teaching of JSS Social Studies. It was also shown that there is no significant difference in the mean perception of male and female Social Studies teachers on the effectiveness of CAI in the teaching of JSS Social Studies. Similarly, it was also revealed that there is no significant difference in the mean perception of urban and rural Social Studies teachers on the effectiveness of CAI in the teaching of JSS Social Studies curriculum. These findings were exhaustively discussed with far-reaching implications, conclusion and recommendations on the efficacy of CAI in enhancing students’ achievement and teachers’ knowledge of JSS Social Studies. Keywords: Perception, Computer-Assisted-Instruction, Social Studie